henry copeland: Gameplay quickly becomes sophisticated as managers develop clever strategies and tactics to improve their chances for winning. One common game technique is to dramatically expand the scope of the goals: "When you said that you wanted to increase our market presence, I naturally assumed that you meant globally. Surely, you wouldn’t want me to take a U.S.-centric view." To really motivate the CEO, another great technique involves claiming dire circumstances if the company fails to achieve its metrics: "If we don't increase sales by 500% and our top competitor does, we will fall behind. If we fall behind, we will no longer be No. 1. If we’re not No. 1, then we won’t be able to hire the best people, command the best prices, or build the best product, and we will spin into a death spiral." Never mind the fact that there is almost no chance that your competitor will grow 500% this year.  Another subtle problem with this process is that when I asked my team what they needed to achieve their goals, they naturally assumed they would get it. As a result, my team deeply socialized their ideas and newly found money with their teams. This has the added gaming benefit of inextricably tying their demands to company morale. When the VP of marketing asked me for 10 headcount and $5M in program expenses, then shared that plan with his team, it changed the conversation. Now a major cutback to his plan would alarm his team because they had just spent two weeks planning for a much more positive scenario. “Wow, Ben greatly reduced the plan. Should I be looking for a job?” This kind of dynamic put pressure on me to create a more expansive expense plan than was wise. Multiply this by all my managers and I was on my way to burning up all my cash and destroying my culture.
- www.bhorowitz.com