Companies Fear Innovation
I recently went to pitch my book How Laziness Saved My Life to a bank facility in mainland Lagos. I delivered a heart wrenching speech on why I wrote the book and how it could help the banks staff work smarter and better without stressing themselves out with too much hardwork. I finished the presentation and paused in anticipation of a one man standing ovation, but instead I got a blank stare. I was told that my pitch was not the company’s focus and that the company actually wanted their staff to work very hard…anything counter to working hard was a tough sell for the company management.
And then I realized the ugly truth…Laziness was an anti-corporation book, an outlier for companies institutionalized with the crazy way of doing things. Companies that focus on hiring hardworking individuals at expense of innovative individuals. Companies that judge workers on how long and late they stay at work instead of judging them on how efficiently they get their work done.
What if companies focused more on innovation? Maybe they would be able to get real work done faster and better instead of getting stuck in the facade of hard work.
Wishing You Extreme Success,
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Great piece bro…and a correct observation too…most of our corporations are not innovative at all…dey luv status quo…maybe becos they have little or no competition…they shudnt worry…very soon,they’d see new entrepreneurial competitors who favor status dynamo…..
true talk…we are waiting for the google of Nigeria…a company that encourages creativity versus hardworkism!
Okechukwu Ofili latest post is What The Fat Man Told Me About Riding Bicycles
Innovation na Yankee gist o! If u want to be brilliant, start your own biz by going solo(it’s the new black). Sad when u see higly paid oil workers just shuffling papers & distracting themselves all day! Maybe in 10yrs time Corporate Naija will have a rethink?
True…but we should not still accept the status quo…we should push and push, it might not budge today, or next year or 10 years time…but we’ll get closer!!!
Okechukwu Ofili latest post is What The Fat Man Told Me About Riding Bicycles