Pick Up A Broom

A little bit of a parable for you.

In my community (a retirement community though I'm not retired, which of course is a goal I will one day achieve), I am the Master of Ceremonies for a 200 person party. Catered meal, I facilitate the program. Every year there are maybe 25 people out of 200 who don't like the party. They have "ideas". 

• "Have you thought about serving pheasant, because people love easting pheasant."
• "Why don't you host the party outside? I mean, so what if it rains?"
• "The bar ran out of Pabst beer, and that's on you, that's your fault, you ruined the party."

I'm on a party planning committee. Each year maybe 3 of the 25 grumblers "wants to do something about it". They ask to join our committee, we say yes, we host a post-mortem of the party from the prior year, the three new individuals air their grievances, we listen, we tell the new people that maybe they could be the ones who fix the problem. If there isn't enough Pabst Beer, is the new person willing to work with catering to solve the problem?

What do you think happens when the person raising the issue is asked to solve the problem?

Yeah, the person quits the committee.

The post mortem on the United States will show that Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC destroyed the country from within ... creating a disincentive for those who "do" the work ... creating fabulous incentives for those who criticize those who "do" the work.

Are there any parallels in retail and/or e-commerce? Maybe you listen to a podcaster who has ideas about how to fix JCP. Why don't you (the podcaster) go fix JCP? Put your reputation on the line and see if you are an Actual Leader or just a Thought Leader.

My wife worked with an HR leader who used to say "Pick Up A Broom" when somebody would criticize. In other words, when somebody accidentally empties a box of Special K cereal on the floor you can point that fact out to somebody, or you can pick up a broom and clean up the mess yourself.

P.S.:  Ask me sometime what it was like to run pickleball ratings for a year at my pickleball club. There were plenty of incentives for those who criticized people who "did" the work.