"Trillion is the new billion"

It's a key message in my book Navigating the Winds of Change: Staying on Course in Business & in Life: Perspective matters.

It's so easy to lose perspective. Whether you're trying to convince a boss to make a change or trying to evaluate if a government reform idea is a good deal or not, getting a sense of perspective can make all the difference.

Frankly, I have trouble visualizing a trillion of anything. As reported this last week, the White House predicts a deficit of $1.841 trillion dollars for the current fiscal year.

Seems like a really big number. To get some perspective, how does that compare to some previous years? The biggest deficit for any fiscal year on record is $454.8 billion, rung up in fiscal 2008. So we're predicting to be $1.4 trillion dollars worse than the worst year on record. Yet as bad as that sounds, I still find it difficult to get my arms around how big a trillion really is.

Often a picture can serve up perspective more effectively. Here are a couple examples that illustrate a trillion dollars:

• From PageTutor.com
• From YouTube

This posting is not about whether health care reform or stimulus spending is a good idea or not. It's not about left vs. right or Republicans vs. Democrats.

Here's my point: when you hear any leader (whether in government or in business) throwing around numbers that are difficult to comprehend, try to get perspective using a picture. It will help you better evaluate the long-term implications of their statements.

Labels: accountability, communication, culture, illusion, integrity, managing change

posted by Andy at 4:51 PM  

"I'm not cheating! I'm showing my genius!"

I couldn't help but see the irony of two headlines on my browser homepage this morning. The first is a reference to Bernard Madhoff, that he will plead guilty to swindling people out of billions of dollars through his Ponzi scheme.

How refreshing. Finally, a criminal who isn't claiming he's a victim....

The second headline reads "Why Student Cheating Has an Upside."

What?

The article talks about the disconnect between students who insist that being honest and honorable is important yet overwhelmingly admit that they lie to their parents and teachers as well as cheat on tests.

As author Martha Brockenbrough suggests, those who care about our future leaders should find this discouraging. "Kids are shredding their ethics, but not that many feel bad about it." In fact, many "reported that they thought cheaters were more likely to succeed in life."

Brockenbrough relates how cheaters are getting more clever. Indeed technology is providing opportunities to cheat in ways that were not available when I walked the halls.

Yet she goes further: there's an upside to all this cheating. It demonstrates creative genius! Though she points out she's not advocating cheating, she goes on to equate clever approaches to cheating with innovative advances for mankind.

Interesting. When do we cross the line from a healthy break from status quo to becoming a cheat. After all, aren't we encouraged by Marcus Buckingham to "break all the rules?"

Bernie Madhoff is a genius. He kept his scam going for years. He had an innovative approach but it ended up inflicting serious pain across a wide swath of people around the world. Creative genius? Sure. Cheat? Absolutely.

Innovation looks at status quo in a new way and makes the workplace, the world, or a product better, often for the long term. Cheating provides a shortcut to personal gain (or a way to avoid short-term personal pain) with long term negative consequences.

And those consequences are not just experienced by the cheater.

I take exception to the students who think cheaters are more successful. Though it could appear that way in the short term, just look at the headlines to find another cheater soon to be behind bars.

Tempted to cut a corner today? Feeling compelled to exaggerate contributions to accomplishments on your resume? Wondering if you should just slather some lipstick on a status report to management about a project that is really a pig?

Let's not kid ourselves. That's not creative genius. Let's call it what it is: cheating.

Labels: accountability, choices, innovation, integrity, Lipstick on a Pig

posted by Andy at 7:34 AM