Striving for perfection: The perverse effect on people and the economy

By now all of us have read the stories regarding the "faking" that China did at the Beijing Olympics. The cute little girl that was chosen to lip-synch the national anthem to the voice of another little girl, who was deemed "not perfect enough to reflect China". Moreover there are reports of enhancing of the videos of fireworks at the opening ceremonies as well, which again got everyone twisted up in knots.

Beyond the fact that this is entertainment, and often entertainment results in illusion, the issue is more that the Chinese tried to "pass-off" these two situations as reality vs. illusion and that's where the issue is for most, I believe.

However, aren't we a society where perfection is not asked for but demanded -- of our corporations as well. Why do we think that often we are "surprised" at the quarter-end results of some major corporations. Because we are focused on short term "perfection" or if you will "illusion of perfection". If a company has made major changes which will result in short-term hits to their bottom-line, the market reacts badly and sometimes causes a spiral for a firm -- being honest about its imperfection -- from which it can't recover.

This has resulted in some in the corporations' hierarchies to massage questionable results to again provide the market with what it wants -- continuous perfection. Sometimes unfortunately firms begin to believe their own press and ignore the warning signs of changes -- just look at what's happening at GM -- again they thought that they were "perfect" for the longest time and tried to convince the rest of us of that as well.

So is it any surprise that China decided that it wanted to demonstrate perfection? It is what most of the world demands! So don't blame the Chinese -- blame our expectations. Let's realize that honesty is perfect -- and sometimes honesty is marred with aspects of imperfection!

Beware of Snake Oil Sales Pitches

I have heard a lot of sales pitches in my time, however recently I've found myself almost taken in by the "snake oil" sales pitches. Yes, that's right, even someone who is trained to look out for these ne'er do wells is not immune.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term "snake oil", let me explain. The most common usage of the phrase is as a derogatory term for compounds offered as medicines which implies that they are fake, fraudulent, quackish or ineffective. The expression is also applied metaphorically to any product with exaggerated marketing but questionable or unverifiable quality.

Both times the pitch pandered to my ego. One was in reference to a book I'm penning and the company provided a "free evaluation" which of course was exceedingly favourable. And then the pressure tactics began. The "president" was so enthralled with the potential that he wanted a conference call with me. Of course this "president" wasn't listed anywhere on the firm's website, and when asked about this he said that he preferred to remain in the background. (I guess in the background collecting the money). Then the pitch began....limited time, don't offer this to many, need to start working together on this now, and oh..of course I should fork over $40K to them immediately so that they can start working...and oh by the way there is no guarantee, but here are the references of past clients...email them and they'll tell you how good we are. Those references never responded and as soon as this firm was advised I was not moving forward with them at this time.....all communication stopped...not a perhaps at another time or let's keep in touch if there is anything we might be able to do....just dropped like a hot potato....whew...dodged that bullet.

And then again earlier this week, I get a call from a firm, saying they are looking to do a series of TV interviews on Supply Chain and can they call me to talk more about it to see if my knowledge/experience would be what they were looking for. Wow, me on TV!? How thrilling! The woman mentioned CNN, MSNBC etc...So I gave her some twenty minutes of my time, the next day. She was skilled in asking questions which were fed off my answers. Lo and behold, I was obviously ideal for their segment and the whole issue of Global Supply Chain was exactly what they were looking for. And then, all of a sudden, after talking about studio time, exposure etc. there was a $20K charge...scheduling fee they called it...which this would cost me....Of course I turned it down.

This is guerilla marketing....snake oil...whatever you want to call it...it is misleading....the latter one particularly as they sought me out. They try to hypnotize you with visions of fame and exposure and then when they pretty much have you seeing yourself having coffee with Larry King, they pounce with the "oh by the way, this is going to cost you only a mere $20K".

Luckily, although I have a healthy ego, it is not so big that I am a sucker for such obvious fake flattery. But as Barnum once said "There is a sucker born every minute", and I'm sure these firms are making money hand-over-fist with these tactics....So Beware...you too could be the next star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame....yeh, right!