Hays, carrot, horse, and business.

"Work takes a large portion of your life therefore your should find something you love to do."

At least that is what everyone would like to think. However, not every work is considered fun or worthy of loving.

Every business starts out with a vision, a vision that creates work and sets things in motion to transform resources as efficiently as it can to maximise value. In any age, any work requires people to set things in motion but to get people to work or even maximise their ability to achieve requires the understanding of their motivations to work. Money is perhaps the most lucrative and basic motivational factor for the majority.

“The people are operating with one simple goal, albeit unstated: to minimise their risk and maximise their bonus.”

This is one of many famous quotes by former GE CEO, Jack Welch. People work for vastly different reasons. Until one is entirely financially independent, monetary incentive always plays a certain role in the incentive. This theory has been proven and disproven by various model depending on the spectrum of the needs model and samples. Put it very rudimentary and layman’s term, it is not much different than the carrot and horse game. To play the carrot and horse game well, we need to address these factors well:

Hays

For the horse to chase after the carrot, it must have the basic perpetual energy to keep running. The horse lives on hays, and in real world, that means the monthly salary to pay bills and expenses. The horse will eventually have diminishing returns on the hays. It is inevitable as we all age and become less productive as we used to be, but the burden on our backs will only increase over time. Every horse has different condition, and to expect every horse to run equally efficient with the same amount of hays is ridiculous. Winning horses should be awarded while the losing horses should be attended. More hays is not necessary better but hays should be spent on keeping and cultivating stronger horses. Personally, I believe that the horseman (i.e. the company) has the responsibility to understand and fine-tune the horses under its management. Without doing so, it may be difficult to expect the horse running healthy and efficient.

Carrot

Under the game, it is important to understand that when the carrot should be caught by the horse or when to change the carrot. The carrot is both the vision and the reward. It serves as the direction for the horse to run towards. The carrot is not the goal line that the horse crosses in races. In this game, there is no goal line. It is a finite chase after carrots. Every business exits for a purpose, and every leader has a vision for the organisation that deals the business. A faster horse is not the winning formula, a horse that chase after the carrot is. While the carrot serves as the vision for the horse to chase after, if the carrot is indefinitely reachable, the horse will eventually get tired and run reluctantly, leading to low efficiencies on hays spent.

Horse

It is critical to realise that not every horse would chase after the same carrot, and to find the horse that would chase the carrot that you put out. If your carrot is losing attractiveness for the horse, you should consider changing the carrot for the horse. Reiterating how tasty the carrot over and over again will not cut it for the long running horse. Without proper adjustment, the horse will focus less on the carrot and more on the hays.

Only horses that have tasted carrots or success will understand which carrot serves them the best. Horses that have never tasted carrots only understand the taste of hays. It is by no means saying latter kind is any less competitive than the former though it is always ideal to find the horses that would like to chase your carrot than the hays.

So what does it mean for business?

In this carrot and horse game, the horseman puts one carrot in front for a set of horses under the horseman's management. The whole game may be played against other horsemen. If at any time, the carrot becomes meaningless for the horses, the business ceases to exist. Therefore, all business should exist meaningfully. After all, it is the horse that move the horseman forward.

Feed the horse well and give them a meaningful carrot to chase.