Why do 3 percent of Harvard MBAs make ten times as much as the other 97 percent combined?
In 1979, interviewers asked new graduates from the Harvard’s MBA Program and found that:
• 84% had no specific goals at all
• 13% had goals but they were not committed to paper
• 3% had clear, written goals and plans to accomplish them
In 1989, the interviewers again interviewed the graduates of that class. You can guess the results:
• The 13% of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84% who had no goals at all.
• Even more staggering – the 3% who had clear, written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97% put together.*
We all know that goals are important for success in organizations, departments and personally. But even among business executives, the percentage who can describe their personal goals rarely goes above ten per cent. In reality, we do have goals. The problem is that most of them are unconscious, unclear or unproductive.
The fact of the matter is that ANYTHING will go better if it is written down and a path for achieving it is planned. In other words, writing to make goals conscious and clear and to weed out the unproductive goals.
For those organizations, departments and individuals who think they do not have time to write down their goals or think they have too many goals to accomplish……If there is not enough time to write them down then how is there going to be enough time to accomplish them?
*(Source: from the book What They Don’t Teach You in the Harvard Business School, by Mark McCormack)
