Are We Stupid?

In recent days there has been news in the U.S. concerning a government communication strategy to deliver, to the citizens, information about a law which was enacted a few years ago. The communication strategy appears to be designed to mis-lead rather than inform the population.  A well paid consultant on the project has admitted the need to be deceptive  based on the belief that the American voters are too stupid to understand the issues and therefore easy to lie to or bamboozle.

 It may come as a surprise to some to hear me say, "ya know, I kind of agree with him."  Not that he should lie, but the fact that Americans are often "clueless."

  In the world I travel in, as an organizational development professional, I meet a lot of wonderful people at many different levels of the educational scale. Some have advanced University degrees, while others have not completed high school. However, to my amazement, I often find that people at all levels who are "stupid" about certain things that you would think people would naturally know.

 Please understand I am NOT talking about intelligence, or education levels. I've stated before thru this blog that I know some very educated people who are morons when it comes to basic economic understanding, basic finance and certain basic life issues.  I AM  talking about those who are intellectually lazy, uninformed and/or disinterested.

 Here is an example.  In the past several months, while working with several different types of companies, I've had the privilege of teaching some important classes centered around my program of Continuous Improvement.  The average size class is about 20 people and the attendees, educationally, range as described above.  I have purposely asked the following question to all groups.

 "How many of you in this class today, could articulate to me and your classmates the difference between Socialism and Capitalism?" Response:  2 in 20 (maximum) could do so. Recently NPR reported outside a government building in which people were lined up for an application for housing allowance.  When the interviewer asked several citizens in line, "What are you applying for?" The response was "Obama money."  When pressed for more information the question to one person proceed by "Where does Obama get his money?" The staggering reply was " I don't know, I guess he has a stash somewhere!"  It has been my experience that many people are "stupid" about how government programs are paid for and the role government should play in our lives. Sadly, they are just as ill informed concerning business, free market, profit and expenditures.

While I think it's wonderful that management embraces the new concepts of Six Sigma, Black-Belt achievement, TS certification, Lean concepts, etc., we have lost many folks in our organizations because we have not taught the "basics" in which these tools can hinge.

 My brother, who has his Doctorate in Cultural Anthropology, started the Bible Theological Institute in Makutano West Pokot, Africa, several years ago. There have been hundreds who have graduated from this small institute which is focused on the fundamentals.  Alistair Begg has an annual leadership conference in Ohio which is simply called "Basics 2014" or whatever year it is being held. My good friends at DVCC have built an education center for the purpose of continual education, one of the programs being "Leadership and Values of DVCC."  I have several clients who have engaged with me in the simple, but important, concepts of Continuous Improvement. This is a 12 hour education program covering such things as  costing, process thinking, score keeping for problem solving and process improvement, human behavior and creating a culture of innovation, etc. All of these examples are simple basic education that our schools systems just don't teach.

 Those companies who are successful for the long term are those who repeat, reinforce, repeat and reinforce the basices. Just because you taught it once 5 years or one year ago, does not cover the need for today. There are still many other people in your company who need to know about your business, ethical principles, the free market capitalist system, where money comes from and what we do with it in business.

 Do your own test.  Ask questions of your employees like:

> What does the term ROI mean?

 > For every dollar in sales, what is the average profit margins for companies?

 > Do you know what operating income is?  Please explain. Do you know what our operating income is?

 > What role do you think government should have in business?

 > What is the advantage or disadvantage of labor unions?

 > Who is responsible for customer service in your company?

 > Please describe the benefits of a capitalist society and a socialist society.  What are the pro's and con's of each?

 > Fundamentally, what does the Democratic party and the Republican party stand for? (for my non-American readers, plug in your political parties)

 > Does government create wealth?  How?

 > Do you think people in fast food restaurants should make the $15.00 an hour they are demanding? Why or why not?

 > Please name the top 5 customers of our company and the top 5 competitors of our business. (There are tons of spin off questions from this which I won't  go into now)

Based on your findings from this simple informal survey, what should you do?

Well that depends. If you want your employees' engaged and performing as partners, then teach the basics...often! Become a learning company.

 If you want people to just show up, do their work and keep their mouth shut, then keep them "stupid" and hope for the best.