When efficiency is bad and competition is good
Thursday, November 8th, 2007Until a few years ago, I’d never been to a Wal-Mart. But I read Sam Walton’s book when I was in high school. I was aware what most folks thought of Wal-Mart, and I wanted to hear what the founder had to say.
I was struck by — and I believe — his passion for retail. He started out working in a local store, and wanted to make better stores. On family vacations, he would explore stores do see how he could make his stores better. I can relate to that constant exploring, I know the love of doing something for itself.
Near the end of the book, he suggests (this is 1992) that Wal-Mart is getting too big. Maybe, he says, it should be broken up into 10 smaller companies which compete with one another, for the good of consumers and the company itself.
I cried by the end of the book – you’ll know why when you read it. I highly recommend going into it as an autobiography of a man’s life.
When I lived in Kansas for a month, I worked at Wal-Mart for two days to see what it was like, and I was disturbed by a lot of what I experienced, and how Sam Walton’s words and beliefs have come to be expressed. But back to the subject here.
When I lived in Galveston, TX in 2005, I was overjoyed to be living near the only seaside Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart, I marveled naively, had nearly every possible material thing I could ever want! One day I took a beach chair down from the shelf, set it on the floor, opened the chair’s sun umbrella, propped my feet up and leaned back. It was giddily luxurious.
But after a few months of Wal-Mart, I began to dread its drab white-walls entryway and everything inside. Sure, there was nearly everything I might ever want to buy. But it was all there.
Sam Walton took pride that when he opened a Wal-Mart in a town, folks in that town could now spend less and save. He reasoned that folks would have money to spend on other things, and would have a better life. In theory, I thought he was right.
But efficiency can be bad.
Shopping can be an enjoyable experience; a way to explore life in new ways and interact with people. When I get into conversations with the waitress at my local diner, that’s not efficient. But it’s worthwhile and enjoyable in and of itself. When I wander the aisles at Blockbuster, sometimes it’s because I just want to browse and see what new movies are out, or what old movies I’ve never heard of before. When I work on my laptop at the Tea Lounge one day, and cooBric the next, and Jelly the next, these three locations are inefficient for me. But they have unique experiences — they have variety — and I like choosing where to go, based on the different choices and the different inefficient interactions I’ll have at each one, whether it’s gazing at babies in strollers at the Tea Lounge, or trying a new beverage or dancing to a new song at cooBric’s Gramstand location, or working at Jelly with the dog snuggled under my arm.
When I walk into Wal-Mart and I know where everything is, when I can get every material thing I need in one trip, then Hell starts to set in. The white-walls close in, the sameness closes in, my spirit vanishes. Sure, once in a while I still like Wal-Mart for three pairs of shoes for $60, or a backpack with a laptop case and mouse included for $20.
But my life is better with inefficiency — with multiple trips to various locations, even if it costs more, because I’d pay for the joy of those wonderful inefficiencies. Not the inefficiency of a cashier who takes a long time to ring up items while I wait, bored, but the inefficiency of getting to know someone who works at a new store, or the inefficiency of dancing to a new song as a smile comes over my lips.
The end isn’t all. The means — how it happens — is cool too.
* * *
I’ve worked at many companies. Being self-motivated, I was lucky to work with people who encouraged me to try new things. In 2005, I was asked to write text for some web pages. The end goal was to inform potential buyers about products sold on our website, so they would convert from a prospect to a sale.
I asked how much time I should take to write an educational page on washing machines. I was told to do it in my spare time, and to make something great.
I could have been efficient, and followed existing established procedures. I could have taken shortcuts. I could have been bored by writing about washing machines as efficiently, quickly, directly as possible.
But I chose to think about other goals. We didn’t just want to educate customers about the difference between a gas and electric washer. We wanted to show customers which washing machine was right for them. I started researching and experimenting.
This extra inefficient approach led to some great things. From reading “The Beauty of Simplicity” and “The Science of Shopping” and other articles, I got some neat ideas…customer profiles/brand personality types was an idea which led to our developing unique pages for each brand of washing machine. Customers stayed longer on the site and bought more. It wasn’t as direct an approach, but the research was personally fulfilling to me, and the result was better.
In her book Economy of Cities, Jane Jacobs shows how inefficiency is necessary for growth of a city (or company), and I highly recommend reading it. She also shows how competition is good.
Ray Kroc’s biography mentions how when he started McDonalds, business didn’t kick into high gear until Burger King entered the picture. Competition was good for business.
In my own life, I wish as heck there were more folks consulting on organizational democracy. It would make explaining what I do a lot easier, because I’d say, Here are some other folks who do what I do. Here’s how they explain it. Here’s how we’re different.
Traci Fenton started WorldBlu and she’s the only other person I know of in the world who describes herself as an organizational democracy consultant [ADDED April 16, 2008: I'm delighted that I've since found several other org dem consultants]. She and I have different approaches and strengths. She’s certainly a more experienced speaker, is far better at generating PR, and has a focus on strategy for CEO’s. I’m great at interviews and observation and working hands-on with self-directed teams where everyone is inspired and leads.
Anyway, with an abundance worldview, competition is good for business. Competitors make you stronger, teach you better business practices, make it easier to get clients, teach you what makes you unique, and helps you identify what you’re great at. These choices are a gift. When I worked at other companies, I’ve had competitors give me advice on seasonality of business and their sales practices, and ask for my advice. We all benefited short-term and long-term.
With coworking, I believe that choice is better for everyone. Jelly and cooBric are different yet similar, and that supports each other. It increases the chance that folks will hear about coworking. It increases the chance that if I want variety and inefficiency, I’ll find my type at one or the other or both. It increases the chance that if I want a specific location or a specific way of working, I can find it at one or the other.
In the United States, states compete. New Jersey and New York compete for business and residences. Tax breaks and tax incentives help one state over the other. But they also help one another. New York City’s growth means more residents in Jersey City and Hoboken. Jersey City’s less expensive rent means better quality of life for theater artists looking to put on a show. New York experiments with driver’s licenses for immigrants, and New Jersey will see how that works out, and can learn from New York’s lead.
All the states are under the same umbrella of the federal government. Originally there were 13 competitors — thirteen different colonies trying to attract citizens. They had bitter disagreements over slavery and trade laws, but benefited from getting together on certain umbrella issues, like a military and currency.
Getting together under the same umbrella meant they could still stay unique and competitive on lots of things, like New York issuing driver’s licenses to immigrants while California moves towards universal health care. When the federal government cut or threatened to cut genome research, California boosted funding for genome research by $150 million. Not possible without competition between states.
When I wanted to see the world in 2005, I had lots of states to choose from. If New York was the only United State, I would’ve gotten bored and lived in Europe or South America instead. Competition — variety, the spice of life — kept me here, in the loop.
Before I moved to Hays, KS for a month, I’d read a sociology paper on nearby Stockton, KS, population 1,200. Putnam’s theory of social capital, upon which the paper is based, says that when folks read the newspaper and are on the same bowling leagues, social capital — your resources to get stuff done based on your relationships with who you know — is strong. According to Dr. Hoy’s paper on Stockton, Stockton was soaring in social capital.
But when I called and spoke with residents about the 10 of outstanding citizens featured in the paper, I was shocked to hear that five of these folks who were pillars of the community had moved to other cities. And when I got to Hays, KS, as much as I loved it, I realized that just because everyone reads the same newspaper doesn’t mean social capital is high. It means there’s only one newspaper to read and not much else to do.
Ethan Watters’ book Urban Tribes discusses this all in more depth, and is a personal look at how society is changing for folks in our 20’s, 30’s and early 40’s.
In conclusion…
…yeah, it takes 50 legislatures in 50 states to decide their own version of a state law and benefit from the differences…
…yeah, it takes multiple printing presses with multiple staffs and reporters to put out multiple newspapers…
It’s not efficient. But it is great.
Think of the alternative — Wal-Mart Nation.
Similar Posts:
November 9th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Hi Alex! Thanks for the mention and thanks for all YOU are doing to forward these ideas. Keep it up!