Last night we had our company Holiday party.
"But it's after the new year!" one might say.
Yes, that's correct. But who's to say that all holiday parties have to take place prior to the holidays? Do all New Year's parties have to take place on New Year's Eve?
We met the needs of ourselves and our staff by having our party after the holiday rush was essentially over. We met the needs of our clients by serving them diligently during the holiday season, many of them having record months.
We had a great party, everyone had a great time and the calendar had nothing to do with it. We still had the tree up. We still gave some gifts. We still indulged in great food and merriment. We still had the Christmas atmosphere even though the calendar said January 5th.
How?
With creativity and our will we bucked the Buffalo herd.
The Buffalo herd is the group that is heading in the same direction because either someone has had success doing it that way sometime, or because that's just the way it's always been done.
One Buffalo herd mentality was created when the Gold Rushes happened in the United States. Someone discovered gold somewhere (California) and then word spread, so then everyone decided to move to California to secure their share of gold.
In Columbia, MO, it's happened in the construction business of developing housing. In the mid-90S, several builders did very well developing housing until the Buffalo herd mentality got so bad that everyone (and their brother) were building houses. The market became so overcrowded and such a glut developed that hardly anyone could realize success.
In the late 90S and early 2000S, the Buffalo herd turned toward the Internet. Everyone was going to make their fortune in the "dot-com" boom. Many did. Many didn't.
Ann Marie was getting our house ready for the party this past week. She's an exceptional decorator with fabulous taste. She called in an expert to help.
Why?
Because typically you can't see your house, project or company the way others can. You're too far inside the bottle that you can't read the label. Even though Ann Marie is fabulous at colors, decoration, placement, etc, she needed that objective outside viewpoint to get where she wanted our house to be visually for the party.
The view from inside your company hardly changes. Very few new viewpoints and innovations come from inside. If it did, there would be no industry conventions, seminars, magazines, websites or newsletters. Even then, the view of your company is still being filtered through the same industry lens. It's the same Buffalo herd, only larger.
Henry Ford didn't get the idea of automotive assembly from auto makers.
Berry Gordy didn't make Motown a success based on previous successes of record companies.
Why be one Buffalo in a herd of Buffaloes that all look, act, sound and run the same way? What's so special about that? Isn't one Buffalo as good as another?
One client of mine sent me an email last year telling me that she was doing something special for her employees on their paychecks due to the high price of gasoline. She said that she had run the idea past a couple of her colleagues and she had received criticism of her idea. In the email, she asked my opinion of her idea. I merely asked her how good she really felt the idea was and how committed she was to it. When she answered that she was very excited about it, the idea was a good one for our employees, her company and her customers, I told her to do it as soon as possible.
You will always get criticized for breaking away from the Buffalo herd.
It makes the other Buffaloes nervous and to settle their nerves, it makes them feel better to criticize you. They may call you a "disturber" or a "wannabe". Buffaloes make themselves feel better about their position in the mundane "herd" by making your ideas look "daring" or "risky".
There is safety and security in the herd. (They tell themselves).
You think. Your will is tested. You second-guess. Do you stay with the herd? Or.....do you head for open territory? The free-spirited land of new, fresh, innovative ideas?
You may decide to stay with the Buffalo herd.
Even though you may have no idea where the herd is heading. (is it toward the Promised Land or a cliff perhaps?)
Even though you have no idea who the Buffalo was or why they started the herd. (It might be valuable to ask yourself how this herd got started? or maybe how you got into the herd to begin with?)
Make no mistake, the speed of the herd is determined by the herd. (not you)
Many Buffalo in the herd get picked off and skinned by outside forces and influences. (by the way, it's your job to avoid that!)
If you are thinking about breaking out of the Buffalo herd, you should watch the movie Jerry Maguire as soon as possible before you do anything else. In the movie, Jerry Maguire has a moment in the middle of the night where the thought strikes him to write a manifesto declaring his ideas of better service, fewer clients and less focus on the bottom line. He then distributes a copy of his ideas to all the other Buffaloes in his herd (fellow employees of the sports agency he works for). The other Buffaloes superficially applaud his daring only to criticize him and eventually cut him out of the herd (getting him fired). Jerry then embarks on an adventure of self-discovery that tests his will and the worth of his ideas.
Jerry Maguire decided to see if there was truly another way.
Example: Rather than being included within the capacity of the Buffalo herd, you decide to roller skate.
Wouldn't you rather enjoy the fun and daring of roller skating to the activity of running side by side daily where the view never changes?
Country singer Roger Miller had a hit called, "You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd".
When you roller skate, you can determine your own speed. You can be nimble and agile, weaving in and out.
You can even skate backwards if you develop the skill and daring.
It's not as safe.
The fun and rewards are phenomenal.
