Episode 685: We Don’t Pay You to Think / 第685集：我們付錢給你不是讓你思考的

 第685集：我們付錢給你不是讓你思考的

本週的播客節目中，Dr. Misner分享了他大學時期的一個故事，當時他有一份夜班工作，在一家雜貨店的貨架上存貨。他有一個想法，想讓貨架更容易上貨，但當他向經理提及時，得到的回答是 "我們付給你的錢不是讓你思考的"。

但付錢給人們思考，正是企業家和經理人應該永遠願意做的事情。在BNI，董事、執行董事、全國董事、會員和Dana都曾提出過意見，改變了Misner博士思考問題的方式。

我們對別人說的話可能意味著很多。如果你要在別人的故事中結束，你要有一個積極的理由。你可以做到這一點的方法之一是盡可能多地聽取人們的建議和意見。 (你不必採取行動，但要聽從它。)

如果你有一個故事，不管是好的還是壞的，請在評論中分享--但不要說出名字，無論是個人還是公司。

更多關於 "你是誰的故事？"的話題，請看第637集 "網絡導師"。

本集由Ivan's Inner Circle贊助。今天就成為創始會員吧

第685集完整版

Priscilla:

大家好，歡迎回到BNI官方播客。我是Priscilla Rice，我現在從加州伯克利的Live Oak錄音室為您播報。我今天在電話中加入的是BNI的創始人和首席願景官，Dr. Ivan Misner。你好，Ivan，你今天怎麼樣？

Ivan:

我很好，Priscilla，謝謝你的關心。這是一個不尋常的標題，是不是？你一定想知道這是什麼。

Priscilla:

絕對是

Ivan:

最近，我的助理，Dana，她很厲害，給我提了幾個建議。之後她問我是否介意她給我這些建議。我馬上說，我不僅不介意她的想法，其實我還想讓她跟我分享這些想法。然後，我就給她講了我今天要和你們以及聽這個播客的所有人分享的故事，講的是我很多很多年前的一次經歷。

我當時21歲。我在加州完成了我的學士學位，我有獎學金來幫助我，但我仍然需要工作來支付我的生活費用。我找到了一份高薪的工作，為一家真正的大型連鎖雜貨店工作，每週四天從午夜到早上7: 00上架存貨。然後我就去上學了。所以我會回家，洗個澡，然後去上學。

這絕對是殘酷的。在某些日子裡，我會工作一整夜，然後去洗個澡，然後早上9點就直接去上課，即使這樣，我也相信，有時候你得做你必須做的事，去做你想做的事。而且很早就知道有一件事是肯定的，那就是我不想在雜貨店工作，在一天中的任何時候都在貨架上存貨的職業。

而我之所以有這樣的認識，是因為我與早班副經理的一次談話。換句話說，他不是更高級別的經理之一。而我在開始工作後不久就進行了這次談話。

夜班人員有一些嚴重的配額，每天晚上都要把箱子擺上貨架。雖然聽起來不是很辛苦，但事實上，這是一項很辛苦的工作，這可能是我做過的最耗費體力的工作。而有一天早上，我在休息的時候，和副經理進行了一次談話。我向他提出了一個建議，我認為可以幫助他搬動許多托盤，我是說托盤，一箱箱的箱子，必須用推車運到店裡的每一個道上，然後再擺上貨架，你知道，一次只能搬一件商品。這是一個小建議。 我甚至不記得它是什麼，但我認為這會有所幫助。 那時經理給了我一生的教訓，這是我在職業生涯的剩餘時間裡都會帶給我的。 他說：“Ivan，我們不是付錢給您來這思考。 我們付錢給您是要在每一個晚上在很多架子上放很多箱子。 現在回去上班。”

Priscilla:

Wow.

Ivan:

是的，我記得很清楚，我站在那裡想 我記得很清楚地站在那裡想，有一天，我會擁有自己的事業。我向自己承諾，我永遠不會，永遠不會說 任何人誰曾經為我工作，永遠。事實上，我會​​告訴他們相反的事情。我付錢給你，讓你思考 我想要的想法。

我想要投入。我希望參與。這是我試圖帶給BNI的理念，當然也是我試圖帶給各位董事、董事顧問、大使和會員的理念。我想聽你們的想法和意見。

現在我不知道這位經理人今天在哪裡，但如果我再遇到他，其實我會告訴他，我很欣賞這句話。因為它堅定了我的信念，經理人和企業家需要做的事情與他對我說的相反。

你看，語言是有力量的。而這不是我想傳授給別人的那種力量。經理人需要傾聽員工的想法，企業家需要傾聽員工的想法，。

他們的意見不一定都是精華，但傾聽表明你關心他們，關心他們的想法。這也能獲得參與感，甚至可能獲得一定的忠誠度，因為在我們的案例中，員工或總監很多時候會覺得自己的意見很重要。

這些年來，我也未必能完美地發揮這一點。但對於曾經為我工作過的人，我真的努力一直在做。在我離開公司後的10年裡，我一直在追踪這位副經理。那時候，他已經晉升為正班副經理。

而我當時已經順利地建立了一個全球性的企業，現在在70多個國家都有業務。我相信，付錢給人們思考，正是企業家和管理者應該永遠願意做的事情。

有時候，我們從那些給我們很好的建議的人那裡得到我們的生活經驗。有時，我們從那些給我們可怕建議的人那裡得到我們的人生教訓。通過運用一點辨別力，它們其實都可以成為一種禮物。他的當然是我的一份禮物。我盡了最大的努力，絕不、絕不遵循它。那麼，是不是和你想像的方向略有不同呢？

Priscilla:

是的，當然是這樣。這對一些很糟糕的建議來說是個很好的啟示。

Ivan:

是啊，這是非常糟糕的建議。你知道，我認為有時經理，企業家， 只是必須完成所有的事情。他們只是不想讓人們說話， 他們只是想讓他們做。我明白這一點。但與此同時，我認為關注與你一起工作的人，以及為你工作的人，並聽取他們的意見，是非常重要的。

因為有時他們確實，事實上。我不知道有多少次為我工作的人給了我建議，改變了我所做的事情。無論是你說的Dana，我的助理，她給我提了很多建議，比如說，哦，哇，我沒有想到，謝謝你；還是董事、執行董事、全國董事、成員，他們提出的意見，改變了我思考問題的方式。

我不知道你是否還記得，Priscilla，在我們的播客之一，我不記得數量，我談到，我可能已經做了不止一次，我們如何在我們的故事中的人，我們分享我們的經驗，我們講述的人已經在我們的故事，在我們的生活中，他們已經在我們的生活中有所作為，以某種方式。一般來說，我們談論的這些人都是有積極影響的人。

而其中一件事，我知道我在以前的播客中說過，最重要的不是誰在你的故事裡，因為我們都有這個問題。問題是，你在誰的故事裡？以及為什麼你在他們的故事裡？語言是有力量的。我們對人說的話，可以意味深長。你可以以消極的方式出現在別人的故事裡 就像這位副經理一樣 或者你可以以積極的方式出現在別人的故事裡。

而我的建議是，我們都要嘗試以積極的方式參與到別人的故事中去。而你能做到這一點的方法之一，就是始終，至少盡可能多地聽取人們的建議和意見。因為它們也很重要。這就是我今天的信息。 Priscilla

Priscilla:

我喜歡這個消息，Ivan。它顯示了大量的尊重 為你工作的人，你的工作。我認為每個人都受益於此。

Ivan:

是啊，聽著 ，如果你有一個故事，好的或壞的， 把好的，壞的，分享於此， 但如果它是壞的，不要點名，好嗎，或者說出公司的名字。但如果你有一個故事無論好的或壞的，我很想在BNI播客上看到它。今天就到這裡吧 Priscilla，交回到你身邊。

Priscilla:

好吧，太好了，Ivan， 非常感謝你。好了，本週就到這裡了。我想告訴大家，這個播客的贊助商是Ivan的內心世界。去看看www.IvansInnerCircle.com，裡面的精彩內容。他為你收集了大量有趣的話題，你可以了解，也可以參與。非常感謝你的收聽。我是Priscilla Rice，我們期待您下週再次加入我們，參加另一集《BNI官方播客》的精彩節目。

Episode 685: We Don’t Pay You to Think

December 9, 2020 by Ivan Misner 10 Comments

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Synopsis

This week on the podcast, Dr. Misner shares a story from his college days, when he had a night-shift job stocking shelves at a grocery store. He had an idea for making it easier to get the shelves stocked, but when he mentioned it to his manager, the response was “We don’t pay you to think.”

But paying people to think is exactly what entrepreneurs and managers should always be willing to do. At BNI, Directors, Executive Directors, National Directors, Members, and Dana have all made observations that have changed the way Dr. Misner thinks about things.

The things we say to people can mean a lot. If you’re going to end up in someone’s story, you want to be in it for a positive reason. One of the ways you can do that is to listen to people’s advice and opinions as much as you can. (You don’t have to act on it, but listen to it.)

If you have a story, good or bad, share it in the comments—but don’t name names, either individuals or companies.

For more on the topic of “Whose story are you in?” check out Episode 637, “The Networking Mentor.”

This episode is sponsored by Ivan’s Inner Circle. Become a founding member today!

Complete Transcript of Episode 685

Priscilla:
Hello everybody, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast. I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. And I’m joined on the phone today by the Founder and the Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan. How are you today?

Ivan:
I’m doing okay, Priscilla, thanks for asking. That’s an unusual title, isn’t it? You’ve got to be wondering what this is about.

Priscilla:
Definitely.

Ivan:
Well recently, my assistant, Dana, who’s amazing, made a couple of suggestions to me. And afterwards, she asked if I minded her giving these suggestions to me. And I immediately said that not only did I not mind her ideas, I actually wanted her to share those ideas with me. I then told her the story that I’m going to share with you today, and with everyone listening to this podcast, about an experience of mine many, many years ago.

I was 21 years old. I was finishing up my bachelor’s degree in California and I had scholarships to help but I still needed to work a job to pay for my living expenses. And I found a good paying position working for a really large chain grocery store, stocking shelves from midnight until 7:00 a.m. four days a week. And then I went to school. So I would go home, get a shower, and go to school. It was brutal, absolutely brutal. And on some days, I would work all night and go get that shower, and then go straight into classes by 9:00 a.m. Even then, I believed that sometimes you got to do what you got to do, to get to do what you want to do. And early on I knew one thing for certain, and that was that I did not want to work at a grocery store stocking shelves at any hour of the day for a career.

And I came to that realization because of one conversation that I had with the early-shift Assistant Manager. In other words, he was not one of the higher-level assistant managers. And I had this conversation soon after I started working there. The night crew had some serious quotas for boxes that had to go up on the shelves each and every night. While it didn’t sound very hard, the truth is it was back-breaking work and it was probably the most physical job I’ve ever had. And one morning as I was coming off a break, I had a conversation with the Assistant Manager. I made a suggestion to him that I thought would help in moving the many pallets, I mean pallets, of boxes that had to be taken by dolly to every aisle in the store and then put up on the shelves, you know, one item at a time. It was a small suggestion. I don’t even remember what it was, but I thought it would help. And that’s when the Assistant Manager gave me a life lesson that I would take with me for the rest of my career. He said, “Ivan, we don’t pay you to think. We pay you to get lots of boxes on lots of shelves every single night. Now go back to work.”

Priscilla:
Wow.

Ivan:
Yeah. And I remember so vividly standing there thinking, someday, I’m gonna own my own business. And I promised myself that I will never, ever say that to anyone who ever works for me, ever. In fact, I’ll tell them the opposite. I pay you to think. I want ideas. I want input. I want engagement. And that’s the philosophy that I’ve tried to bring to BNI, and it’s certainly the philosophy I’ve tried to bring with Directors, as well as Director Consultants and Ambassadors and Members. I want to hear your thoughts and ideas. Now I have no idea where this manager is today, but if I ever met him again, I’d actually tell him that I appreciate that comment. Because it cemented my belief that managers and entrepreneurs need to do the opposite of what he said to me.

You see words have power. And that’s not the kind of power I want to impart on other people. Managers need to listen to the ideas, entrepreneurs need to listen to the ideas, that employees have. They may not all be gems but listening shows you care about them and you care about their ideas. It also gets engagement, and possibly, even a certain amount of loyalty because the employee or the Director, in our cases many times, feels that their input matters. And I may not have played this perfectly over the years. But it’s something I truly strive to always do with people who have worked for me. I kept track of this Assistant Manager for about 10 years after I left the company. At that point, he had been promoted to the main-shift Assistant Manager.

And I was well on my way to building a global enterprise by that time, that now has operations in more than 70 countries. I believe that paying people to think is exactly what entrepreneurs and managers should always be willing to do. Sometimes, we get our life lessons from people who give us great advice. And sometimes we get our life lessons from people who give us horrible advice. By applying a little discernment, they can actually both be a gift. His was certainly a gift for me. I did my best to never, ever follow it. So, did it go in a slightly different direction than you thought?

Priscilla:
Yes, it certainly did. And that’s a great takeaway for some pretty bad advice.

Ivan:
Yeah, it was pretty bad advice. And you know, I think sometimes managers, entrepreneurs, just get so frustrated with all the things that have to be done. They just don’t want people talking, they just want them doing. And I get that. But at the same time, I think it’s really important to pay attention to the people that work with you and for you and hear them out. Because sometimes they do, in fact, have a gem. And I can’t tell you how many times the people who’ve worked for me gave me advice that changed what it was I was doing. Whether you’re talking about Dana, my assistant, who has many suggestions that I have, like, oh, wow, I didn’t think of that, thank you; to Directors, Executive Directors, National Directors, Members, who have made observations that have changed the way I’ve thought about things. And I don’t know if you remember, Priscilla, on one of our podcasts, I don’t remember the number, I talked about, and I may have done this more than once, how we have people in our story, that we share our experiences, and we tell about people that have been in our story, that are in our life, and that they’ve made a difference in our life, somehow, some way. And generally, these people we talk about are people that have had a positive difference. And one of the things, I know I’ve said this in a previous podcast, is that what’s most important is not who’s in your story, because we all have that. The question is, whose story are you in? And why are you in their story? Words have power. And the things we say to people can mean a lot. And you can be in someone’s story in a negative way, as this Assistant Manager was, or you can be in someone’s story in a positive way. And what I’m suggesting is that we all try to be in someone’s story in a positive way. And one of the ways you can do that is to always, as much as possible at least, listen to people’s advice and opinions. Because they, too, matter. And that’s my message for today. Priscilla.

Priscilla:
I like that message, Ivan. It shows a great deal of respect for the people that  work for you and that you work with. And I think everybody benefits from that.

Ivan:
Yeah. And listen, if you have a story, good or bad, put the good ones, the good, the bad, the ugly, but if it’s bad, don’t name names, okay. Or name the companies. But if you’ve got a story, good or bad, I’d love to see it here on the BNI podcast. That’s it for today. Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Okay, great, Ivan, thank you so much. Well, that’s it for this week. I’d like to tell you that the sponsor for this podcast is Ivan’s Inner Circle. Go check out the great content that’s available at www.IvansInnerCircle.com. He has assembled a huge variety of interesting topics for you to learn about and also to participate in. Thank you so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

https://www.bnipodcast.com/2020/12/09/episode-685-we-dont-pay-you-to-think/