No Public Restroom
With the many decisions a leader must make it is tempting sometimes to simply make blanket policy hoping that it will solve the problem in the easiest way and permanently. My recent Texas experience reminds me of unintended consequences that can follow.
I picked up the rental car for a 5 hour drive northwest to the town of Childress to see the place where Dad picked cotton as a little boy.
It is late morning and with 3 cups of coffee and over 150 miles out of Dallas a rest stop and updated directions are in order. I spot the logo of the well known auto rental company whose car I am driving and follow the off ramp to the office under the sign.
Consuelo, the receptionist is polite as am I, yet she is not able to provide the needed directions. She calls her supervisor, Ron in the back room and hands me the telephone. I identify myself as a customer on the road and with his help I am reoriented and understand the specific navigation trick necessary to get on the right road.
As Ron and I conclude with pleasantries I ask him to give Consuelo permission to grant me access to the restroom door I am looking at, the one with the "No Public Restroom" sign. Ron emphatically states, "We do not have a public restroom." I say, "Yes, I see the sign, but the card in my pocket says that I am not the public and not just a customer but in fact, a Preferred customer." Access was granted.
Back on the road I thought about how often business leaders make decisions, establish rules and procedures based on the behavior of the lowest common denominator. Someone vandalizes a restroom so the hospitality of a restroom becomes unavailable to customers. Some people shoplift so the majority of honest customers are treated like shoplifters, bad acting employees cause lazy or frustrated leaders to make blanket policy that demotivates good employees.
If you are a leader faced with creating the right level of stability in the chaos of fast growth, remember that entitlement philosophy and self-serving perceptions of "fairness" can march your business towards mediocrity.
"There is nothing more unjust than equal treatment of unequals"
(Aristotle or Thomas Jefferson)
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