Was everyone on vacation last week like me? Come on you all………..there have got to be more comments on last week’s non-compete debunker. You can view one of them from Kathy Kennedy, VP--Business Development, of Payerpath (http://www.payerpath.com/) below and on the NOSPINMARKETING website at www.nospinmarketing.com/page419657.htm:

"I LOVE it!!!!  At one point, <a former employer> tried to have management sign one (noncompete) with no severance attached (joke #1). I just kept forgetting to return mine to legal and low and behold, the legal assistant who was responsible for collecting them suddenly moved to TX and I didn't hear a word about it after that....until I resigned and there were three days of dead silence as they searched the files to find my non-compete.  Love your stuff!  Keep it comin'!"

Note that I will not publish any comments without your permission

It is critical that people in a business be enthusiastic, optimistic, and perseverant in their efforts. That type of positive approach is not optional for a successful business. But too many companies--especially the younger ones, start drinking their own Kool-Aid early on and never recover from their bingeing. Corporate Kool-Aid becomes the requisite cocktail. And their company ends up like the Jim Jones crowd. Drinking one’s own Kool-Aid can become habit-forming and toxic later in life as well--mature companies are never immune. A lot of businesses that have experienced some degree of success simply don’t get it: that their current success is a transitory state, at best. The downhill slide–if it happens-- usually starts by imbibing mass quantities of corporate Kool-Aid.

What do I mean by drinking the corporate "Kool-Aid?" It’s marketing gone haywire. It’s beyond cold and calculated "spin." It’s insidious and habit forming. Employees and companies (and their "marketing" firm surrogates) start making stuff up that they think will sound better (than reality) to prospects, customers, investors, their buddies, etc. But worse, they start believing it. The corporation can do little or no wrong. Sometimes this addiction is born out of desperation, but not always. Usually the inebriated words, messages, attitude and tone come from the top honchos, and then the force-fed addiction spreads.

It’s innocent enough to start: a little exaggeration about what your product(s) does, how well it works, or how many customers you’ve got signed up (and who really uses your stuff); a fib about how well you’re really doing financially-- how much money you have now and what you are putting in the bank, or what you’ll be generating the rest of the year; a boast about how superior your (sometimes untested) products are compared to competitors’ or deriding the idea that you even have any competition; a brag about how much your corporation (and you) will be worth; a cheap shot at one of your difficult customers (who aren’t that important).

But then the Kool-Aid party can transmute into something more sinister. Anyone inside or outside the company who doesn’t buy into the new corporate "truths" is labeled a misfit, troublemaker, scumbag or worse. The corporate mantra becomes: never criticize the company or its products, always exaggerate the positive, and admit nothing about the negative. Now, you’ve got a sure recipe for a company spiral unless you get into rehab in a hurry.

Kool-Aid addicts, themselves, often masquerade as the personable, well-spoken, rah-rah, types, but they are the most damaging type of people to have at the top of a company. They are often so insecure that they can tolerate no difference of opinion and certainly no discussion among equals of the strategies needed (because they know all). These are people who refuse to look in the mirror, refuse to take a critical look daily at what they are doing, rarely listen, and literally continue working with the head in the sand–and will eventually run their business into the ground. They may get lucky. They may make a lot of money themselves (and they could care less about anyone else). But they will crash the business eventually.

Everybody takes a sip or two of corporate Kool-Aid at some point, which is usually pretty harmless. But if you keep on indulging, the result will not be good. So how to avoid the pitfalls of corporate Kool-Aid before it kills your business?

The answer is: Just say "NO". That statement in itself is better than any crummy corporate "mission" statement. Make it clear that "We will NOT tolerate corporate Kool-Aid at any level." Insist on continual, critical self-assessment of your products and business. If necessary, hire someone from the outside to help in this analysis (the challenge here, of course, is to find someone who has the guts to tell you what you may not want to hear). Use words and messages in public and private--that convey the real essence of your people, products and business.

Be positive, be upbeat, don’t let hurdles get in your way, keep on truck’n--but avoid the corporate Kool-Aid--and you’ll be miles ahead of others.

NoSpin Debunkers are free weekly online newsletters written by Tom Ranseen. If at anytime you would like to be removed from the NoSpin Debunker reader list, please Unsubscribe. Otherwise, enjoy, join the conversation, and please forward this debunker to as many friends/acquaintances as you think may be interested–or send me their email addresses. Thanks.

Tom Ranseen NoSpinMarketing 615.383.7157