A Tip
From Jeff Bezos: No Doesn't Always Mean No
There
are a lot of ways to get to yes. Make sure you explore as many of them as
needed to reach the right decision.
BY HOWARD
TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH
INVESTORS
For many years in my various businesses, I
heard a recurring complaint about one particular aspect of my leadership style
that regularly frustrated a number of my team members. I'm sure there
were many other complaints over the years as well, but this one was so common
that I spent more time explaining my peculiar approach in this instance than I
did addressing just about anything else -- except possibly my reluctance to get
regular haircuts.
The "problem" was my custom of
occasionally assigning the same task to several people simultaneously. People
would be pissed, or disappointed and think all kinds of things -- I didn't
trust them, I was wasting their time, etc.
I'm sure there were some downsides to this
approach since it's apparently so very important for everyone
to stay in their own lane, but from my perspective it had at least two critical
benefits: (a) duplication dramatically increased the likelihood that the thing
would get done and done on time or sooner; and (b) it often
resulted in solutions that were novel, unexpected and better thought out than
the more typical and/or traditional answers.
As things happened, two heads were often
better than one even if they didn't realize that they were dealing with the
same concern and even if, very infrequently, they might step on each other's
toes. The smartest thing you can ever do in decision making is to make sure
that you have considered as many options and different choices
as possible.
Not that I ever felt bad about my strategy
(which I thought of as the CEO's prerogative) or that I regretted using
additional and sometimes redundant or scarce company talent and resources to
run some of these things to ground. But it's always good from time to time to
have some confirmation that you're not headed completely in the wrong direction
and, of course, when the "word" comes from Jeff Bezos of Amazon, it
feels especially good.
The Jeffism in question states that
"there are multiple paths to yes." Not only is he happy to have
multiple people at Amazon chasing the same rabbit, but he goes even further and
violates the cardinal Mom versus Dad rule that we all learned growing up by
suggesting that a team member who gets turned down by one manager should feel
free to go try the same request on another and another who might be smarter,
more favorably inclined, in possession of better information, or just more
flexible. When I was a kid, this was the oldest ruse in the book - if Mom or
Dad said "No", you'd just go ask your other parent about the same
thing praying for a more favorable result.
When I was a trial lawyer, we used to call
this "forum shopping," which means looking for a friendly or
sympathetic judge's courtroom in which to bring your lawsuit, hoping that you'd
get a better ruling. Today, if you're a gun nut, you file all your lawsuits
before hyper-conservative district court judges in California or elsewhere in
the South to get the initial outcomes you want. Class action lawyers all know
that Texas and Alabama judges hate insurance companies, so that's where they
file all their nationwide complaints along with their "spilled super-hot
coffee in my lap" and "found a body part in my peanuts" tort
claims.
According to Jeff, not only isn't there
anything wrong with looking for a better answer when your pitch got turned down
but carrying on and looking elsewhere is also often likely to lead to much
better end results. My experience was the same. Things got done more quickly,
there were more paths forward in front of me, and the ongoing competition
between the various choices sharpened everyone's focus.
Of course, before you drive yourself over the
cliff, or spend too much time chasing too many rabbits, you do need to think
carefully about why you're getting a negative response in the first place. It's
good to really know why the response has been a "No".
Sometimes, you're just in the wrong place
or asking the wrong people. Other times,
it's just a matter of bad timing-- a "No for now," which means your
salespeople need to keep pushing forward and asking for the order. And
finally, there are even times (perish the thought!) when your product or
service just isn't the right fit, and you just have to do yourself and the
customer a favor and take your ball and head home.
But before you bail, or bag the whole thing,
remember these three critically important rules:
(1) To succeed at anything important in
life, you're gonna have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince or
princess-- so be patient, get used to some rejection as you're pushing the
envelope, but keep pressing ahead.
(2) Never accept a "No" from
anyone who can't say "Yes," or write the check. Get thyself, by
hook or by crook, in front of the actual decision maker.
(3) Don't ever be reluctant to widen the
lens, to ask for more ideas, to look outside and all around the box, and to be
willing to occasionally appear foolish or stupid - as we all have - because
some of the very best ideas are those that start out sounding crazy and only
look smart and obvious in retrospect.
JUN 29, 2021
