Bucking the Trend

November 13, 2023?

Dear Leaders,?

Bucking the trend – going against the prevailing wisdom, doing things your own way, violating the norms, even disobeying an order – doing so can bring you scorn, disdain, rejection, and in these times, cancellation.? Yet leaders who are willing to buck the trend, take risks, bet on their future, and as LinkedIn contributor Matt Higgins says, burn the boats, become the trailblazers that can change the course of organizations and governments alike.?

The drive-thru fast-food restaurant is a staple of American culture for speed of service and convenience in combining two things we love:? tasty food that’s not good for you and cars.? First used in 1948 in California by local chain In-N-Out Burger, national restauranteur McDonald’s was reluctant to install them for many years.? Even after a test run at one restaurant, corporate management still would not advance on the idea.??

It took an unanticipated factor and a franchise owner willing to buck the trend to show that it would work.? For many years, American military personnel were not allowed to enter businesses or restaurants off-base in their work uniforms known as fatigues.? Going against the prevailing directives, he installed a drive-thru in his McDonald’s and sales went up 40 percent. ?Obviously attracting notice from corporate management, he told them what he did, and word went out quickly to all McDonald’s franchise owners:? install a drive-thru window.?

As one thing can lead to another, even small actions can change the course of larger trends. In the aforementioned case of not being allowed to go off-base in fatigues, some soldiers were willing to test the limits and do it anyway, and in other places, local commanders turned a blind eye to such violations, with wiser heads ultimately prevailing and rules generally relaxed as a result thereof.?

Leaders can always hope for smooth service and happy endings in their endeavors when going against the prevailing wisdom or management directives, but we know that isn’t always the case.? After my military career, I went to work for our immigration service as an intelligence officer.? As I learned the system in our visa and benefit processing center, I also learned that prevailing mindset was often neither the prevailing regulation nor prevailing wisdom, and was designed not for thorough accuracy, but for speed of service with no drive-thru necessary.? Bucking the prevailing wisdom, I and my colleagues started identifying fraud trends and how misapplication of law and regulation was facilitating it.? Beyond that, I also told officers what they should do.?

Big mistake, as I found that I was not only infringing on fiefdoms, I was upsetting the system by slowing down processing times.? I saw quality, they saw quantity, and they also saw a threat.? Reprimanded by upper management for neither the first nor last time in my life, I realized that I had the right idea but the wrong application.? Changing tactics, I learned who were the people in the know and enlisted their support.? From there, I went to the linchpin of every organization:? the first-line supervisors.? Rather than criticizing their past efforts, I showed them how it was in their best interests to apply a proper quality standard and used their support as a springboard to bring our higher management along.? We successfully made some major inroads into combatting fraud, which resulted in fewer new filings, thereby allowing for better use of resources where needed.?

As you can expect, not everyone saw it the same way, for headquarters management saw not the greater quality, rather they saw a drop in revenues with fewer filing fees that supported our organization and felt political pressure from immigration lawyers who saw a threat to their livelihood.? They tried to fight us in subtle ways, such as moving the processing workloads to other service centers, but we prevailed in the long term by using our prior success to establish an entire directorate dedicated to fighting fraud, reporting information, and identifying national security and criminal threats.??

Like most such stories, there is no ending, happy or otherwise, for the struggle of those who see better against entrenched management goes on, and our case was no exception.? Leaders must not let self-interested factions deter you from proceeding.? Much like the horse breaker who turns wild horses into domestic animals, you will get thrown from your horse several times, but when you get back on that horse and get to know it better, you will ultimately prevail.??

Those who are unwilling to take risks are stuck waiting in line while others are enjoying the Double-Double with fries and chocolate milkshake while never leaving the car. ?Do not be afraid to try something that bucks the trend.? Have a plan, enlist support, and proceed in a way that makes it in the interest of your organization and management, and you will find that in many cases, you become that prevailing wisdom in a system that no one wants to change.??

Sincerely,

Tim