Let me ask you an important question:

Wait a minute, Exploit your Project Team? You are probably thinking - He can't be serious. That's a horrible, evil thing to do, right?

You

probably also have visions of unfair wages, an evil boss, overworked

and under-appreciated staff, things like that. Unfortunately, that does

happen - but it is not what I am talking about.

You really should exploit your team - and a trip to the toy store made me come to view this as a viable management approach. 

Wisdom from the Toy Store

While

shopping for a birthday present for one of my children, I came across

the following toy that you first assemble, and then play with:

"Exploiter"? My initial reaction was to take offense at the words on the

box. My second reaction was to take a photo. Translated instructions from

a foreign country are often quite humorous, but it is less common to

have the label or name of a product be so obviously "wrong". It was one

of those you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it moments.

I paced around the store, agitated, thinking about

what a poor message this was giving to our children - nobody wants to be

exploited, and if you exploit someone, you are obviously a bad

person - right? 

Listen to the podcast or read the full article on Gazza's Corner Blog.