John Robb on the effects of the “Donut”
by Rob Paterson
How often have you see an organizations tell itself and the world that it is “The Best” and has the best people? Of course - this can never be true because in a complex world we can never know everything. And knowing does not mean that you read a good book or took a course. Knowing means that you are immersed. For instance of the thousands of excellent people in public radio and TV, or the hundreds of thousands in marketing - who is immersed in social media? In the public media area I would venture less than 30.
No matter how smart we are - we all need help? So how do you get the help? Shift to the “Donut” - taking this route will open up access to the talent you need at a price you can afford.
One of the cleverest people I know is John Robb. Here is a nugget from him that clarifies this point:
Here’s three simple insights for organizational success in a chaotic, complex, and hyper-competitive environment (and a way to use the wisdom of crowds to unearth talent that you need to thrive):
- The best people (to solve any given problem) don’t work for your organization. A corollary to this: if you don’t have the best people working for you, you will fail.
- Use transparency and the marketplace to find the best people located outside your organization (simple test: whose ideas capture the greatest mindshare within your organization?). NY City’s contest is a great example of using transparency as a means of finding great talent.
- Buy all of the time they have available.
NOTE (on when being good isn’t enough): Another trend is that an increasing number of problems are information/knowledge intensive. This means that an old rule from the software world applies: a couple of great programmers are more valuable than a room full of good ones. Apply this rule to any complex information-intense problem you face and you will get much faster, cheaper, and better results.
None of us have the best people for any of the myriad issues that confront our organizations. But the best people do exist. Why not use the “Donut” to bring them in to help you?
