John Donovan, former CEO of AT&T Communications, discusses the drawbacks of an incentive system promoting individual accountability in a consulting firm setup. While the intention was to increase productivity, it led to individuals gaming the system rather than collaborating as a team. Donovan opted out of this system, choosing teamwork over personal gain. He emphasized that his career focus was on hard work and contributing positively, which he believed would ultimately secure his financial well-being irrespective of immediate compensation adjustments.
Even though he was entitled to a percentage of much of the work that he helped land for the firm, he decided to opt out of the new system. When people were tallying percentages, he would always say the same thing: "Put me down for zero."
He had done a simple calculation earlier in his life that if he worked really hard - a big differentiator is simply the "raw tonnage" of effort that people put in, he said - he could probably be in the top 5 percent of just about any field.
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