Leveraging a "Short Memory"...
The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.
I just finished reading a blog post by Wendy Nolan entitled "What's your Finish Strategy?"; I found it thought provoking and after a little while, also found it took me down memory lane... always a grand place to go.
I once knew a senior leader whose fundamental philosophy was that people, particularly in the corporate world, have short memories. I suppose it was because people are so busy juggling many things, don't really care that much, or were always in transition; whatever the reason, she seemed more or less correct.
In this philosophy she had an interesting modus operandi, which as I observed it, was never really to finish anything. Don't get me wrong, there were lots of meeting and discussions, as well as activity, but as traction started to take hold it was the signal to move on and begin something new. A constant stream of ideas and activities with nothing ever finished because something more important would always come along... it was a true art to move from the urgent issue of last month to the new urgent issue of this month.
And for those who had short memories, she was a leader full of great ideas who worked hard to make a difference, as it seemed no one ever kept track of all those urgent activities that never really got finished. Getting back to that question posed in that blog post, I would wager to say that her finishing strategy was "not to finish"... and why not, it worked for her. God bless, she was making quite a career for herself.
Is this anything more than a quick trip down memory lane... not really.
Having said that though, it may be worth your while to self reflect on how your memory has been lately, and read Wendy's blog.
iamgpe
