I was recently working with a group of direct sales leaders when this quotation from Ralph Waldo Emerson came to mind, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” They were in the position of announcing some new products and promotions and were trying to work through the idea of “what would be a fair way to announce it” for everyone on their team. While they were hashing out the issue, the hobgoblin phrase wanted to bounce off the end of my tongue.

Luckily for me, it didn’t. I remembered the quotation as “consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,” and I omitted that critical word, foolish. The issue they were discussing was about treating everyone equally. There were some good reasons for it: not giving anyone an advantage through an early announcement, following the company guidelines on announcements so the excitement of the new products peaked appropriately, and making sure they had suitable materials in place for following up. I was being flippant and on my agenda. In retrospect, those were not foolish consistencies. These leaders were trying to grapple with some significant issues.

What would make for a foolish consistency? In my mind, that phrase applies to a situation where I am trying to be consistent for the sake of being consistent. Consistency doesn’t have a value in and of itself; it’s what consistency produces that should be the touchstone.

  • · If I won’t do a special order for Customer A because I wouldn’t do one for Customer B last week, that might be foolish.
  • · Refusing to admit I made a mistake because “I always double-check that and it can’t happen” is foolish.
  • · Not taking special care of someone on my team when she is going through a family crisis is a foolish consistency.

In short, my advice would be not to be consistent just to be consistent. If consistency isn’t working, then don’t do it.

What do you think? What are decision-making rules essential for your business?

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