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[Music]
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thank you again to Adam and for putting
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on this event I'm really honored to be
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able to speak to you today about stretch
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my name is Scott Simon chine and I'm not
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just the author of stretch but I'm also
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a professor of organizational behavior
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at Rice
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now before I got into academia when I
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was around the age of many of you in
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this room I was working my first job in
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Washington DC and I got a phone call out
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of the blue from a recruiter and the
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recruiter said come to Silicon Valley
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there's lots of excitement here we'll
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pay you a lot more money we'll give you
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a lot of stock options well feed your
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breakfast lunch and dinner every day
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this is a job you should be taking so
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three weeks later I left family and
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friends and I took the job I never
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really reflected on why I was taking the
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job and of course when I got there
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there's also some rather bizarre
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behavior too because the way that
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organizations were judging their success
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was very much about what type of
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resources they were getting how much
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venture capital Oh could they raise how
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many new employees would come in each
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week how many customers could they get
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notwithstanding if even these customers
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are actually profitable if any of you
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remember pets.com of course that was the
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poster child of the dot-com era so I got
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me starting to think about some of these
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behaviors where we're so focused on our
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lives around chasing resources because
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we developed this dependence that we
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think in norther to find success and
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satisfaction we need more resources and
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we orient all of our energy in all of
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our efforts to trying to get more
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resources as opposed to doing more and
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oftentimes that's because we think that
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is the only pathway to success and
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satisfaction so that started getting me
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thinking and I've been doing research
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ever since about well what might be an
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alternative way of doing this and that
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led me to the idea of stretching which
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is a simple but powerful shift and how
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we think about resources everything from
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time money relationship connections
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knowledge it's not so much what we have
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it's how do we use those resources how
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can we be more creative in using what we
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have
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so there's some important differences in
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how our mindset approaches resources
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when we are stretching we believe that
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any resource is changeable so we're
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trying to get a picture hung on the wall
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and we don't have a hammer
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we don't give second thought we just
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take the shoe off of our foot and we we
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get the job done when we're chasing we
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got to find that hammer we got this
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search and search for it if we don't
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have it we're gonna go out and get it
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when we're stretching our whole focus is
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on how do we expand what we have to do
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more with it how might we take what we
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know in one context and put it in
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another context as opposed to when we're
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chasing it's all about what we're going
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to do to acquire the next thing because
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unless we require that next thing we
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can't actually do more we can't take
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ourselves to the next level we can't
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become happier if we don't have it and
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often what's driving this chasing
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behaviors what psychologists call social
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comparisons we look around other friends
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or colleagues or neighbors and we see
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what they have and we think we need the
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same in order to find that success in
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satisfaction but what's lost in this
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whole process are the goals that we have
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whether the inward goals that we're
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actually trying to accomplish for most
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people it really isn't just about giving
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more resources those are usually and
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those are usually means to a certain
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ends but we lose sight of whether actual
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goals are when we're chasing so
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stretching is the psychology of
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resourcefulness and helping teach us
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what we can do better with what we have
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but when we think of resourcefulness we
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usually think of something that's used
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for those in less fortunate
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circumstances so it could be for the
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poor or maybe someone who had just come
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to this country and doesn't know a lot
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of people or have a lot of money
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well my challenge in the book is really
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about how do we embrace the same
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psychology of resourcefulness because if
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you look at the history of many
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successful people who have also found
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satisfaction in their lives they started
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off resourceful they started off with
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not a lot and then the challenge is how
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do we maintain this type of mindset as
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we find ourselves with access to more
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and more resources can we maintain that
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scrappiness the same thing with
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organizations we have the classic garage
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startup but those organizations grow
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they want to show their success so they
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tend to change the way that they they do
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business so what I'd like to convince
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you of
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is there are there are times where if we
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embrace less we can actually end up
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doing more in the same notion of
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resourcefulness that fuels a lot of
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success in satisfaction really in our
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careers when their backs are against the
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wall can help bring us success as we
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move forward so the first thing is to
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own it now ownership is not a word that
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you think would describe a retail
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employee who barely makes above minimum
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wage but what I learned in my research
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is that it has a profound impact on the
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way that people approach their resources
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and I'll tell you an example I was doing
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a study of a chain of women's fashion
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boutiques and I went to the most
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successful store in this chain and to
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the most successful employee in this
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company and I said tell me how you do it
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or would he do this he gave me an
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example he told me about this time where
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he had a whole host of dresses that
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weren't selling he quite frankly
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described them as a piece of crap I mean
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they were falling off the hanger no one
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wanted to buy them so what he did is
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rather remarkable he took a pair of
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scissors and he cut the straps off and
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he rolled up the dress he put a tie
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around it and created a sign and said
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beach cover-up
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it went from a worst seller to a best
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seller now in many organizations of
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course this would get you fired right
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it's called damaging the goods in this
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organization he was celebrated I spent
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the next two years traveling around the
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country talking to his colleagues and
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hearing about their own cut off the
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straps moments and there wasn't just
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about physical products it was how they
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thought about training how they thought
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about customer service how they thought
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about operations in the overarching
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pattern in the day there was this when
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we believed that we owned not literally
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owned but psychologically owned our
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resources we give ourselves the license
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that creative freedom to solve problems
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in ways that are not anticipate a bull
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to constraints unleash creativity and
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the land of chase and constraints are
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absolutely terrible because we judge the
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worth of projects and we even judge the
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worth of ourselves by how many resources
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who's got the bigger office who's got
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more people on their team who's got the
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largest budget but it actually turns out
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that there are times we're having less
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unlocks that creativity
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to allow you to sell problems so in one
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study what researchers did is they
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brought in groups of students and they
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randomly divided them into two groups
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group a was told think of how the time
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as a child when you grew up not having a
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lot that was the scarcity group the
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second group were told think about the
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time growing up when you did have a lot
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that was the abundance group both groups
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were then told to solve a practical
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problem the universities computer lab
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had some extra bubble wrap what should
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we do with this well it turns out that
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simply thinking about scarcity led to
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more creative and innovative ideas and
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the reason is rather simple when we
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surround ourselves with abundance the
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way that the mind works is it focuses on
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the most conventional way of using a
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resource but we embrace scarcity and me
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think about scarcity we give ourselves
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that licence to use objects and think
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about objects in very different ways so
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in this case having less gave us the
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freedom to actually do more right three
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Outsiders solve problems and I should
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probably start with a caveat that I
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don't mean to diminish expertise you
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know if someone were the COO one of you
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were to come into my office for office
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hours and say you know dr. something
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trying they need a tooth pulled I would
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send you to the dentist and tell you I'm
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not that type of doctor so there's a
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there's a reason why we have experts but
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there's also something to be said about
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the role of outside there is those who
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actually know less about a specific
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topic so in one study what researchers
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did is they looked at all of the studies
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that examine the relationship between
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expertise measured by the amount of
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practice someone has and how it relates
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to performance and it turns out that for
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games like chess the relationship
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between performance and expertise is 26%
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now that's not bad although my guess is
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it's probably lower than you were the
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guest when it comes time to music it's
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21% sports 18% this next one gives me a
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lot of pause because it's education and
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it's largely college students it's 4%
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and professional work it's less than 1%
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now there's also a clear pattern in the
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way that the data are trending which is
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essentially as you move from structured
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activities
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like games where the rules are knowing
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in advance and they never change to less
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structured activities where the rules
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are often changing or unknowable and
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these are the things where we spend most
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of our waking lives doing the role of
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expertise dramatically diminishes and
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the reason for this is quite simple
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experts are very good at what they're
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doing but they use tools in very
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specific ways because that's that's how
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they've been trained so they have a hard
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time applying their tools to different
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types of problems when the environment
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changes around them this was backed up
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by some other research that looked at 10
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10 different countries 166 scientific
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labs researchers wanted to ask a very
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simple but important question what is
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the relationship between what you know
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about a specific scientific domain and
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your likelihood to actually solve a
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problem in that domain seems like a
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straightforward question and in fact
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they found a positive relationship the
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more that someone knew about a specific
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scientific domain the less likely they
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were to solve the problem in other words
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biologists were better at solving the
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chemistry problems and the chemists and
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vice-versa
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for success comes from doing not
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planning now again there is important
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times in our lives where we want the
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plan but we often over plan and we over
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plan and we trick ourselves into
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thinking that the reality that's
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captured in our plans all of that
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information all of that data is actually
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true when the reality is is it's very
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hard to know what's gonna happen in five
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years in fact it's very hard to know
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what's gonna happen in the next day and
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the times that we find ourselves in
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right now and in fact if you look at the
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research there's very little correlation
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between strategic planning and
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organizational performance so I learned
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this firsthand the very first class I
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taught is at the University of Michigan
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I was still a PhD student is
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undergraduate introduction to management
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class and lo and behold this is probably
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no surprise to many of you in the room
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but when you put participation in the
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syllabus lots of people want to
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participate so I have a treasure trove
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of hands up in the air everyone was
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vying for airtime so I thought okay
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there's a really simple way of managing
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this what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna
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say okay you're going to talk
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knew they knew then you know I've
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literally go around the horn in the
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classroom and I designate eight or nine
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different people to speak but what would
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happen is I get to the fourth or fifth
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person and with the bravado that you
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might have in some of your classes and
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more than where someone is just so
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confident that what they're saying is
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the most remarkable thing they deliver
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yeah you guys are all laughing for a
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reason they deliver they deliver you
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know this this comment and they'd be so
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proud and it has that big smirk on their
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face and everyone else in the room had a
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look of horror and they couldn't figure
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out why why is everyone looking at me so
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funny well it turned out what they did
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is they had just repeated the exact
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comment of the person sitting right next
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to them who had just spoken so we have a
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name for this it's called the
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next-in-line effect and what happens is
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when we are so focused on preparation
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and we have a speaking order so like I
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had a speaking order the mind shuts out
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as much as nine seconds before it's our
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turn to speak and as much as nine
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seconds after it's our turn to speak and
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that makes sense because there's nine
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seconds before we're planning our
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performance we want that we want to get
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that plan we want that really clever
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comment that we actually miss what just
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unfolded in front of us in those nine
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seconds afterwards we're thinking how
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did I perform did I meet the plan was a
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well received and so we end up not
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listening so what I try and do is you
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know put some more improvisational
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activities into my classroom to get
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people to more spontaneously just start
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acting and gather this idea that when we
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plan everything we end up with better
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results and I think I want to kind of
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leave you with one story that really
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captures this I'm guessing no one in the
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room knows who this is anyone really
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surprised you might know his name his
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name is Dan Wyden he's an advertising
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executive and one day he had a problem
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on his hands he had a client who needed
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a slogan to kind of make all of the
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different media campaigns come together
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so dan why there's a resourceful person
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he was in the scrappy makeshift office
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it was in the basement of a building
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because he couldn't afford prime real
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estate he didn't even have a phone back
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then there were no cell phone so he had
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a payphone that was his office phone
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with his back up against the wall he had
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a deadline and he recalled a rather
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bizarre situation for what he was trying
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to accomplish about ten years
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before and they a man by the name of
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Gary Gilmore was not a very nice person
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was in the news because he had killed
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two people
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Gilmore was a lifelong criminal you know
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horrible person
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but unlike many people on death row Gary
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Gilmore did not wanted to die right away
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so his mother interjected and Gary
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Gilmore's go away I really want to just
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die mom and he kept saying this to all
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of these associations when it was
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finally his turn to die in the execution
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chamber his last words were let's do it
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so that gave Dan why then enough
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material to finish his job because his
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advertising slogan that they came up
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with is arguably the most successful one
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in business history and I think it's a
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great example for three reasons
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one that you think about the context in
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which Dan why then produced this back
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against the wall time constraints came
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up with this idea to you think about
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what he repurposed something that didn't
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seem valuable at all I mean first of all
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you won't find this on the Nike homepage
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I can tell you that for sure but he took
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the slogan of a lifelong criminal his
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last words and turned it into this
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cultural icon and has sold lots and lots
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of stuff and changed our society because
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it's a third part that I really want to
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emphasize here because the phrase itself
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really activates us to start doing
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things and not to wait for the plan or
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the ideal resources think about how many
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times you might hear from other people
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or you might even say to yourself if I
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only had more time or more money or more
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information or more connections this is
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what I could do when we're stretching
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the time to act is right now so what I'd
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like to leave you with is just to
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reflect on those times where you think
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that you don't have enough are there
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ways that you might be able to better
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use what you have to stretch those
00:15:09
resources and find great success and
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satisfaction thank you
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[Applause]
00:15:15
[Music]
00:15:16
[Applause]
