OOBE

The above phrase was once widely and regularly quoted as the standard instructions given by a doctor to his/her patient when the patient was prescribed a regimen of pills or tablets to take to cure an ailment of some sort. Not a whole lot of pomp and circumstance, but medicine was somewhat simpler in those days and not as many options were available to doctors in terms of antibiotics and other disease-fighting medications.

Wow. That prescription surely seems incredibly simple and unassuming today. Why… every medication that I receive from the pharmacy comes in a bag containing circulars and precautionary statements that take at least 15 minutes to read (I generally don’t), and the pill bottle itself provides every possible warning known to man. I guess there is no option these days due to the proliferation of medical lawsuits and the cost associated with such, but this communication overload/redundancy has migrated to almost every other societal arena, making it almost impossible to discern essential information from the trivial or anecdotal. E-mail is an excellent example of a once powerful communication medium whose effectiveness has been exponentially diluted due to information bloat. Even a cup of coffee procured at almost any quick service restaurant warns us repeatedly in bold print… on the cup… at least 4 or 5 times… that we must exercise CAUTION!… because what we are about to drink… is hot. I hope so.

If there is one lesson that this phenomenon has taught me, it is that those of us in places (not positions) of leadership (and that is all of us) must separate the wheat from the chaff before opening our mouths or putting fingers to keyboard. My experience indicates that the less someone has a grasp of the subject matter, the longer they have to expound upon it to get at the core issue. The fact is… when you know something really, really well… the less words it takes to explain it.

All of us are blessed with a sphere of influence on some scale. Our spheres of influence are comprised of those individuals with whom we have some sort of interaction or relationship… personal, business, social, etc. To varying degrees, these individuals pay some attention to what we say. On the personal and social fronts, conversations and discussions are carried out on multiple levels and with varying nuances, and although there are guidelines for decorum, all rules and guidelines are somewhat fuzzy. But when it comes to business… and it is my turn to hold court or take the floor… I better deliver something of value that those within earshot can take back to the office, plant, or department and implement. Our audiences really don’t care how good we are or how much we know; what they care about is what we can tell them to do that will improve the operational and financial performance of their department or business.

Doctors can prescribe because they know how to diagnose and they know what will help. In business, the same requirements apply to us. If necessary, diagnose first by asking intelligent and insightful questions, then… be prescriptive! Aspire to be an expert… and execute to such a high level of proficiency… in one or more business arenas or disciplines… that you can prescribe one or two or three actions that when implemented will almost surely improve the business performance of the area or department under the purview of the listener(s). Be clear, precise, simple, long on thought and short on words… but be prescriptive. It’s risky, because your knowledge and expertise and experience is fully exposed and on display for the entire world to see. Success or failure will be visible and vocal and right up front. Failure will be almost impossible to hide.

Clear instruction and guidance is what business leaders crave. And need. Take a risk. Write ‘em a prescription…