Today, a news report stated that Yahoo! is going to spend $100M in advertising. They’ve also created their own color purple; it’s called “Yahoo purple.” *sigh* To quote one of my old employees “If they could only create their own money…”
No, I am not focusing on Yahoo, but I have noticed an alarming trend that seems to be wide spread in corporate America. But then again, maybe I am the only one who notices this. Common sense and logical thinking seem to have left the building! Maybe I am the only one who doesn’t get it, because I do not have a MBA. As a matter of fact, it seems to me that a MBA is probably required to make absolutely crazy and nonsensical business decisions (no offense to a few of my friends with MBAs).
I have often pondered this and yet never found an answer. If you are losing money, wouldn’t you take care of the source that is losing you the money? Wouldn’t you find a solution that solves the problem and will continue to do so in the future? Apparently a plan for the future is not something anyone looks at, but a mere “what should we do now?” Then the company goes after the quick fix and is shocked when the master plan blows up in their face, later on down the road. Instead of investing in something that truly does affect the bottom line, they are investing in a short-term solution that guarantees just that: a short term success.
Here is why I am confused about this. I am a homeowner. One day I come home and discover that I have a leak in one of my plumbing pipes, let’s say under the sink. What do I do? Hm, let’s see. I stuff a piece of cloth in there and hope that it will hold the water long enough before it causes severe damage. Of course not! No, I call a plumber who fixes the pipe so I won’t have the same issue again in the future. I spend my money wisely, knowing that a half-ass fix will save me money now, but then result in even higher costs down the road.
Sometimes business sense seems like a large case of insanity to me. Trying the same failing methods over and over and expecting a different outcome each time.
I have stood there numerous times over the years, while working for different companies, with my jaw dropping when I would hear some of the decisions they’ve made. I remember, one company I’ve worked for almost 10 years ago hiring numerous people and paying for relocation costs for some of them, then laying the same people off in a mass-lay off about 2 months later. Another company I’ve worked for decided to put a bunch of temp bodies on a specific project. None of the 30 some temps were even remotely qualified, but I guess there is strengths in numbers? Would they have hired a hand full of high quality full-time employees they STILL would have saved money. Alas, paying 30+ temps seemed more logical than paying half a dozen full-timers. Of course, the cost to constantly train new guys, due to the expected large turn-overs did not get put in the equation of “we are saving money here.”
Now, I am not going to bag on Yahoo, because I’ve worked for them too long and have plenty of friends who still work there. But am I really off my rocker when asking, “why wouldn’t you spend $100M on improving your technology and making strides towards your competitors THAT way?”
Maybe the problem lies in the sheer size of some corporations? Usually they start buying other companies, or open other branches, which are totally disconnected from the “mother ship.” The trend I have noticed is that the offices outside the headquarters are not only treated like an unwanted stepchild, but also operate in a total vacuum, far removed from everyone else. No one “on the top” seems to have the slightest clue what these guys are doing and even more important, what they need in order to be successful. When they report problems or ask for things they need, no one seems to listen and when all blows up in their face the top bozos ask “How could this have happened? Why did no one tell us!”
One boss once told me that one should never have emotion in business and that being a high ranking business person requires a certain sense of detachment and cool logic. I have always openly admitted to definitely lacking the sense of detachment or lack of emotion, but still pride myself on being a logical person. But then, I do not have a MBA and I think that is why I don’t understand the grand decisions made by these corporations. Come to think of it, this is probably also why I am not a business owner.
I am possibly over-simplifying it all. But then I am just not the one so caught up in politics that I can no longer make rational decisions, because my hands are tied by the top Muppet who makes the stupid decisions to begin with. But hey, at least he/she has a MBA and as we know, that means they are smarter than the rest of us.
OUCH! Stick it to them Carmen….. I am on your side of the fence about the lack of common sense that is fogging up the world. My call center is for the Lap Band and the people in there create more work for themselves than necessary…. UGH
I think of it as the Walmart phenomenon- it seems to me as though the whole world is trying to run things the stupid way Walmart does. So far Walmart is still big enough to get away with it (because it makes money for the members of the board) but it’s still stupid. But then I don’t have an MBA either, so I’m just a Wal-slave that has to put up with the illogical nonsense :[