Tuesday, June 03, 2008

The Enemy of Innovation : Branding Strategy Insider:

I remember reading something prophetic in an entertaining tome by Mike Daisey called 21 Dog Years. In the book, Mike recounted his short-lived time working in a call center at Amazon.com. If memory serves me right, he was routinely reprimanded for poor stats, i.e. average number of calls handled per hour, average minutes per  call, etc., and at one point was told, in no uncertain terms, to improve his numbers—to become more productive—or else.  So how did Mike respond to that request? He did what any misdirected, time-starved and pressured employee would do. He innovated!  From that point forward, on every fifth call that Mike answered he immediately hung up in the customer’s ear.  His numbers soared!

8:16 PM