🎤 YOUR BOSS ISN'T SEINFELD

An old Harvard Business Review interview with Jerry Seinfeld is making the rounds on LinkedIn. Are bosses taking exactly the wrong lesson from it?

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The lobby bar at Tampa’s new Edition hotel. Click for more images. (Nikolas Koenig)

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DEEPFATE 🎤 YOUR BOSS ISN’T SEINFELD

An old Harvard Business Review interview with Jerry Seinfeld is making the rounds on LinkedIn. Are bosses taking exactly the wrong lesson from it?

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (Netflix)

A JERRY SEINFELD interview in the Harvard Business Review from 2017 has been making the rounds on LinkedIn.

It’s a fun, quick read.
In addition to revealing that he doesn’t know what McKinsey is, Jerry shares a punchy take on efficiency v success.

THE QUOTE THAT people underline in screenshots posted to LinkedIn is:

“If you're efficient, you're doing it the wrong way.”
“The right way,” Jerry continues, “is the hard way.”
He goes on to say that “the show was successful because I micromanaged it. Every word, every line, every take, every edit, every casting.”
Repeat: “the show was successful because I micromanaged it.”

BOSSES: HERE'S THE problem with you reading too much into this.

You’re not Jerry Seinfeld.
And your company is not the once-in-a-generation mainstream pop culture phenomenon that “Seinfeld” was in the mid 1990s.
“The hard way“ made sense for Jerry Seinfeld and his producing partner Larry David, way back when.
It does not make sense for your B2B SaaS today.

A MUCH MORE relevant piece of advice comes when Jerry talks about his newer gig, the well-received online show “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” which ended its 11 season run in 2019.

To close the interview, the HBR editor asks —almost in passing— if Jerry ever runs the risk of running out of people to interview in cars while getting coffee.
Seinfeld’s answer is a really good point —and a really good lesson for anyone in business.
“Instead of digging down in the barrel of comedians,” as he put it, Jerry’s preference was to start having the comedians that he likes come on the show over and over again.

IN OTHER WORDS, Jerry’s goal was to maintain his output’s standard, as opposed to adding variety.

There is the profound lesson for anyone in business.
A lot of firms and executives believe that innovation is necessary for growth.
But that can backfire, as companies add products and services that no one really needs or asked for.
Software firms have a common phrase for this: “feature creep.”
It sounds bad because it is bad.
Over and over again, consumers have indicated that they prefer high standards of quality over a wide range of variety.
Examples of this are everywhere.

TAKE INSTAGRAM.

The company was recently forced to backtrack many of the quote-unquote “innovations” they’d rolled out in recent months and years —from pushing Reels by people you don't follow, to the original unrequested feature, non-chronological feeds— after users, including Kylie Jenner, expressed displeasure.

THE CULT FAVORITE American supermarket chain Trader Joe's provides another example.

Most people know that Trader Joe’s stores barely sell any other brands.
Instead, they pretty much only carry their own-label goods, which are usually interesting and high quality things like Aioli Garlic Mustard, Ube Mochi Pancake and Waffle Mix, and Italian Bomba Hot Pepper Sauce.
BUT. A lesser-known, often-felt benefit to shopping at TJ’s is the fact that the average Trader Joes’s has just 7,000 SKUs —as opposed to 25,000 at most major American supermarkets.

THAT VARIETY IS not a virtue.

Heard of the paradox of choice?
It's a concept —and a 2004 book— that’s pretty perfectly summed up by this one sentence:
“Though modern Americans have more choice than any group of people ever has before —and thus, presumably, more freedom and autonomy— we don't seem to be benefiting from it psychologically."
Repeat: we don’t seem to psychologically benefit from more choice.
If you think about it, it makes perfect sense:
Not having to compare seven different brands of paper towel is one of the many reasons shopping at Trader Joe's feels like a superior experience than a stroll through the average Kroger’s or Ralphs.

BACK TO JERRY and his HBS-level advice.

Maintain the standard, as opposed to variety.
In addition to feature creep, spreading your team or product too thin can confuse customers, and burn out staff, leaving everyone worse off.
Instead, in Jerry’s words, “maintain the standard, as opposed to the variety.”
It’s good advice for anyone selling products or services who is looking to grow their business.
And far, far better than pretending you’re Jerry Seinfeld on the set of your own #1 sitcom, circa 1995.

“Life’s Work: An Interview with Jerry Seinfeld” (Harvard Business Review) »»

Feature creep (Wikipedia) »»

The Paradox of Choice (Wikipedia) »»

These are the best Trader Joe's products of all time, from someone who basically knows the aisles of the store with her eyes closed »»

Written by Jon Kallus. Any feedback? Simply reply.