Satisfising Concept

Most dictionaries will snub you if you search for the word ‘satisfising’. The WordWeb pops out the following meaning for this term:

Decide on and pursue a course of action satisfying the minimum requirements to achieve a goal

This precisely has been a big takeaway for me from one of Dr. Lakshmi Mohan’s lectures.

I have always been a person who does a lot of due diligence before making a major decision and tries working out umpteen possibilities in an earnest motive to get to that ‘perfect’ decision. It has benefited me, but I should admit that I have often been left behind or have missed out on some opportunities or have got worked up.

Thinking back, over the last 10 months or so, I have knowingly or unknowingly made decisions that have done me good using the satisfising concept, although I first heard this term and understood its importance in Dr. Lakshmi Mohan’s lectures.

The single most important virtue of someone in the management cadre is the ability to make decisions that have got to be ‘good enough’ to drive the business. Many a time, things may not work out the way you want them to be. You just can’t help it – I believe Life teaches you some important lessons and you just have to move on! Ofcourse, take care not to repeat the same mistakes:).

If you look at Mc Donald’s, its CEO Jack Greenberg, in 1998 took the decision of going in for a major overhaul of all of Mc Donald’s kitchen systems in the ‘Made For You’ project that would help Mc Donald’s custom-prepare sandwiches to order. Unfortunately, the ‘Made For You’ systems crippled the service times. In the fast-paced, low-margin fast-food business; the world’s largest fast-food restaurant chain Mc Donald’s lost out to competition in terms of customer service time, satisfaction and lost a lot of market share.

Next, in 2001, Mr. Greenberg conceived ‘Innovate’, a $1 billion 5-year Information Technology project, as a means to return to the company's roots – the speediest, most consistent service in the fast-food industry. In his zeal to be ‘scud-precise’, he had an esoteric vision for ‘Innovate’ such as:

• To check if potato was being baked to the right temperature
• To check if carbon dioxide in a soda tower in any store had fizzled out

Well, little wonder that the plug was pulled on Innovate – but not before blowing up $170 million. Greenberg was replaced with Jim Cantalupo.

So what did Mr. Cantalupo do? He did a whole lot of things in terms of removing initiatives going on within the company that didn't focus on restaurants or customers. He got the organization back to focus and discipline -- speed at the drive-through, friendly service, marketing leadership, product innovation (improving food, adding more to the menu, introduction of healthy food, etc). And yes, Mc Donald’s came back strong and started peaking again!

Do you think Mr. Cantalupo’s decisions were esoteric? I think they were just more logical, and more importantly ‘satisficing’. To summarize, Mr. Cantalupo stuck to the basic principle of business – ‘Customer is the King; give him what he wants and stick to your DNA’.

Coming to the bottom line, I urge you to try out the ‘satisfising’ concept in your daily life and see if it makes a difference! If it does, then dont forget to write back :).