I was in a sales manager meeting this morning. Our office head Mark (not his real name), held up a $100 bill (one of the new ones with the blue stripe) and said, “Who wants it?”
I’d seen this at least a half-dozen times. It was usually a contest based on hitting a revenue goal or some other metric.
Mark repeated again, “Who wants it?” I was waiting for him to ask a question or play a game or explain the contest.
He repeated a third time, “Who wants it?” And now it was getting awkward and us thirty or so sales managers who were just sitting in the conference room blinking and wondering what was going on.
Then there was a commotion in the back of the room. I turned around and saw two of the managers fighting to get out of their aisle and then they ran around the chairs and one of the managers, Kevin (also not his real name), grabbed the $100 bill right out of Mark’s hand.
“Nobody’s going to give you anything,” Mark said.
Then we realized this was the point of the exercise. There was no game, no competition, no rules. You just had to take it.
I sat there and felt like an idiot while Kevin grabbed the $100 bill. I pride myself on seizing opportunities. Still, I can’t help but think there are a lot of situations in my life when the $100 bill is right in front of my face and I just sit there.
(Kevin also happens to be a consistent top manager in the office.)