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Why saying “no” may sometimes be your best business choice
By Lauren | March 2, 2008
This week, New York Times reporter John Tierney wrote eloquently on the benefits of narrowing your options now and then. Tierney’s article, “The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors,” described experiments conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in which students played a computer game involving three virtual doors, behind each of which was an undisclosed sum of “money.” As the students clicked on the doors that routinely gave the best yield, other doors slowly disappeared. What did the students do? Even though it ultimately cost them “money,” the students kept opening the vanishing doors. Why? Apparently, even though it was in their best interest to focus only on the doors that paid the most, the students couldn’t face the pain of watching the lower-yield doors finally close.
The vanishing doors are a powerful metaphor for other lost opportunities: the job not taken, the career path relinquished, the marriage proposal refused. In a society where we’re accustomed to “having it all,” turning away anything that might prove to be a golden opportunity is tough. Tierney makes the point, though, that keeping your options open may not always be a good idea. He writes, “in the experiment, the price was easy to measure in lost cash. In life, the costs are less obvious – wasted time, missed opportunities. If you are afraid to drop any project at the office, you pay for it at home.”
You may also pay for it at work. Many professionals pride themselves on their capacity for putting in killer hours. At some point, however, fatigue and stress will take their inevitable toll. Hard choices may have to be made, and one client’s project can be slighted to meet the immediate demands of another. Alternatively, both projects may get short shrift and the professional may end up apologizing to both clients for sloppy or incomplete work.
It can also be difficult for an exhausted, stressed-out professional to offer advice based on the reasoned, expert judgment that attracted the client in the first place. There are reasons why airline pilots and long-distance truckers are required to rest for certain minimum periods before returning to their duties. Doctors, lawyers and other professionals are wise to take heed.
So, the next time you’re offered a “plum assignment” when your to-do list already runs to three pages, consider handing it off to a colleague or, Heaven forbid, a competitor. Ultimately, you and your clients may be glad you did.
To read the Tierney article, visit http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/science/26tier.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Tierney+doors+&st=nyt&oref=slogin
Topics: Business Ethics, Personal Ethics, customer relations |
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:33 pm
[...] was surfing the net the other day and came on this post on the Business Ethics blog. For those who don’t follow links the article’s about [...]
March 4th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Thanks for that sound advice. Not too many people (myself included) take into account the hidden costs of taking too many jobs. Your post made me reconsider my options, so that I will choose only the ones that are most effective for me and avoid feeling like I’m getting pulled apart in four separate directions.