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Business Rule #38:
Timing is Everything
November 10, 2005
by Caroline Pfouts
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a wildly successful film franchise called “Star Wars.” Naturally, it spawned lots of merchandizing. This week’s challenge was to set up an in-store display at Best Buy for “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” on DVD and the new tie-in video game, “Battlefront 2.”
Capital Edge appeared to be at a disadvantage starting out this week, because of all the tension between Clay Lee and his teammates. Knowing he was not likely to survive the boardroom the next time his team lost, Clay fought to be the Project Manager on this task. Clay seemed to think that taking on the job would protect him against getting fired. In fact, leading the team is an incredibly visible position that can make it more likely to draw criticism if the team fails. Even though Alla Wartenberg wasn’t thrilled with Clay appointing himself as leader, she went along with it.
At the outset, the members of Excel were getting along well—but the team camaraderie didn’t last long. Project Manager Brian Mandelbaum, who is a native Manhattanite, decided to wait until 10:00 to leave midtown for a 10:15 meeting all the way over in Chelsea with executives from Lucas Films and PlayStation. Even without the traffic, they couldn’t have made the trip in just fifteen minutes. As it was, Excel arrived a half hour late, just in time to shake hands with the executives before they headed off for another meeting.
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What a huge miscalculation! It’s rude to keep anyone waiting. The message you send is: “My time is more important than your time.” If the relationship is worth preserving, plan to be early. It’s a good idea to bring something you can work on, if you luck out and arrive an hour before your meeting. It’s infinitely smarter and more respectful than arriving late.
Worse yet, the info that the executives had for them was vital to the success of the task. There was no other source for finding out what the sponsor companies wanted, not to mention the execs would be judging the competition. No one’s opinion mattered more. Too bad Excel didn’t show up in time to hear what they wanted.
Making the judges waste their time waiting for you is not the way to make a good first impression. Picking between the team that eagerly came to hear us out and the one that all but stood us up? That’s a no-brainer. Even Brian knew he’d blown it. “We’re screwed!” he muttered when the execs had gone and he was left with no guidance on what direction to take on their project.
It’s ironic that Brian made his team late, because he was rushing to prepare for the meeting. If he’d focused on the logistics of getting to the meeting on time with the people who made and sold the movies and tie-in games, he would have known everything he needed to do a credible job. By missing the meeting, he missed the key fact that the promotional push for this movie was Darth Vader.
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If the relationship is worth preserving, plan to be early.
