Kevin Harrington // marketing // blog

Posts Tagged ‘carrot and stick’

“The carrot has become the ubiquitous symbol of the incentive industry. We have allowed ourselves to be defined by a vegetable.”

What a great line. This is the introduction to an article by Jim Dittman, founder and president of Dittman Incentive Marketing, an advisor to the Motivation Show and a founding trustee of the People Performance Management Forum at Northwestern University.

Dittman argues, “Carrots influence short-term behavior. Performance improvement programs effect permanent attitudinal changes that lead to permanent behavioral changes. Values-based programs help both internal and customer-facing employees understand the external brand promise and their roles in delivering it.”

To read all of this interesting article click here.

The carrot and the stick

A while ago I wrote about how I felt that The Labour Party spent most of their time legislating to get things in the order they wanted. In the world of carrots and sticks this would be the stick.

Today, Lord Phillips, formerly the UK’s most senior judge, has criticised the government for introducing a “ceaseless torrent of legislation.”

The Liberal Democrats have calculated that Labour has introduced over 3,600 new criminal offences since they came to power in 1997.

Do you see why it feels like a stick? I don’t know about you, but I would struggle to think of 3,600 criminal offences. I’ve probably broken a law writing this!

The carrot and the stick

I could not prove the point but I just felt that The Labour Party, New Labour, spent most of their time legislating to get things in the order they wanted. In the world of carrots and sticks this would be the stick.

Then I tripped over a great little quiz about law on the BBC website. One of the questions asked was, “How many Acts of Parliament have been passed since 1801, based on estimates calculated by House of Commons researchers?” The answers is 3,679, but that is only a best guess. Nobody is quite sure.

So, how many have been passed by Labour since it came to power in 1997? The answer is a truly staggering 460. Put another way that is 12% of all legislation since the 1801 Act of Union.

Yes, you can feel the stick now can’t you?