How the 'Streetlight Effect' is Plaguing Most Executives

Looking for Profits in All the Wrong Places

Do you have tough personnel problems?

Finding that those problems always get shuffled to the bottom of the pile? Wondering why you can't get your policies implemented and your projects done?

In Abraham Kaplan's groundbreaking 1964 book on methodology for behavioral sciences, he retells a classic story:

A drunkard is searching under a street lamp for his house key, which he had dropped some distance away. Asked why he didn’t look where he had dropped it, he replied, “The light is here!”

This "streetlight effect" captures the mistake of most executives. They focus where it is easiest to work.

When working on strategy or marketing or finance, there are few inconvenient people challenges. But of course, working on something else will never resolve your personnel issues.

We all work hard at doing the right things in business. It starts with an idea and evolves into a business model. We execute in that model; we review the financials and tinker with the strategy.

Ultimately, we figure the answers must be in data that we can measure and put on a chart or a spreadsheet. But much of the time, this is backward and unproductive. Data doesn't execute itself; people execute based on data — and the people should be your focus first.

You and your people must work together to get the execution right.

"If you are not looking to your talented people for the answers to your business, you are missing the point of being a CEO or a leader."

You aren’t in a position to grow the company, or your fiefdom, when you are trying to do it by looking at anything but your people. They have the answers! If they don’t have the answers or know how to get the answers, you shouldn’t have put them on the job.

Having answers or getting answers is their job. Your job is to help them figure out how to find the answers for themselves. If you can’t do that, you either have no business leading people, or you have the wrong people on the job.

The biggest problems in growing companies are always the people. You are trying to build a sustainable growing business, and your people get in the way. I hear it from executives and CEOs all the time. You know it’s the biggest problem you have. Why don’t you spend your time on it?

You don’t spend your time growing your people because it's hard, complicated and wrapped in human foibles. CEOs and executives tend to focus on the easily measurable things. That's the “streetlight effect.”

"Being a good executive or CEO means doing what is hardest — not what is easiest."

I know people are not easily measurable. You often don’t see that you have a bad employee until you see the results they produce. But you can measure them, and if you do, you can know the results will be successful long before the financial data appears.

You must commit time to measuring the behaviors and key accountabilities of people. Use models and tools that help you build your ability to do so. This shines the "streetlight" right where you most need it — on the human beings who can bring success to you.

Start by assessing them with reliable and validated instruments. Understand who your people are, how they behave, and if they fit the job.

It's not always easy to work with the people in your organization. It takes time and emotional effort to focus on them.

But the best use of your time is leveraging the power of your people. Assessments of their behavioral style, their inherent driving forces, their strengths and their emotional quotient provide the basis for productive discussions of job fit and key accountabilities.

Assessments will measure their progress in developing their talent. Do the work that is critical to your success by helping your team get what they need to be successful. It's hard, but it is the only answer.

At the end of the day, you will love the results, and ultimately, the whole process. More importantly, your people will love it, too.