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The Best Idea for the New School Year
Free Meals for Cops at Public Schools Makes for a Winning Situation for All!
Every once and a while you see an innovative idea that you just have to say something like, “Gee, why hasn’t anyone thought of doing that before?” Or it may be even a stronger reaction, something more like: “Gee, why isn’t that done everywhere?”
Now as a management consultant and professor, I am a strong advocate of benchmarking. I cannot stress how important it is for organizations of all types and sizes to be willing to say when they see a great idea that can be easily replicated that executives be open and willing — truly willing — to embrace such changes and work to champion them in their own entities. So many times, we are provincial creatures, and we have to do deal with people who are indeed highly territorial. And thus, one could have the greatest idea ever, but if it was not invented here, in more companies, government agencies, and nonprofits than we would like to think, then executives will not want to implement it in their own organizations. Time after time after time, managers fall into this trap, and out of pride, arrogance, stubbornness, or just…
