Top 10 business maxims that need to go - Part - 8.

It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.
It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.
- Josh Billings (or Mark Twain or Artemus Ward or...)

 

Much well-known business advice is sadly obsolete but can still be found in articles, business books and, not least, in daily use in the workplace. It seems that some companies are still guided by thinking that is sadly out of date - if it was ever true to begin with.

 

The worst of these old maxims are not only wrong, they're bad for people and bad for business. Businesses who use them are making their employees unhappy and are harming the bottom line.

 

Here's my pick of the top 10 business maxims in serious need of an update - with a suggested replacement for each.

 

Old maxim #8: Sales fixes everything

 

I'll let Guy Kawasaki explain the meaning of this one: As long as you have sales, cash will flow, and as long as cash flows, (a) you will have the time to fix your team, your technology, and your marketing; (b) the press won't be able to say much because customers are pouring money into your coffers; and (c) your investors will leave you alone.

 

I adore sales. Cash is absolutely delightful. But sales and cash do not solve every problem.

 

Let's say your entire team is stressed and overworked. Will sales fix this? Let's say nobody's communicating properly, because half the people on your team hate the other half. Let's say two of your best employees are about to quit because they're being bullied by their manager. It would be pointless to try to solve these kinds of problems by increasing sales.

 

In fact, more sales can make a bad situation worse because:

 

1. The company will focus more on the customers than on its own people
2. More sales means more work and potentially more stress for an unhappy organization

 

So while sales are wonderful, there are a whole set of common issues in a workplace that are not solved through more sales. I would in fact suggest that making your people happy is much more likely to result in higher sales, than higher sales are to result in happy people.