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, find ways to structure work so that people are in smaller groups, so that they can know and depend on one another. 

I know the argument. Several smaller groups cost more to supervise. It is easy to quantify that cost. You need faith to believe small groups will give you net better productivity, but they will. You need faith to believe that destiny and loyalty will pay off. The results of a successful effort to rebuild loyalty will be apparent. Sick days will decline in number. Workmen’s compensation cases will go down. Labour troubles will still be there, but the goal on both sides will be to solve them, and not to use them as an excuse to fight.

Excerpted from Pg 234 of ‘Lessons from the heartland of American Business’ by Gerald Greenwald