You can't teach height and you can't legislate initiative

An axiom in basketball is that, as a coach, "you can't teach height." Which means that having a tall player is a huge advantage - you can always teach a player how to shoot or dribble the ball better, but there's no substitute for being seven feet tall.

I think the same applies to business regarding initiative. No matter how hard you train a person on how to fill out a time sheet or how to dress or how to use a spread sheet, whether that employee has initiative or not is up to him or her. It's not something that's really taught.

I've been guilty of trying to instill initiative in people and failing. Just like trying to make someone seven feet tall, it's an exercise in futility.

I apologize to those who I've pushed, and I thank those I've had to calm down.


Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com