“Norman Naysayer,” the Enterprise Octopus arch nemesis
The Enterprise Octopus has a nemesis. His name is Norman Naysayer. You might think the Enterprise Octopus’ nemesis would be a boat propeller but Norman is the real deal. You all know Norman. He’s the guy who sits across the table and throws obstacles at you.
Quotes that reveal you’re dealing with a “Norman”
- I’ve seen all this stuff before
- Sounds like a lot of employees wasting a lot of time on frivolous stuff
- We already have collaboration software
- Social is what you do outside of work
- Show me the financial justification for this investment
- How does this help employees do their job better
- Show me a business process this improves
- What if people post bad stuff?
- We can extend our CMS to do this
- We have a wiki for collaboration
- It’s a security risk
- It’s too early
- This doesn’t work with our policies
- People will say inappropriate things
- Why should I allow other people to edit my content?
- People will goof off
- This is a fad
- This is a feature
- It’s not relevant to my job, it’s just a distraction
- I don’t want to have to learn a new system and new tools
- You want me to post my opinions publicly?
- Our (my) reputation will be damaged
- I’m not the expert therefore I shouldn’t be the one who comments
- Social what? sounds like charity work to me.
- What’s the ROI
Headline generator
I would expect all these fears to be article headlines and topics of conversations just like they’ve been for other movements over the last 20 years.
Thanks to @michaelsigler for helping me bring Norman to life. Now lets kill him.
Things people have said about this post
I know Norman! In fact I know many Normans! Love it Sam.
Perfect visual for all the Normans out there!! Never thought I’d say this but I would love to aid and abet in the killing of all such creatures.
I once read a Chinese proverb: “Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it.”
You can’t imagine how many times I’ve met Norman, both in my former for-profit career in change management and now in my role as a social innovator. I think he’s somehow attracted to beautiful new ideas like the Enterprise Octopus, and thinks that by sharing her stage he can garner some of her attention, or perhaps steal it all for himself. He’s a lonely guy, that Mr. Naysayer.
Knowing the Enterprise Octopus, she’s the friendly sort, and her first move is to try to include Norman, engage him in conversation, probe him for specific constructive feedback and incorporate any valuable insights he may offer. It’s a smart choice by Ms. Octopus, because if Norman becomes her friend, he can turn out to be the greatest fan club she’ll ever have.
Of course, some sad Normans will only ever be naysayers. To those, I can offer only these words: I’m so sorry you feel that way, Norman. Now please, swim the ^%?# out of my way.
But selling Fear Uncertainty and Doubt is such a great selling point! (or roadblock)
Not that wikis are the be all and end all, but the first wiki was created 13 years ago. How long do people need to wait before it’s not “too early” to participate? The market doesn’t move all at once to adopt something new/improved, but at some point, it’s time to act rather than refuse to act.
And things like Lean Thinking/Manufacturing are over 50 years old, and (well, to me) clearly a pre-cursor to the transparency and agility that Enterprise 2.0 are all about. There’s a movement older than most of the people throwing up arguments like Norman. Perhaps THEIR time has not yet come?
I’m not sure if we need to kill him, but we need to address his objectives with business answers.
I’ve found similar objections in conversations with COOs and CFOs
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/05/01/coo-and-cfo-questions/
I just have to say that the graphics are awesome.
Thanks for this. Though I haven’t a thoughtful add-on, the conversation is important to me.
Yeah, I know this guy … worked with him at a few places. He’s no prettier the next time either.
Nice meme, Sam - this octopus idea has legs ;’)
Kill him? That seems a bit much to me, Sam! Also, I don’t think “show me the business case for this” is entirely unreasonable. I presume that’s part of your pitch for Jive? It is a part of the learning process that we all probably went through before we became such zealots
Man, if I had a nickel for every Norman I met. In fact I was sitting on a panel last night and one guy in the audience said, “how am I supposed to find time to do all this social media stuff.” Plus, 90% of all blogs are garbage… ‘nuf said!
@astrouit
[…] previously wrote about the Enterprise Octopus and now he has introduced Norman Naysayer. To understand my post you would have to read both the above links - if you […]
In addition to Normal Naysayer, there’s also Larry Legal, your friendly neighborhood corporate attorney. You know, the one that thinks giving people the ability to share anything is too much freedom, and wants to require legal disclaimers and controls everywhere. Have you run into him much?
Oh c’mon man. If you’re still pitching this “wiki is not enough” line you’ve not looked at MindTouch. Moreover, if you’re deploying point applications in the business units, circumventing IT, you’re damn skippy there probably is security issues.
Sam, Norman looks more like Zoidberg in Futurama. Great art work !!!!
On a serious note, Norman is the real deal in the enterprise. I have encountered many while preaching Enterprise 2.0 :-). However, it is always fun to have a few Normans in the company to reassert your position, thus making it even stronger !!!!
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I must say I agree with Jeremiah - Norman pulls the pursestrings, and there’s a darn good reason why. His questions are not to be quashed, but to be addressed.
[…] I rekon you could call this my version of Dion Hinchcliffe’s SLATES, by that I mean a framework where future people-centric innovation needs to occur. You could call it “Enterprise 2.0″ but then you’d be using a buzzword. You could think in terms of existing tools but then you’d be looking backwards. The industry needs to evolve to value COLORS more than they do today, to think bigger, to solve the people-centric problems of the Enterprise. Doing so means better/faster/more agile companies who produce better products, services and revenue. Yes, I understand that there are cultural ramifications to all this “co” stuff. But it’s happening bit by bit, as much as we think it may never get there. And the key is to make all this so friction-free-usable that people actually want to participate. That said, it’s pretty easy to be a Norman on this stuff. […]
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