What the F#*K are "Best Practices"

OK people, time for my weekly dig at the Corporate Zoo. I was walking into work today after I was bitterly disappointed by Mr. Woods' attempt at defending his green jacket (woeful putting! For those of you who missed the action at Augusta). As I strolled behind two guys with nicely cut suits pondering where the hell my own golf game had gone the Sunday just passed, I overheard these two guys talk about something to do with implementing some sort of procedure for whatever they were doing. One of the guys kept going on about 'best practices'....What the fuck are best practices? Like mindless research, it seems I have found something else that really eats a me. As I thought about it some more throughout the day and decided to actually devote a little time to try an understand what everyone at management level or higher is adapting to, I seem to have come away even more confused. From what I understand, there is little explanation given by those adhering to best practices as to why they are actually doing it, but it seems that they're all very proud of adhering to them. To me, the term "best practices" means "let's copy what everyone else is doing" and once again, it brings me back to the fact that most businesses these days have no balls to actually come out and be brilliant in fear that they may get themselves into trouble. I suppose, if you are a boring business that gets by on producing safe mediocrity than "best practices" offer an extremely attractive short cut that can be easily cut and pasted into a lovely powerpoint presentation. I think its all an excuse for those sitting in their ivory towers to stay put instead of venturing outside to the real world and actually opening their eyes and ears for once. I know you might be wondering what the hell this has to do with Brand Kudos, but imagine if all businesses continue to adopt so called "best practices" what am I going to give kudos to? Originality counts especially in a market filled with "Masters of the YOUniverse" and best practices the way I see it has no originality whatsoever. As an extension to this, I read a great article in the latest strategy + business magazine: Sharpening Your Business Acumen by Ram Charan. Charan points quite clearly to the fact that business (leaders) need to look outside of their four walls and really study what is happening in world. The ability to effectively assess the external landscape drives the strategic and executional acumen so essential for the new age leader. He states verbatim: "This is the art of business acumen: linking an insightful assessment of the external business landscape with the keen awareness of how money can be made and then executing the strategy to deliver the desired results..." "...It requires transcending the old rules of thumb that are etched deep in the psyches of many executives, and it means giving up the habitual reliance on precedent (best practices??)that worked for many companies during times of more linear change. While this material might make some of you corporates shake at the knees, take note next time you're thinking about best practices. Read Charan..Hee even puts it in nice little bite size pieces you love so much: 1. What is happening in the world today? 2. What does it mean for others? 3. What does it mean for us? 4. What would have to happen first (for the results we want to occur)? 5. What do we have to do to play a role? 6. What do we do next?