THE ENTERPRISE
WHEN A PRESIDENT GOES OFF TRACK
George W. Bush is arguably one of the most vilified and disliked Presidents in US history--at home and abroad both. I am a firm believer in the fact that the President has to do "what is right" whether it is popular or not. Unfortunately, on the way to attempting to "do what's right" Bush and his administration has either done it wrong, botched the execution or operated on flawed information which led to further miscues. I have no idea what he is thinking about in supporting this ridiculous (Ted Kennedy inspired) immigration bill. If he is not careful, he could be the first US President who is impeached at the initiative of his own party. Note that none of the Republican candidates want any association with a man who should be a great political ally--a sitting incumbent president. It is getting that bad.
NATURE IS A GREAT METAPHOR--OF CHANGE, SURVIVAL AND EXTINCTION
The dinosaurs once ruled the earth. Then something happened; an asteroid strike; massive climate change, and who knows what else (I'm old, but not that old--this was billions of years ago.) In business, Sears was the dominant retailer in America in the 1970's. Kmart was king in the 1980's. Since then Wal*Mart was invincible, until it got the disease of bigness and the "mid-life crisis" as Business Week called it. Hom Depot could do no wrong--it seemed--until it did; it's flaws have been well publicized and its growth arrested by mismanagement. And now Lowe's has discovered that when you get very large, it's much harder to grow as rapidly or to make moves as nimbly; and being big doesn't make you smarter or better!
IBM computers were once indispensable; no more; now IBM is a systems/solution/service company. Remember Pan Am and TWA? Gone, to be replaced by Southwest and a gaggle of smaller upstarts, all of which served customers better, cheaper and more responsively. Dell's "make to order" model was golden as it kicked Compaq at every opportunity. But that was then, and this is now. Now HP, the company that bought Compaq, is kicking Dell around. It just took some time for HP to get a real operator in the CEO spot, and for Dell to rely too long on an old way of competing. Remember when Apple was everybody's favorite quaint, quirky little computer company--until Steve Jobs came back and finished what he started. Now it is fast becoming a design and consumer product innovation leader, and its market share (and profit) is growing nicely. Intel wouldn't consider AMD as a real competitor--until it became a formidable one. By the time the incumbents realize it, it's too late.
Enron had business magic trading in commodities and ...smoke and mirrors, it turns out. Global Crossing and Qwest would circle the globe with optical fiber and own the airwaves. WorldCom could even buy the ailing MCI and turn it around (on paper that is). The list of dot-coms and tel-coms that went from the pinnacle to the bone-pile, would be even more astounding. So many business writers have had to practice some revisionist writing to correct for the glowing praise heaped on these companies in their glory days. You see, what looks good at one time, may not look very good at all when circumstances have changed, or all the facts are revealed.
SHIFTING SHAPE OF THE WORLD, POLITICS, MARKETS, ETC.
Where am I going with all this? Here's where. Everything goes in cycles. Life has cycles, as older generations die and are replaced by new ones. Economics has cycles too. Everybody starts eating beef, so cattle ranchers raise more cattle to make more money, which drives down the price and everyone makes less money while consumers of beef lower prices. Democrats hold all the top government offices until they fall to the arrogance, hubris and power-mongering and get thrown out. (Remember New Gingrich's Contract with America and the 1994 mid-term elections in which the GOP swept into power.) The GOP held both Houses of Congress and the White House, circa 2004. What a great opportunity to get a lot of important work done. Did they? Hell, no. Same problem. Power hoarding, hubris, insular thinking, arrogance and mismanagement.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT THIS?
First recognize it. This happens over and over, and some of it is inevitable, but part of it is preventable--caused by errors in behavior and human nature. Compare GM and Procter & Gamble. Both were behemoths and industry leaders over decades of the twentieth century. One still is; the other is struggling mightily. Why? Management, leadership, culture, execution, brand management, and innovation. I read once that the average life span of a US company was between 40-50 years. I bet it is shorter than that now. Everything accelerates. Change keeps coming in waves and cycles. The Internet, Globalization, fiber optics and Wi-Fi, and finally, the fall of Communism and the rise of radical Islam as vehement opponents of the democratic, federalist, capitalistic society that we think is best.
KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN AND YOUR MOUTH SHUT
The key to long term success over sustained periods of time is to observe how the shape of things is constantly shifting. In business, it is what customers consider to be the best value--now--and NEXT. In my short life span, I recall 78 RPM, 45 RPM, 33 1/3 RPM music records, video-discs, 8-track and audio/video cassette tapes, Beta vs. VHS, CDs, DVDs and now iTunes and WiFi. Becoming too wedded for too long, to any of these technologies, was a fatal error. Moving too soon to a new, as yet unresolved technology is also a problem. (i.e., Blu-Ray vs. HD DVDs) Which will evolve as the standard and winner? Or will either really be a large enough improvement to avert being replaced by yet another media method (wireless transmission and flash memory storage?)
WHAT'S THE POINT? WILL WE EVER GET IT RIGHT?
Sure. Just follow the bouncing ball (as the old sing-g-longs used to say). But keep your eye on the ball. Get out of the office and into the field where the action is--and listen, and look. I am amazed at how few consumer product CEOs actually take their staff shopping to see what's up out there where the action is. People often said to me, "How can you find time with all the meetings to walk around the factory/offices talking to the people and to customers?" My reply was "How do you find time for all those meetings when you know you should be out there among the people and where the action is?" And yet, year after year, decade after decade, the same mistakes are repeated. Stay in your offices, hold meeting with your close confidants and staff and you get--what the Bush administration got--insular thought, brilliant plans based on flawed information, and lousy results without a clue about how to do better.
SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND, THEN BE UNDERSTOOD. (One of Covey's 7 Habits)
1) Get in the minds of employees, customers, suppliers and constituents and understand how they think, what they think and what is happening in their world. That is the mirror of your world.
2) Build a culture of involvement, collaboration, curiosity, interaction, openness and of positive determination to keep shifting as circumstances, needs, competition, technology keeps shifting and changing and morphing--and you, and your culture, and your teammates must be constantly shifting, adjusting, adapting and then capitalizing on the changes. In other words everything changes but human nature and what to do.
3) Don't kill the messengers (whether they bring good news or bad news)--embrace them. Find the truth. Encourage dissent and debate, then, when all perspectives (that you have time to get) have been heard, arrive at a consensus, which is different than total agreement, and also not a "democratic conclusion."
4) Get outside the box; think outside the box; act outside the box, but think big and try small, then adjust and go like hell. Make decisions and then take action. Learn from mistakes and do it again.
5) Be willing to understand that mistakes are inevitable--learn from them. Failure is inevitable, but only temporary, IF you persist and refuse to accept failure**(see below).
6) Just when you think you have it all figured out--YOU DON'T! Something will have changed, and you must change too. AND, IN CHANGE LIES OPPORTUNITY, IF ONLY YOU CAN FIGURE OUT HOW TO CAPITALIZE ON IT.
OK, that's enough for one rant. Time to get out in the world and see what happened and what changed since I was there last. Go on, cut that meeting short and get out there where the truth lies. You'll be amazed.
Best, John
**PS: Example of persistent refusal to give up: Last night, Lebron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers lived up to a promise he made to his teammates. In a pivotal playoff game (3rd win in a best of 7 series to take a 3-2 advantage with the next game at home in Cleveland) against the Detroit Piston---in Detroit, James did something I've never seen in 50 years of being a basketball fan. He promised his teammates that if they all played with him to put them in contention to win, he'd make sure they won.
All James did was score 29 of the Cav's last 30 points, and the last 25 points (and 11 baskets) of the double-OT game, including of course, the winning basket. From midway through the 4th quarter when the game was almost even, James teammates supported him by rebounding, playing defense, setting screens, handling the ball, but when it came time to score with the shot clock running out, Lebron James and his Cavalier teammates would not be denied. He made impossible shots, falling away from 25 feet away, running acrobatic stunts down the lane for either slam dunks or spinning lay-ups. His teammates did their job too. He couldn't do it alone, because scoring is just one part of basketball--albeit a very important one.
Bottom line. He simply refused to lose. That's a good lesson to learn from a 22-year old.
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