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Why The Right Way Is Usually The Hard Way
In an interview he gave to Harvard Business Review, Jerry Seinfeld was asked about whether a consulting firm like McKinsey could make the creative process faster. That’s the assumption that many business leaders make, that every process can be optimized. As much as we like to imagine we’ve evolved, we’re still largely stuck with Frederick Taylor’s 20th century management ideas.
“Who’s McKinsey?” Seinfeld then asked. “Are they funny?” When told no, he said, “If you’re efficient, you’re doing it the wrong way. The right way is the hard way. The show was successful because I micromanaged it — every word, every line, every take, every edit, every casting.”
Anybody who’s been a successful performer, whether as an athlete, an actor or anything else knows what Seinfeld means. While there’s something to be said for honing processes to make them more predictable and efficient, to create something new you need to do the opposite. You need to explore to discover and that means being inefficient. Not all who wander are lost.
How Six Sigma Killed Innovation At 3M
After being passed over for the top job at General Electric, James McNerney took over as CEO at 3M 2001, bringing with him GE’s famously disciplined focus on Six Sigma, a methodology that uses rigorous statistical methods for…
