How to Make Your Own Rules at Work

I'm not that proud of it (okay, I am), but once upon a time I single-handedly killed a dress code.

When I took the job as a manufacturing manager all the other managers wore khakis and dress shirts. Some even wore ties. So I did too, except on casual Fridays. (If clothes really matter shouldn't they also matter on Friday?)

Like many corporate guidelines, dress codes are often arbitrary and impossible to justify, especially when a dress code involves employees who never meet customers. After all, respect and authority are based on actions, not attire. And while the clothes we wear can sometimes affect our own behavior and attitude, I think comfort affects my performance a lot more.

(Plus I really didn't want to wear khakis and dress shirts.)

So about a month into the job I let my boss know I would be working on the shop floor the next day. And wore jeans. I waited a week and did it again. And again. Soon jeans once a week turned into jeans twice a week which turned into all jeans, all the time... because I became known for spending the majority of my time on the floor.

During that same time period I was given additional responsibilities, authority, and pay. How was I able to increase my scope of responsibility while decreasing my level of dress code conformity?

The answer is simple: Productivity was up. Quality was up. Costs were down. Who could complain about the clothes I wore? (Actually some people did whine, but no one who mattered listened.)

To create your own rules, you must first perform at a consistently high level -- and those rules must first benefit the company, not just you.

Say you were just hired to work a 9-to-5 job and you want to change your work hours to noon to 8 p.m. Here’s how:

1. Follow all the rules. You're new. You don't deserve to be different. Follow every rule, written or unwritten. Show you can and will fit in.

2. Prove yourself. Work extremely hard. Build relationships. Achieve great things. Become indispensable. The more your employer needs you, the more you can eventually stray from certain guidelines.

3. Occasionally stay late. But don't get to work late; arrive at your normal start time. Find a good reason -- a reason that can be repeated -- to stay late. Maybe you need to call customers in other time zones. Maybe generating a report after the close of business makes sense. Maybe you need production to be idle before you experiment with a new process.

Don't stay late because you just want to seem overworked. Stay late because you will get something done you can't get done during normal work hours.

Above all, make sure whatever you stay late to do benefits the company, not you.

4. Then stay late again. And again. Show you are willing to sacrifice and go the extra mile when the company or other employees will benefit.

5. Ask to change work hours for a day. Explain why. Show how staying late paid off for the company the last few times and how your absence during your normal work hours won't impact anyone. Selling a one-time change will be easy since you can show tangible results.

6. Come in on time and stay late a few more times. Again, show you're willing to sacrifice to get results.

7. Ask to change work hours one more time. This time getting permission will be automatic since your boss is used to you staying late and knows your coming to work "late" won’t create any problems.

8. Now seal the deal: Tell your boss you will be coming in late because you need to stay late.

That's right: Don't ask, tell… but in a nice way.

Say, "I'm going to come in at noon tomorrow because I'll be staying until at least 8:00 to run those reports...." Say it like it's no big deal, nothing out of the ordinary, just smart business as usual.

If your boss nods distractedly you'll know you're in. Then slowly extend the habit so it truly does become business as usual.

Think it won't work? Absolutely, but only under one basic premise: Making your own rules is not a right but a privilege – a privilege earned through hard work and sacrifice. It isn't easy. There are no shortcuts. Making your own rules is always based on creating benefits for the company. The benefits you enjoy are the by-product and not the main driver.

Don’t expect to be treated differently unless you’re willing to put in the time and effort to bedifferent.

In my case I wanted to dress casually, but more importantly I wanted to spend time on the shop floor where my presence really mattered: Working with employees, advising, mentoring, pitching in, spotting problems and developing solutions... in short literally getting my hands (and clothes) dirty. Wearing casual clothing made perfect sense for the company... and then, and only then, also for me.

The same is true if you want to occasionally telecommute, spend time in a different department, eliminate or add responsibilities, tag along on sales calls even if you’re not a salesperson… find reasons the company will benefit and prove the company benefits.

Then you can enjoy the personal benefits, too.

Never forget that the rules are always a little different for outstanding people. First prove you're outstanding and then you can flex your well-earned rule-breaking muscles.

By that point the people who matter won't mind at all, because in effect you aren't breaking rules:

You're helping the company succeed.

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Master Your Phone Or It Will Master You

As we get back to work in 2014, it makes sense to reflect a bit on how we manage our work lives and our work-life balance.

I may be the worst person to give advice about this as I have always loved my work so much that it seems I seldom totally withdraw from it. Yet, I have given a great deal of thought over the last few years to the perplexing challenge of mastering my smartphone.

When I started working, we had no cell phones, let alone smartphones. When traveling, the routine was comical but simple: hit the bank of pay phones in the airport on arrival and check voicemail messages that had been collected during the flight. I would also check for voicemails each evening before calling it a day, whether traveling or not. In that simple world, no one checked for voicemails during meetings and we carried no devices that would tell us instantly when a voicemail, email, text or other communication had arrived.

Fast forward to today, we all carry phones more powerful than anything we could have dreamed of back then. Our phones are capable of telling us instantly whenever a communication is received. It can be set to vibrate or sound each time. Even if not set to signal, it's tempting to check it constantly to see if something is happening.

With a role in a global business, there is, in fact, something happening all the time. For me, that means I have a tool that allows me to be plugged in all the time and an excuse to be plugged in all the time. A typical day for me includes about 250 emails, 20-30 texts and 20-30 social media postings. On average, 80 percent of these communications come in during my waking hours, the balance during the nighttime. I obviously need to have an approach to managing this or it will manage me.

Ironically, just being prompt is not the answer. I have found that the reward for responding faster is more messages come in.

Besides the impact of volume alone, the other challenge with this incessant stream of communications is focus. Focus includes the obvious need to be solely focused on other tasks that need to get done, whether that means debating and solving the most pressing business issues of the day or the more mundane review of reports. It also means focusing on the people you are with – colleagues, partners, family and friends.

Our social rules may be adapting to accept multi-tasking by those we are with, but being distracted in any interaction with someone else will inevitably result in a poorer relationship with that person than would have been the case with total focus. With colleagues, multi-tasking will cause them to think I am less interested in their work. With friends and family, multi-tasking also communicates that they are not interesting or important enough to capture my attention fully.

So, here are my resolutions:

1. Never use my phone in bed. It is one thing to use my phone as an alarm. I’ll do that. But once I’m in bed, I will be off the grid. I will not look at my phone before I turn off the light. I will not look at it in the morning before I get out of bed. My bed is for sleep. The rest of the world has no business in it.
2. I will not use my phone while in conversation with someone or while in a meeting if my participation is expected in that meeting. I think it should be reasonably clear when a meeting requires my personal participation and when it doesn’t. If I am at a sizable conference where I am not expected to comment or participate, I suspect I can have at it and multi-task. In a smaller meeting (a dozen people or less, for sure), I will leave my phone alone.
3. I will not use my phone while walking. This might be seem like an odd one, but any time I walk through our offices or our hotels there is an opportunity to connect with others at work. These random collisions, as Tony Hsieh of Zappos calls them, are chances for collaboration and innovation. If my head is down, they will not happen. Even if not at work, I intend to enjoy the walk, the scenery, the exercise, the break it provides.
4. I will not use my smart phone while driving. Duh.
5. Finally, and I suspect this will be the toughest, I am going to use my phone only when I deliberately decide to use it. Some schedule just a few times a day when they deal with electronic communications. Some much more frequently. There are many decent approaches and every day need not be the same, but all of the good approaches share one thing in common: choose to engage. I will not let the phone tell me when to engage. If I do, I will violate every one of the rules listed above and never truly focus on anything or anyone and the communications will never stop.

For 2014, my resolutions include these five rules for mastering my phone. Let me know if you have any other resolutions I should consider.

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Moodtapes - Ennavale (Instrumental) by Govind Menon

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When Companies Underestimate Their Customers

Richard Barnes wishes he hadn't rented the car.

The vehicle, which he reserved for on a business trip in Atlanta, was absolutely fine. It's what happened afterwards that makes his blood boil.

Barnes picked up the vehicle at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He drove it to the Hyatt in Atlanta. The next day, he returned it to the airport without a scratch.

"Four months later I received a bill for $12,000 for an accident and damage to the car I had rented," he says.

Say what?

Yep, $12k for a rental car returned undamaged. I recently wondered how careful you have to be in order to not get scammed as a consumer.

But there's another side to this issue: How careful do businesses think we are?

For the record, Barnes is no dummy. He's an academic who works for a prestigious Northeastern college, and he knew that he hadn't caused $12,000 worth of damage to his car, and he also knew he had certain rights.

You'd be surprised at how many customers just roll over when they're faced with a $12,000 bill, or more precisely, how fast their insurance companies play dead.

As I reviewed Barnes' correspondence, it seemed they just mixed up the cars and sent him the wrong bill. When I checked with the rental company, it said it no longer had the records of the incident, because the car rental company in question was under new ownership. How convenient.

How dumb do they think we are?

Underestimating your customer — that seems to be a time-honored tradition in American business, and particularly in the travel industry.

SeaWorld is probably regretting that this week, as several A-list musicians canceled their appearances in the wake of the troubling revelations about the treatment of its whales in a documentary film called Blackfish. I guess they didn't think anyone reads Change.org.

It's hardly the only time the travel industry underestimates us. Consider this: The price of a roundtrip flight from my home airport, Orlando, to Frankfurt, Germany, is about $1,200 in economy class. If you'd rather fly in first class, it's $12,000. Now, no one likes to be stuck in the back of the plane, where there's virtually no legroom, service is practically nonexistent, and the other passengers sometimes behave like Barbarians.

But $12,000? Do they think we'll miss that decimal point?

Similarly, loyalty programs often cater to the intellectually-challenged. Sure, it's nice to be treated like the average economy class passenger in 1977, with ample legroom and reasonably good service — but in exchange for what? Pledging our undying fealty to a too-big-to-fail airline? Playing their little frequent flier game with points that consistently lose value and don't even belong to you?

Do they think we won't notice what's happening here?

We're getting played.

Revenge fantasies

I'm heartened when travelers outsmart the companies who underestimated them. When I see folks gaining the upper hand by using unsanctioned strategies, it can be gratifying. Not always, but sometimes. Even though we all know that loyalty programs are harmful to the travel industry — particularly to the average air traveler — we can get some small satisfaction when a clever blogger figures out a way to game the system so that passengers, and not the company, come out on top.

That includes me.

Barnes' story has a happy ending. He phoned his car rental company and asked the company if someone else had rented the car after he'd returned it. Yes, a representative said.

"How many miles are now on the odometer?" he inquired.

"11,680 miles," said the employee.

When Barnes returned it, he noted 4,000 miles on the car.

"Has the car been in an accident?" he asked innocently.

Yes, said the representative. Who? The representative gave him a name. It wasn't Barnes'.

"It turns out that a subsequent driver crashed the car long after I'd rented it," he says. "But I was being charged for the repairs."

He says he asked the car rental company to drop the claim, and it did.

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Rwanda -- a Silicon Valley in Africa?

Heard this mind blow story of what is going on in Rwanda as I'm here in Mountain View, CA having just done a global hangout at Google for the book on startups in the Middle East (www.startuprisingbook.com). I have not reported this out, so only share what I heard. And what I heard is no surprise in Africa -- but is a stunner pretty much to everyone in the West.

Within three years, all of Rwanda -- the entire country-- will be LTE. They are leaping over every other technology (3g, 4g), going right to LTE. Dense populations allows this to happen quickly. They are committing real capital. Korea among other emerged growth markets that know what work are playing important roles.

The government of Rwanda are tearing down city blocks and building new, ultra green and tech-friendly buildings block by block across their cities. President Kagame works 16 hours a day, and is obsessed with the Singapore model of willing an entirely new economy to be born. In the complicated and painful reconciliation that may take a generation if ever to fully complete, he and they believe a new generation must see and be inspired by a future that works. As his term ends in 2017 -- term limits he imposed and seems committed to respect -- his mantra around the country to get this infrastructure built is: "we have until 2017." Everyone is government are doing their jobs with tablets. They are driving a policy of "One Laptop Per Child." (see this piece a few days ago: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6247728/One-laptop-per-child.html).

They and he are obsessed on tackling corruption -- zero tolerance. Best quote of the day I heard: "In most countries in Africa, aide organizations give $10 and $9 disappears. In Rwanda of every $10 in aide or investments, $9 is accountable with performance metrics. And the $1 that disappears, ends up in jail."

They want to be the tech center of the continent. Every country there in the region is visiting all the time to see what they are doing.

If these projections are even half right, it is all remarkable and a great story of our times. And if here, why not anywhere? The potential is everywhere.

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2013 Was An Amazing Year For Tech

If you go by the headlines, the iPhone 5S and Google Glass were the big technology stories of 2013, and Twitter’s IPO was the event of the year. The coverage of Glass focused mostly on its privacy implications — not its ability to change the world. And iPhone and Twitter were just more of the same. So we could end the year really disappointed because nothing dramatic seems to have happened on the technology front.

But look again, at the stories we missed. So much happened, in fact, that I believe we have set the stage for the transformation of entire industries.

Smaller has become cooler in computers.

Tablets sales continued to increase and have eclipsed PCs and desktops. The iPad mini, which at first seemed to be a disappointment, was a major success. Prices are continuing to plunge as computing power and functionality grow exponentially. With the U.S. availability of the India-made $37.99 Datawind tablet, there will be greater downward pressure. It won’t be long before Amazon gives you a free tablet for signing up for Amazon Prime.

This will spell disaster for old-line computer companies such as Dell, Acer and Microsoft.

Electric cars proved their mettle.

Despite a disparaging review by The New York Times, which it later conceded had “problems with precision and judgment,” and negative rumors about safely, range and reliability, Tesla achieved astonishing success. Its customers, who include me,lauded the car. Its stock rose to new heights. Consumer Reports gave Tesla’s Model S its highest ranking ever. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reaffirmed its 5-star safety ratings. Tesla has proven the viability of electric cars and demonstrated their superiority. All major car manufacturers are now developing electric cars for a market that will surely grow.

Technology is improving health care.

Quantified Self devices such as Fitbit and Nike Fuelband are becoming widely available. You even see these on the shelves of Apple Stores. Companies are running contests using these devices to encourage employees to get more exercise. Smartphone add-ons such as theAlivecor heart monitor are being prescribed by doctors. Interestingly, Apple recently patented a heart monitor sensor for the iPhone. Our smartphones are destined to become our prime medical advisers. I expect they will one day chide us to get more exercise, drink less alcohol and watch our calorie intake. They will tell us when we are about to get sick and which medicines to take. We will only turn to our doctors for refuge.

Rosie the Robot came one step closer to reality.

We have long been waiting for robots such as the housekeeper in “The Jetsons.” These weren’t practical to build because of the massive computing power required to understand human words and the sensors needed for the robots to “see” and move. Smartphones such as the iPhone 5S now have more computing power than the supercomputers of yesteryear, which fit into large buildings and required water cooling. With the shrinking of computers and sensors and their dramatic drops in price, we can now build the robots we dreamed of.

It is noteworthy that Google just purchased robotics developer, Boston Dynamics, as well as seven others. With its self-driving car and these acquisitions, it seems that Google sees robots as big business. Amazon is alsoinstalling robots made by Kiva Systems to move boxes in its warehouses. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said Amazon plans to use robotic drones to deliver goods.

Whether we realize it or not, the robotic revolution is underway. Robots have advanced to the point that for some types of goods, it is cheaper to manufacture in the United States than China. I expect that what is a trickle of manufacturing returning to the United States from China will later in this decade become a flood.

I also expect to place my order for Rosie sometime in 2020 and have it delivered by an Amazon drone.

The space race is on again.

In 2013, India launched a spacecraft that is headed to Mars and China landed a six-wheel rover on the moon. China also announced that it is planning to land a man on the moon by 2025. Add to this the success that private companies SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Moon Express have had and you realize that we are at the cusp of a new era in space travel.

NASA once again has competition from governments abroad so there will be a new sense of urgency. Now it has the advantage of being able to collaborate with entrepreneurs and take advantage of the technology advances that they have created.

I am eagerly waiting for reservations to open up for the Starship Enterprise.

Now let me give you the bad news: we still have a few more years of disappointment before we marvel at all these advances. The base of an exponential curve is flat. When it turns upwards, dramatic developments happen, but for the longest time nothing seems to change. This is where we are with robotics, sensors, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, 3D printing and medicine — all of which are exponential technologies.

We were disappointed, too, when cellphones first came out. They were big, expensive and clumsy. For many years, these were just for the rich — a symbol of wealth and power. Today, there are close to one billion cellphones in use in both India and China. Almost everyone has one.

In 1977, the president of Digital Equipment Corp., Ken Olsen, famously said “there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.” The first personal computers were just for geeks and nerds. Then they were for the rich. About two decades ago, we began to question their usefulness and productivity. Now they are transforming industries, and increasingly cost less.

More recently, we became disappointed with solar energy and electric cars. The good news is that this disappointment will soon turn into amazement as well. I know because I live in a solar home and drive a Tesla electric car that I say is a spaceship that travels on land.

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Digging through the Data: How to Separate Quality from Quantity

With current technology, we could amass thousands of data points on millions of people almost instantly. The Internet allows us access to countless surveys and metrics to measure nearly anything imaginable. With the ability to reach almost any type of audience and collect nearly limitless data, what’s the end result?

Usually about a billion bits of information that gather dust while the next pile of data is prepared.

Data is only as valuable as what you do with it. The volume of data we collect means nothing if it doesn’t help where it hurts. Where to begin?

1. Know Your Destination before Reading the Map

Planning for a trip is always easier once you know where you’re going. Data-driven analysis always comes back to the scientific method. The first step of the method: Form a hypothesis. Too many experts overlook this basic premise and jump headlong into the metrics. But if you have no idea what your prediction or variable is, then how can you measure its success?

That first step might be the toughest, so take a breath. Your belief in science now points you to your destination. You have an end state in mind. On this journey, consider data to be your fuel and the reporting engine your vehicle. Analyze the data to see if your hypothesis turns out to be valid. Notice I didn’t recommend discovering as many shortcuts as possible. One tactic isn’t going to totally revolutionize your industry. Instead, trust the science and your own ideas to change it.

2. Let Your Changes Drive Your Research

The analysis and future use of your data is based upon your expectations. These expectations determine the time, energy, and money you’re willing to spend on relevant research. If you’re contemplating changing your website background color to a seasonal print, you have no need for expensive consultants. However, if you’re developing a total redesign of your online home, you’ll want to invest in more than just a Magic 8 Ball to guide the way.

Imagine a small business that immediately opts for a total website overhaul after a short period of profit decline. Did that business measure what was working or not working with the site before? Did it assess its marketing and customer service strategies? Is the outlook “very doubtful”? Instead, that business hopes a stab in the dark will guarantee success. Most likely, it was snap decisions based on flimsy data that led to declining profits in the first place. Target your variables, and base your changes on valid data.

3. Measure around Risk

Now that you have a destination and recognize the resources needed to reach it, you can focus on your variables. Assess your risks, and choose which element you think needs to change to better your business. Is it a higher conversion rate, more downloads, or lower monthly costs? Specifically, how is your “perfect world” version of the business different from its current state?

You can collect reliable data once you’ve determined what you’re measuring. Try to isolate your variables as much as you can. This can be difficult in a large company, but it’s necessary to interpret your data accurately.

4. Use or Lose Your Data

Data is not wine — it doesn’t get better with age. Methods of collecting, storing, and reporting data constantly change. If you’ve spent hours gathering information, put it to work. Get as much value out of it now as you can. Don’t collect data just to store it. Unfortunately, many businesses do use this approach. No clear hypothesis or purpose for the data was established from the beginning, and it winds up collecting digital dust on a virtual warehouse shelf.

Quick and convenient data-gathering devices and metrics allow for obscene amounts of information to be gathered. However, data for data’s sake doesn’t help move you or your business forward. By clearly defining your goals, risks, and methods at the beginning of your collection, you can forge a practical path to positive change. Data can be an incredible tool. Use it wisely.

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What To Do When Your Boss Won't Support Your Great Ideas

Frustrated that your company seems to squash you down every time you try to do something innovative at work? You’re probably not imagining that being too creative goes against the party line.

A recent Accenture survey “Corporate Innovation is Within Reach: Nurturing and Enabling an Entrepreneurial Culture,” underlines just how hard it is for people to develop new ideas in a corporate environment, other than in companies like Google and 3M that have gone all out to nurture innovation.

Accenture wrote its report on the survey as a kind of wakeup call for big companies: If they don’t encourage innovation, they are at risk of driving their most innovative employees out the door and losing their edge to foreign competition.

What I saw in it was a compelling argument to ditch corporate America if what you really desire to do is innovate. You’re just going to end up seething in frustration at your desk everyday, while the action happens at other, more nimble companies.

For its survey, Accenture polled 600 corporate workers and 200 “corporate decision makers” — as well as 200 self-employed people.

Most of  findings suggest that corporate environments are squelching grounds for the innovative. Among the corporate employees:

• 53% said their company does not support ideas from people at all levels of the workforce
• 77% say that new ideas are rewarded only when they are implemented and proved to work
• 36% say they are too busy doing their job to pursue new ideas
• 27% have avoided pursuing an idea within their company because they think there may be negative consequences
• While 49% believe that management support for new ideas is important, only 20 percent say that such support exists
• 42% believe that tolerance for failure is important to support innovation, but only 12% believe their company is does a good job of providing this
• More 51% say their company has a timeline of 6 months or less to decide if a new idea has been successful, but 76% say that this period should realistically be stretched to about a year.
• The lack of support is driving some of the most innovative employees to leave and start a business. Among the self employed folks:
• 93% pursued an entrepreneurial idea within their previous company — and 98% believed those ideas were successful
• 57% said their company was not supportive of the results
• 30% said they started a business so they could develop their own ideas, without having to work on other projects
• 52% said having full control of their business was the best aspect of being self-employed.

I should point out that there was some good news in the survey:

• 52% of those surveyed had pursued an entrepreneurial idea within their company — and 72% had it implemented
• Companies have gotten better in supporting entrepreneurialism than five years ago, according to 53% of respondents

69% of the decision makers said that an entrepreneurial attitude is important among individuals in a corporate environment.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Still, Accenture’s advice to big organizations that want to foster innovation underlines the realities that work against those with a more entrepreneurial attitude at every turn.

As the report puts it, “A good place to start would be to help employees learn how to generate the right ideas. A resounding 98% of those whose ideas have been implemented believe their ideas have been successful. In reality, a good portion of employee-generated ideas just aren’t good enough in management’s view. And sometimes these ideas might be less relevant. For instance, they may be too internally focused to support a client’s external needs.”

The consultancy’s advice is to work with employees to help them focus their ideas so they are better aligned with a company’s strategic goals and should provide training to help them focus on the ideas that have the best chance of success. Accenture goes on to recommend that once a company commits to an idea, “companies must create a safety net to identify missteps and help employees get back on track when they falter.”

While this approach may make the idea of supporting innovation palatable to big-company operations teams who don’t want any money to be spent on a single idea that goes nowhere, it doesn’t address the fact that in companies that are actually entrepreneurial, this isn’t how innovation takes place. There is risk involved. There’s no way to take that out of the equation. That’s part of the reason entrepreneurship can be so exciting. It takes people–and companies–to the edge.

Having interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs every year for more than 15 years, I can’t recall a single entrepreneur ever telling me that he or she was trying to encourage the company’s employees to learn how to generate the “right” ideas. Entrepreneurs understand that there’s an inherent value in experimenting and that even ideas that go nowhere now may bring about learning that sparks the company’s greatest innovation. They don’t see tinkering as wasteful or wrong. They love to break rules–and they like to work with people who think the same way.

While great entrepreneurs generally have strategic goals, they’re not worried about keeping everyone on their teams in lockstep with them. They recognize that some of the company’s best ideas may come from someone who doesn’t think in the same way as everyone else–and aren’t worried about creating a safety net to save employees or the company from the messiness of trying a new project that ends up sputtering. If a project turns out to be a dud, everyone moves onto the next thing.

Of course, entrepreneurial companies typically don’t have to account for every dollar spent to shareholders who do not want to see a company’s employees playing around with their money–the very pressure that keeps big companies from being creative. Corporate workers clearly get this: The survey found that the top two benchmarks they cited for a new innovation to be successful were that it contributes to the bottom line and makes the company more efficient.

Here is my recommendation to giant companies that want to encourage innovation: Cut the CEO’s salary in half. Put that money in an R&D fund, overseen by a board of seasoned entrepreneurs and investors from outside of the company. Ask employees who have an idea for a new product line or service to write business plans and pitch their ideas to this board. Give the employees who come up with the ideas that get approved the majority of the equity–so they have an incentive to focus on ideas that will pay off, just as entrepreneurs do–and reserve the rest of the equity for the company, with a very small portion for the board, as compensation for vetting all of the plans. The blockbuster ideas will have a big payoff for the company even if it is a minority investor.

Meanwhile, if you are a corporate employee who wants to act on your great ideas, here’s an idea. Instead of getting depressed after your boss says no to your next brainstorm, channel your creative energy into finding a job at a company where entrepreneurial thinking is part of the culture–or team up with some other creative colleagues and start your own business. You’re not likely to get a chance to do something ground breaking at a corporation that wants everyone to focus on the “right” ideas.

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