I worked for Accenture (then Andersen Consulting) in Paris in 1995 when a new team of Englishmen were brought in from London to "turn the French practice around".
Their theme? "Burning platform". The exact same story that opens the memo was their story too.
Maybe this Mr Elop is really an original thinker that will do great things; but the "burning platform" analogy is the most tired image EVER.
Oh, and did it work in Paris in 1995? Not really. It was not an absolute disaster, but in the end (two years later) the British threw the towel and went home, and the French partners who were there before stayed on (are still there to this day).
Totally Agree - while I loved the memo, it would have had more impact with me if it hadn't had it's central theme cribbed from 'the book of management phrases' that I hear from multiple CEOs. Ironically, I was inspired _the first time_ I heard those sayings- because I thought it was something clever our CEO had come up with. Imagine how depressed I must have felt when I heard the same phrases come up over, and over again.
Up there with "Burning Platform" would be "Problems are snakes. If you see a problem, don't hold a meeting, Kill the Snake" and "Our competitors don't have this problem as a central focus, it's like the chicken and pig at breakfast, we're the pig, the competitors are the chicken. The Pig is committed, the chicken is just involved", and, the one I've now heard no less than four times at four different companies - the story about the various people working on a church, and one character, sweeping his heart out, says that he's working for the glory of god (I.E. Do it because you love it, not because it's a job).
I never really got why dying to become someone else's food was supposed to inspire us - but I've heard it a couple times now.
When I've heard it, at several workplaces (decades ago), the stated objective was always to be the pig-- to go "all in." The chicken was involved, the pig was committed-- thus we are asking you to be committed.
Usually, after the meeting, a few of us would quietly point out that the pig was eaten, and they were asking us to sacrifice ourselves to the project, but that never seemed to discourage the metaphor from coming up, again and again.
I didn't hear it "once"; it was a central theme of the transformation story; there were posters everywhere, email campaigns, leaflets, etc. all based on the "burning platform" standard playbook.
The reality is that the "burning platform" metaphor is a classic story repeated ad nauseam in business schools and business books; see this for example (from 2005):
The term “burning platform” is a mainstay in business lexicon for many years.
For those not familiar with its origin, the story goes something like this:
A man working on an oil platform in the North Sea awakened suddenly one night by an explosion. Amidst the chaos, he made his way to the edge of the platform. As a plume of fire billowed behind him, he decided to jump from the burning platform even though jumping is a risky option for the following reasons:
It was a 150-foot drop from the platform to the water.
There is debris and burning oil on the surface of the water.
If the jump into the 40°F water did not kill him, he would die of exposure within 15 minutes.
Luckily, the man survived the jump and hauled aboard a rescue boat shortly thereafter. When asked why he jumped, he replied, “Better probable death than certain death.” The point is the literally “burning” platform caused the radical change in his behavior.
(Please read the rest of this article to know how the story should be used in a business context; it really seems to describe the email, and it's prophetic since it was written six years ago).
Where do you think Mr. Elop heard this story in the first time? What's more likely, that he met an actual burning platform survivor, or that he read about this very common story in a business book?
The “burning platform” inspirational stories are probably based on an actual disaster:
“Piper Alpha was a North Sea oil production platform operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Ltd. The platform began production in 1976, first as an oil platform and then later converted to gas production. An explosion and resulting fire destroyed it on July 6, 1988, killing 167 men, with only 59 survivors. The death toll includes two crewmen of a rescue vessel. Total insured loss was about £1.7 billion (US$ 3.4 billion). At the time of the disaster the platform accounted for approximately ten percent of North Sea oil and gas production, and was the worst offshore oil disaster in terms of lives lost and industry impact.”
By "once" I was referring to the singular situation you were in, not necessarily literally "once".
In any case, I wasn't inferring that Elop didn't get it from there (and that he's a creative mastermind), but my question was specifically about what made it "tiring". I had actually never heard it, but am finding all kinds of sources to it now so it makes sense to me now why you would refer to it as "tiring". Thanks.
It is slightly disappointing to hear that he just reused the story, though. I don't even find the story that compelling -- there's nothing in there about the guy succeeding afterwards, but rather just surviving (and changing his behavior). I could think of a number of possibly more relevant stories.
Me neither. I think it's a rather weak analogy: shouldn't you first try to put out the fire? And if you're running away, jumping to a probable death to escape a certain death, how is that good or inspiring?
But the worst about this story is that you have to tell it.
I've never been on an offshore platform, much less a burning one, but I'm guessing if it were on fire I would notice. I wouldn't need to have the boss come behind me and pat me on the back saying: "hey, listen, I think we're on a burning platform, here's a list of reasons why".
But when it's used in a business context, it has to be backed up by evidence, which means either that the platform is not really burning, or that it's a matter of interpretation.
Their theme? "Burning platform". The exact same story that opens the memo was their story too.
Maybe this Mr Elop is really an original thinker that will do great things; but the "burning platform" analogy is the most tired image EVER.
Oh, and did it work in Paris in 1995? Not really. It was not an absolute disaster, but in the end (two years later) the British threw the towel and went home, and the French partners who were there before stayed on (are still there to this day).