Every human resource person and entrepreneur has asked themselves, “Why did I hire this person?” Some people are simply great interviewers, but when they are actually put to work, they don’t really perform.

This got me thinking about Stevie Wonder working as a chauffeur.  Is Stevie Wonder a very talented man? Absolutely. Is he a nice and personable guy? I’m sure he is. Would I hire him as a chauffeur simply because he was talented in one area and had a great personality? Absolutely not! 

Sadly many businesses place someone in a position within their business that makes about as much sense as Stevie driving you to the airport. In this article I will share three distinct lessons that will not only keep your business on track; they will hopefully keep you and your business from slamming into a tree at a high rate of speed. 

#1. Just because someone is talented on one area of business or life doesn’t mean that they are the right fit for another area. I see sales organizations promote the top salesperson to a sales management position, and then sales plummet. Why could that be? It takes a very distinct different set of abilities to lead people to tune into what they want as opposed to just selling.

I am certainly not putting down anyone who happens to be in sales; rather I have spent my entire adult life selling in one capacity or another. Please realize that many times the greatest salespeople are rock stars at selling because of non-duplicatable talents and skills within their personality. A sales manager is often someone who is pretty good at selling, but a person that can easily duplicate and share success strategies with those on their team regardless of what level of sales they are currently at.

Another example that pops to mind is our elected officials. We often assume that because they are good at one thing (getting elected), that they instantly become an expert at all things. Not so. How about nepotism? Sometimes the apple does not fall far from the tree in terms of work ethic, but most of the time second generation people who are appointed to a leadership position because of a last name rarely succeed.

Don’t be afraid to shuffle people around within your organization. One of the best assistants I ever had started working for me as a salesperson that was rather average at selling. She was a little too uptight about having everything line up perfectly to deal with the minute by minute changes that are common in the field of direct sales. Instead of letting her go I hired her to handle contract processing and other detail oriented work. She wound up being a pro at this and a great asset to our organization.

#2. Simple is often better. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone bring in a person with a shiny new MBA or other accreditation, claiming that “This will totally change our business!” Here’s the thing…sometimes simple is better. When we hear normal corporate buzz phrases like “Outside of the box” we sometimes neglect to realize that the answer to our challenges is often inside of the box, but it just needs a little tweaking. When I think of the most successful people in many direct sales businesses, they don’t possess some kind of mythical prowess; they just work the numbers. They show their product or service to more people, and ask more people to buy. That’s it! No complex new theories from academia land based on a hot trend, buzzword or hyped up new book.

Recently, my son and I watched the movie Moneyball the other evening, staring Brad Pitt. It is a true story about the manager of the Oakland A’s baseball club in the 1990’s. Brad recruited a brilliant economics and stats guy (Jonah Hill) who had all of the formulas for success confidently printed out on spreadsheets. Their whole objective was to create a winning team on a very low budget.

They ended up picking up the players that they wanted for the money that they had allocated, and the team went on a rampant losing streak! It wasn’t until Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill started talking with the players, hanging out with them, and expressing interest in the player’s motivation and love for the game that the team started winning. I won’t spoil the movie for anyone, but I will say that it perfectly articulates the fact that all of the parts of a functioning body may be in place, but it isn’t until the heart is pumping that they are truly alive.

#3. Play That Funky Music White Boy! The reason why this lesson is imperative to success is that it is totally one of my favorite songs from the 1970’s which was big around the time  Stevie Wonder owned the music charts. Actually, if the title of this song by the one-hit wonder band Wild Cherry was sent to various committees and focus groups prior to releasing it would have been shot down because it would have potentially offended someone. 

The greatest game changing companies and campaigns agitate people to the point of curiosity and fascination, therefore becoming “Sexy.” When I work with my coaching and consulting clients, helping them build a memorable brand, I use the term sexy to describe the head turning and attention getting approach that a revolutionary brand evokes. Sally Hogshead recently published a great blog on this subject titled, “Woo with Wow”, check it out. She’s awesome!

What can you do to push the envelope? Think of great companies like Zappos, Google, Apple, Southwest Airlines, and many more that have ventured ahead based upon their simple attitude of fun and duplicatable dedication. They typically don’t conform and they certainly don’t strive to please everyone. They simply cater to their true fans and strive to increase the value of their services to them. Don’t be afraid to get a little wild.

While I really ain’t superstitious (sorry, I couldn’t resist), I do know that there are countless examples of success hiding in plain sight every day of our lives. Embrace the success that being funky in business can be!