Page 48 - Hard Goals

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did without being primed. But when they were primed to “ana-
lyze” before reading about Rokia, they only gave $1.19. They
gave almost 50 percent less just by engaging the analytical part
of their brain instead of the feeling part of their brain.
Now, let me offer a giant “holy mackerel” moment for busi-
ness leaders whose job it is to set goals for their team. You
know how corporations like things that are measurable? And
how they’re always asking employees to translate big fuzzy goals
into a simple number that’s easily trackable? Well, whenever
employees are asked to translate goals they might “feel” good
about, have an emotional connection to, into a simple number
that “analytically” fi ts their spreadsheet, you may have just cut
their willingness to “give” to that goal by 50 percent.
You want your employees to dig deep into their emotional
bank account and give, give, give toward big corporate goals.
Asking them to “analyze” the goal long before you instigate any
kind of talk about “feeling” the goal is not the way to get there.
In fact, some companies go so far as to denigrate the feelings
and elevate the “number” to some deifi ed position (“Ahhh, I
saw the number and it was goooood,” “The number shall set
you free”).
Here’s a line from a recent Businessweek article that should
serve as a cautionary tale for every business executive: “Not
too long ago, GM executives wore buttons bearing the numeral
‘29’ as a constant reminder of the company’s lofty goal of 29
9
percent U.S. market share.” As I write this book, that num-
ber is around 19 percent. I feel like asking, “Soooo, how’s that
number-on-a-button thing working out for ya?”
I’m not saying you don’t need numbers (I like numbers—I’m
a researcher at heart, and I’ve won awards for number-driven