Breaking In

We all try to change our managers.

We think we can break them in like new shoes.

Here's what happened at Xerox. They invented the mouse. The screen you click on. The internet connection. Everything computers would become.

The engineers knew they had gold.

Management wanted better copy machines.

So the engineers tried harder. Better presentations. Working prototypes.

Proof after proof.

Steve Jobs visited once.

Took one look.

Built Apple with their ideas.

Xerox today: $8 billion.

Apple: $3 trillion.

(The engineers were right. It didn't matter.)

This isn't about bad bosses or smart workers. It's about something simpler.

Something we don't say.

You can't change your manager.

They are who they are.

Their style is their style.

Their blind spots stay blind.

But we keep trying. We think better data will work. Or a different approach.

Or the perfect presentation.

That's not how companies work...

Tomorrow: Why "fair" isn't what you think it is.