Every organization, every person, can’t do everything. We don’t have the time, we don’t have the resources. We believe certain things are right - or wrong. We can do some things better than other things and the people we look to serve know that too.
Building a set of constraints to guide an organization, to guide a creative process, or to guide your life - I truly believe that is the most critical part. Ideally it happens early and then is reassessed often. Taco Bell sets the constraint “form or flavor, not both.” Binning is about constraining the number of choices to quickly get a room clean.
This week I had the opportunity to fly from Minneapolis to Canada for work and spent the entire flight (! not my norm) talking to the stranger next to me. He and his coworkers are being worked to death by a mega corporation with the philosophy of rewarding the top 10% of the company and churning through the rest. Sixty hour weeks are considered reasonably light. Working 10 days in a row is a given. Flying across the country on no notice is the standard. He’s been there decades and now, thankfully, is in the process of quitting. But the ramifications for his family and his mental and physical health have already been felt. Multiple kids addicted to opioids. One going to jail. Tremors.
This company has 50,000 workers. Most large corporations treat their people similarly (thanks Jack). I firmly believe just one constraint could have prevented this societal train wreck - corporate leadership deciding they would exclusively treat people with respect and dignity. Or, simply put, obey the frickin’ Golden Rule.
I told Steve (not his real name) that I decided early in my career I wouldn’t work for a place that didn’t treat me like a person. I’m so heartened to see more workers, especially young people, making a similar decision now. Quiet quitting, ‘Anti-Work’, return to unions - it’s about people taking back their power and saying ‘no’ to disrespect and awful labor practices. It’s setting a personal constraint - I refuse to be treated with disrespect or to treat others disrespectfully - and seeing it play out across a whole movement, a whole society.
It’s setting a personal constraint - I refuse to be treated with disrespect or to treat others disrespectfully - and seeing it play out across a whole movement, a whole society.
We have a long ways to go before we live in a fairer world. But stepping in the right direction means not stepping in the wrong one. We can build products that fit our values, treat others well and have a positive impact. But only if we take the time to define our constraints first. We each need to be explicit about what our north star is and constantly assess if this particular choice fits within the constraints we’ve set.