#businessdysfunction

Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing in the same way over and over again and expecting different results.” It’s sort of like a hamster running on a treadmill day in and out and expecting to get to a different place. As ludicrous as it seems, many managers are certifiably insane by Einstein’s standard. They do the same things in the same ways over and over again and expect that they will achieve different results in the marketplace.

 Here’s another take on insanity: It’s senior management setting sales targets and not ensuring sufficient product availability to meet it, creating significant backorder problems that result in damaging the company’s, brand’s and/or company personnel’s relationship with customers. I’m not referring to a chance or transitory backorder situation due to unprecedented demand but one that falls well short of the established target, lasts for an extended period of time and/or repeats itself year after year such that the marketer’s most pressing responsibility is managing the backorder situation with sales personnel and customers. Taking this definition to the extreme, insanity is then penalizing marketing and sales personnel for not fulfilling the unattainable sales target.