Mixed Results, February 24th

I once worked for a large organization that had lots of rules. I was in a sales role there and commission was the goal… or so I thought. Management carefully calculated the number of calls I’d have to make, to secure the amount of meetings I’d need, to pitch the correct number of proposals that would be required, to generate a revenue number that they considered acceptable.

During my best year, I absolutely crushed my revenue goal, and I was thrilled with my compensation. But at my year-end review, I was told that I’d achieved “mixed results.” (Mixed results? Are you kidding me right now?) I actually laughed, thinking the manager was joking. But the joke was on me.

They expected the formula to play out exactly as they had scripted it– so if you did not feed the top of the sales funnel with the number of calls they expected, they did not accept your final revenue results. So instead of telling me that my methods were incredibly efficient, (which they could have done!) and that the algorithm architects should have built in a wide margin of error to include other roads to success (which is obviously true), I was told that I would be receiving a substandard bonus that aligned with my mixed results. It’s hard to fight city hall, so I didn’t, but I did haul my commission (which wasn’t subjective and only based on revenue) all the way to the bank.

The recipe for success at work might be narrowly dictated by the suits, but for me those ingredients are always personal. Sometimes a recipe for chocolate chip cookies is too. Do you really want someone else telling you how many chips per cookie is ideal for your taste? (Exactly.)

I make spectacular fudgy brownies which I consider to be a great success because my son eats each and every one and he enjoys the last bite as much as he does the first. I start with a boxed mix from Ghiradelli. (I’m partial to the Double Chocolate or the Dark Chocolate.) I’m a fan because they use a good amount of quality chocolate, there’s a gooey fudge packet to mix in, and I can avoid the dreaded cloud of flour when I’m measuring. (In all these years, how has NO ONE invented a better storage solution for flour?? Ziploc– I’m talking to you.). BAKING TIP: To the mix I add one teaspoon of vanilla extract and a snack-pack size of applesauce. The results are super moist and ridiculously delicious.