The Poppi Chronicles

We live in a rule-driven society.  We have rules for everything.  We have rules that define “good” and “bad”; rules that tell us “do this and don’t do that”; rules that dictate how we should interact with one another.  We even have rules that dictate what happens to us if and when we break one of the rules.

 For the most part, rules are a good thing.  We have a rule that defines the absence of rules as lawlessness. There’s another rule that says lawlessness is anarchy and yet another rule that tells us that anarchy is a “bad” thing. And of course the ultimate rule that says “don’t do bad things”.

Rules also provide us with structure.  They define a process. “Start at step one, then do step two, then do step three and then you’re finished.”  We are taught to follow the rules.  Don’t do step three first, then step one and then step two. We are taught that if we don’t follow the rules to the letter, we won’t ever finish. And if somehow we DO miraculously finish, what we did will be wrong – because we didn’t follow the rules.  We didn’t do things right!

There is certainly safety and security in following the rules.  Rules tell us how to do things right and no one ever got penalized for doing things right.  No one ever lost their job or got reprimanded for doing things right.  Right?

If following the rules, doing things right, is the best way to go, what prompted world renowned educator and writer Peter Drucker to say “Managing is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right thing”?

What’s the difference between doing things right and doing the right thing?  The path you choose to take depends on what is most important to you.

Are you worried about making a mistake, fearful of the consequences of failure?  Are you driven by the need for security?  Then you will invariably opt for the security of doing things right.  Are you focused only on following the rules?  Is following the process to the letter what matters to you?  If so, then you will do things right, regardless of the results you obtain.  If things don’t happen, if the task doesn’t get finished – it won’t be your fault, because you followed the rules; you did things right.

If instead you are focused on outcomes, you will always do the right thing, regardless of personal risk.  You will always think “outside the box”.  You will always do whatever it takes to get the job done. Hopefully getting the job done will involve following the rules along the way, but if it doesn’t, so be it.  You will be willing to make mistakes, secure in the fact that you can correct them.  You will see opportunity where others see failure.  You will see “rules” as someone else’s idea of how to get the job done and will draw on those rules but only as a guide.  You will take pride in seeing a task to its successful conclusion – not in the fact that, even though the project failed you followed all of the rules.

If you always do the right thing you will join the exclusive club of individuals that have done great things.  You will be a leader.