"Recognize and Applaud Achievement"

“Recognize and Applaud Achievement”

The seventh rule in McGinnis’ book suggests that small achievements can often be duplicated in larger environments to produce impressive results. As an example, McGinnis tells the story of Bette Nesmith, by all accounts an average person, a single mother working as a secretary in the late 1950s. What set Nesmith apart was a small success, which could have remained inconsequential, had her achievement gone unnoticed. In her employment as a secretary she was bothered by the inadequate ability of her typewriter to correct mistakes. In her past, Nesmith had dabbled in freelance painting and knew that painters did not try to erase their mistakes but instead, painted over errors. Capitalizing on this knowledge, Nesmith formulated a white paint, which could cover typing mistakes. At first, McGinnis spent much more in marketing and distributing her product than she made in revenue. Eventually however, requests for her Liquid Paper product grew to exponential proportions and she was able to sell her business to the Gillett Co. for 47.5 million dollars.

According to McGinnis, “The most successful people are very often like Bette Nesmith. They lead rather ordinary lives until suddenly some small success occurs. Then, unlike the average person, they parlay that small achievement to larger gains” (103). For this reason, he encourages leaders to increase the chances of team member’s success through recognizing and applauding achievement.