No Brown M&M's Please!
Have you heard of a rock band called Van Halen? They were quite popular in the 80's. Even if you haven't heard of them, there's an interesting little story about the band that you must hear. A story that offers a useful tip for leaders.
Like most big performers, Van Halen too had an elaborate contract with every event management company they worked with. The contract would have all the details of their requirements - types of lighting, sound, the flooring, the microphones, even the length of the wiring required. And tucked away somewhere in their 53-page contract was a rather strange clause: Van Halen required the organisers to place a large bowl of M&M's (those colourful button-like chocolate candies) backstage - with the brown M&M's removed. Imagine. No brown M&M's!
Stars and celebrities are known to make outlandish demands, and you are probably thinking this "no brown M&M's" request is one more example of that behavior. Not quite. As David Roth - their lead singer and guitarist explained, there was a good reason why their contracts included this rather ludicrous request. They wanted to make sure the organisers had taken care of all the details to make sure the audience enjoyed a great show. They wanted the sound and lighting to be just right. They wanted to make sure the stage was strong enough to take care of the heavy equipment that would be placed there. But how would Van Halen know all of that had been taken care of?
Simple. All they had to do was check the bowl of M&M's backstage. If there were no brown M&M's, they knew the event managers had read every clause in the contract and taken care of every detail. If there were brown M&M's - that spelt trouble. They would need to go over every detail once more to make sure the audience's enjoyment and safety - had been taken care of. One quick look at the bowl of M&M's is all it took for them to know if the event manager had done all those little things essential for a great stage performance!
Great leaders have their own versions of the "no brown M&M's" rule. A quick sense-check, a lead indicator, that tells them how things are.
Remember Ray Kroc - the man credited with building the global McDonald's franchise? The story goes that every time Ray visited a McDonald's, the first thing he'd do is go into the washroom at the restaurant. Looking at the cleanliness of the loo, he could tell how well the franchisee was running the business! He didn't have to look at food audit reports and customer feedback scores and fancy PowerPoint presentations to know how business was. The washroom test was a good indicator of the overall health of the business.
As a young sales manager in the FMCG business, I had a boss who'd take one look at the 'Route Book' in a distributor's godown - and he'd know all about how the distributor was doing in the marketplace. And you probably know of a leader who'd visit a factory and check the workmen's canteen, or the scrapyard, or the cobwebs in the fans - to know how well the plant was being run.
Time then to find your own little sense check. Your own lead indicator. So, what's your 'no brown M&M's' rule?
