Number of words: 183 Soldiers don’t think of themselves – and risk their lives – as part of a huge army; they do that for people they know who deserve their trust and loyalty, people who depend on them, commonly a group no larger than an infantry squad. No matter how big your company is, … Read more

Number of words: 115 Knowledge is a difficult asset to measure. But I wonder, how many millions of dollars of value walk out the door everyday because American business culture is so obsessed with youth that it thinks little of pushing its veterans out. Paying attention to youth is not bad in itself, of course. … Read more

Number of words: 331 He had a great idea and a special talent. He was somewhat charismatic, and for years his sales figures kept climbing every month. His own family and his own community thought he was terrific. But he wasn’t paying attention to his own costs and he didn’t pay enough attention to the … Read more

Number of words: 84 A really good CEO is a chameleon. Sometimes that means he has to be a bastard, even though the role doesn’t seem to fit. Sometimes he can be a nice guy, a strong leader who builds consensus amongst his employees. All of the time he has to know which role to … Read more

Number of words: 141 During the strategic planning process, I learned that at United, as at many companies, management has been intensely focused on controlling and containing labour cost. That is important, of course, but it overlooks the fact that for an airline, and probably many other companies, only a third of the total cost … Read more

Number of words: 331 Chrysler built its cars on speculation. The company would forecast what car buyers and dealers would want” which colours, which options, which models. Then Chrysler would make the cars, hoping that their sales would match up with dealer orders before the car moved out of the end of the production line.But … Read more

Number of words: 224 The former owner of Richier was producing so many products and selling them in so many places in such a small volume, that there was just no way to put this Humpty Dumpty company back together. We needed to simplify and identify the products that made money and expand on those. … Read more

Number of words: 90 Ford was still making wood propellers for the trimotor airplanes in the 1940’s, long after the trimotor plane was gone. They built the propellers and sent them to a warehouse, never to be used or seen again. There was no need for the propellers, but no one in that vast company … Read more

Number of words: 99 I don’t understand airplanes and how they fly. That probably sounds unusual coming from an executive who used to run an airline. But I’m amazed whenever I see one of United’s 747 taking off. How could that much weight possibly get so gracefully into the sky? I have always believed it … Read more