Wally on Goals

This cartoon reminded me of the many, many, many ... many business goals that I have set in my life. Years ago, back at the Phone Farm, we had a program called Manipulation (er, Management) by Objectives (MBO). Each year you would set new and exciting objectives for the year and at the end of the year you were supposed to be compensated by how well you met those MBOs (as they were affectionately called) ... I am really having a hard time not laughing out loud as I am remembering this. Well, at the end of the year these MBOs were never looked at and people were compensated by some unknown formula that included good looks, popularity, friendship, hard work, and circumstances - among other things. This system of rewarding the faithful bred a cynicism of sorts where goals were never taken too seriously.

So, going back to the cartoon, I was intrigued the way that Wally said "I thought you said my goals". Don't you love Wally - he seems to cut through the dross and get to the heart of things. Back to me. Somewhere in the late 1980s upper management started telling us technical managers "You manage your own career". I cynically interpreted that as you don't really care about my career and began upsetting people by "managing my career". I also began managing my retirement about that same time taking ownership, not only of my retirement savings, but of what I wanted to do when I retired. Going back to Wally, I started to think about my goals.

In hindsight I have to say that my plans have not all worked out and my goals have not been all accomplished but ... and this is an important but ... some of my goals have happened and some of them are happening. My advice to you ... especially if you are younger than me ... is to be concerned about your goals ... start planning and doing things that will cause you to get a step or two closer to your goals ... and one day you might remember my advice and think kindly of me :)