I'm Tempted to Stop Acting Randomly by Scott Adams

Author:Scott Adams [Adams, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4494-1509-9
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC
Published: 2011-02-28T05:00:00+00:00

For Shelly

Introduction

I know an engineer who figured out a clever way to improve his company’s product to the point where it suddenly leapfrogged the competition. As a result of his excellent work, the sales guys became millionaires. It turns out that there were no caps on commissions, and management didn’t raise the sales quotas to account for the fact that the improved product would practically sell itself. The moral of the story is that it’s great to be a technical genius, but it’s even better to be lucky.

There was a time when I believed that my rewards were related to my actions. Eventually I discovered that my rewards were more related to the actions of strangers. For example, you’re only reading this book because there weren’t any strangers creating their own popular office-based comic strip when Dilbert was new. You can’t get the benefit of going first unless all of the other people in the world decide to do something else. Thank you for that.

Recently, a yogurt shop with a great concept opened in my town. Customers can serve themselves from a variety of flavors, add their own toppings, and pay based on weight. Unfortunately for the owner, two more yogurt shops with the same concept popped up nearby within months. That means all three owners were probably working on the same secret idea at about the same time. I’m guessing that none of the yogurt shops is doing well after splitting the market three ways. This is yet another example where acting randomly would have been equal to, or better than, executing a great idea.

Woody Allen famously said that ninety percent of life is just showing up. But that doesn’t give enough credit to all of the people who decide to be somewhere else and stay out of your way. And how do you know where you should show up? Success is more random than we like to believe.

The good news is that you can read this book with a clean conscience because whatever you were going to do otherwise is probably just as worthless. And if you have any good workplace stories of random behavior being rewarded, I’d love to hear them. Send me an e-mail if you get a chance.

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