Shut Up and Listen

This may be a rather crass way to start a new year. However, it tells a critically important story. I have several children; I have learned a lot from them. One particular lesson continues to play an important role in my life.

Late one night one of the teens came home from a school activity. He was upset. I do not remember the situation. However, as a caring father, I tried to solve his problem. In a moment of extreme frustration he said to me, “Dad, shut up and listen!” I was stunned. My children never talked to me that way, and here I was trying to help.  My first reaction was one of indignation with a twinge of hurt. Fortunately, I was so caught off guard that I stopped talking. He then poured out his problems and his feelings. After getting it all out, he asked for my input and my help.

Through all of my experiences, training, and education, this advice from a child tops the stack. Through my observations of many organizations, this one change – leadership talking less and listening more – would mean the difference between marginal success and optimal success, or even between success and failure.

As I look around at businesses and organization, I want to shout that advice to them: “shut up and listen!” No, I am not talking about listening to me. I am talking to leadership about being willing to stop amid all of the “stuff” that goes on unceasingly around them. I am saying, as my son did to me, to just close the mouth long enough to hear what is really going on. With all of the really poor decisions  many American businesses have made in the past, they need to get out of the telling mode and into the learning mode; perhaps starting with their employees.

As a New Year’s resolution, perhaps we could all be more willing to listen and more willing to learn.

Ethics in pricing. . . or. . . it is how much?

The little plastic lever that actuates the water dispenser on the refrigerator, broke. Of course, this little device is not necessary for the operation of the refrigerator itself, but it is nice to have. Instead of incurring a service call that I assumed would be more expensive than the item, I decided to take care of it myself. As in most experiences,  this precipitated a learning chain.

First, I needed the part. Looking online revealed a price ranging from $80 to $120. Eighty to one-hundred and twenty dollars!  There must be some mistake. What I wanted was only a little piece of plastic. Nope! After looking everywhere, the conclusion: the little piece of plastic with a little light embedded, shipped, would be at least $100.

How fair was that price? What did it cost to make the item? Raw material, development, labor, etc. all cost. However, in my wildest dreams, I could not come up with a price approaching the ones quoted. I also noticed that the little tray at the bottom of the water dispenser cost $25.00 to replace. It is a stamped, plastic piece. But the experience did not stop there.

We needed a rack for the top of the vehicle. The price of a carrier rack – two bars running parallel – was  over $200. Simple math says that is a hundred dollars each bar! And, if you want crossbars or have it installed, the cost goes up.

Nor, is this price problem relegated to “things.” Services jump in next.

The bill for an MRI was $1120.00. However, because the individual had insurance, the cost was dropped to $444.53. Without that adjustment, the bill for someone who could not afford insurance was the total $1120.00, or $675.47 more than for the person who had insurance.

Does an MRI really cost less to use on a person with insurance and more to administer to a non-insured?

Of course, it is easy to throw rocks. However, ethical business practices and pricing should be built around some important questions: (1) How much does the item cost to produce or the service complexity require? (2) What is a fair percentage of profit? (3) Is the price fair for everyone?

There are laws that protect consumers from gross price manipulation. However, everything cannot be legislated. It is important that organizations and individuals operate using moral and ethical practices. The old “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” could be a nice addition to the organization’s policy book.