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| Volume 9, Issue 6 |
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In This Issue:
 Lean in a downturn: Six actions to take now
 The tricky truth about downsizing
A company is more than its CEO
 Why a CEO needs to have a Plan B: An interview with Jack Stack
Nolan Bushnell on how to acquire a company for free
Why Circuit City [dies], and why B&H thrives
E-mails that sell
6 ways to be a better CEO
 Smart presentations: Trash the title slide
Why are Tiger Woods, Oprah, and Bill Gates uncomfortable?
 How to revise an email so that people will read it
The art of the self-imposed deadline
Three big assumptions leaders should question
Susan Boyle: A lesson in talent management
 Change your mind before you change your company
Genuine business lessons from Donald Trump
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Lean in a downturn: Six actions to take now
With their focus on eliminating waste and doing more with less, lean programs are gaining renewed attention as the global downturn deepens.
But because of the challenges involved, many initiatives haven’t lived up to their promise—often because the initial rigor fades over time and counterproductive behaviors emerge. The current financial crisis presents an opportunity for companies
to revisit their lean programs and correct the bad habits that are consuming cash and hurting profitability...
Read the article. Back to top
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The tricky truth about downsizing
Axing workers doesn't necessarily make a business lean and mean, says Harvard's Freek Vermeulen.
Downsizing has always been a popular practice in the corporate world—even for firms not in distress. But today, with many companies in distress, downsizing efforts are on the rise. So I thought I might as well look into what we know about the effects of such efforts from academic research to see when they can be a good idea. The
answer? Not very often. On average, they simply don't work. For example, professors James Guthrie, from the University of Kansas, and Deepak Datta, from the University of Texas at Arlington, examined data on 122 firms that had engaged in downsizing and statistically analyzed whether the program had improved their profitability. And the
answer was a plain and simple "no." The average company did not benefit from a downsizing effort, no matter what situation and industry they were in. So why do they usually not work?...
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A company is more than its CEO
The job of the CEO is a nuanced one, but a key trick to effective management, Drucker felt, is to "make people capable of joint performance".
It's hard to read recent issues of The Atlantic and Harvard Business Review and not see one as a counterpoise to the other: "Do CEOs Matter?" asks a headline in the former. "What Only the CEO Can Do" trumpets a headline in the latter. At a glance, there appears little question as to which of the two essays Peter Drucker would have
found most persuasive. The piece in May's HBR was authored by none other than A.G. Lafley, the chief executive of Procter & Gamble (PG) and a Drucker disciple. Indeed, many of Lafley's insights are based on what he learned from Drucker. But it's doubtful that Drucker would have dismissed the June Atlantic article out of hand.
Written by Harris Collingwood, it asserts that "the American obsession with who sits at the top of the organizational chart has gone much too far." We should be skeptical, Collingwood suggests, that...
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Why a CEO needs to have a Plan B: An interview with Jack Stack
For nearly three decades, in good times and bad, Jack Stack has run his company as though disaster could strike at any moment. Now, with the economy cratering, he’s glad he did.
If you think times are tough now, consider that in the early '80s, the prime interest rate topped 21 percent, and unemployment was just shy of 11 percent. That was the economic environment confronting Jack Stack and 12 other managers of a small engine-remanufacturing plant in Springfield, Missouri, as they prepared to buy the
factory from International Harvester in a desperate attempt to save their own jobs and those of the people they worked with. Their new company, Springfield ReManufacturing Corporation, survived that recession and went on to prosper for the next 26 years. Today, Stack, the company's CEO, and his colleagues are weathering a
recession of similar magnitude. But they find themselves in a far different situation. The enterprise, now called SRC Holdings, is a mini conglomerate of seven holding companies with 26 businesses whose 1,200 employees make automobile engines, irrigation pumps, home furnishings, and more. Its current health is no accident.
Having launched the company to save jobs, Stack was determined never to be forced to lay people off. He spoke with editor-at-large Bo Burlingham (with whom he has co-authored two books) about how he has worked to keep that promise to his employees -- and build a company that is bucking nearly every current economic trend...
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Nolan Bushnell on how to acquire a company for free
Right now, only a few miles from where you live, there is a free company that's yours for the taking.
Here's what I mean:...
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Why Circuit City [dies], and why B&H thrives
Many companies that have gone bust didn't die because of the recession. They failed for one reason: They treated customers poorly.
When Circuit City went kaput in January, I didn't waste my time on the chain's so-called going-out-of-business sale. First of all, Circuit City never had anything good in stock, even before it decided to go out of business. A year ago, I looked at the retailer's entire selection of laptops, and all I found were these huge, ugly,
shiny things festooned with garish stickers announcing that they had "Intel Inside" and were "Vista Adequate" and "Y2K Ready." Also, I had read on the Consumer Reports website that Circuit City's liquidator had actually raised the price on many items for the going-out-of-business "sale." [You know what? I don't buy the argument that
the economy caused Circuit City's failure. Take one look at its competitors, and you know that the market for consumer electronics and computer equipment remains strong, even in this economy. You can walk into any Apple Store and see large crowds of people lining up to buy computers and iPods. But enough has been said about how
wonderful Apple is. I want to tell you about another first-class consumer electronics retailer -- a much smaller business you probably haven't been to, unless you live in New York City or are a professional photographer or an avid hobbyist. It's called B&H...]
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E-mails that sell
Turning employee missives into ad campaigns.
The average employee sends about 38 e-mails a day. Could those be wasted marketing opportunities? That's the thought that occurred to Sean Guerin, co-founder of U.S. Imaging Solutions, a Davie, Florida–based company that sells and services copiers and printers. Guerin decided to try WrapMail, a service that slips advertisements
for his company's products into the e-mails his 60 employees send to customers, vendors, and friends. Now, all of Guerin's employees have become de facto members of the sales team just by keeping up with regular correspondence. Several recently introduced products and services, including WrapMail, mailPrimer, BrandMail, and
Exclaimer Signature Manager, offer these so-called e-mail enhancements. Prices and features vary, but they all take a company's outgoing e-mail messages and turn them into marketing...
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6 ways to be a better CEO
A handful of American wineries believe they should use pinot meunier as nature intended-- not as the French dictate.
When Dena Drews, cofounder of the small Amalie Robert winery in Dallas, Ore., looks out over her sloped vineyard 60 miles southwest of Portland, one small portion of it appears silver rather than lush green. What she is looking at is not a crop infection or morning dew; it's little hairs on the leaves of the vines. That's the
trademark of the pinot meunier variety. Meunier (moon-yay) is French for "miller," an allusion to the flourlike appearance on the leaves. Never heard of it? Not surprising...
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Smart presentations: Trash the title slide
If you were in the audience, which would you rather experience: a boring recitation or a compelling conversation?
No contest, right? So why do so many people lean toward "boring recitation" in their presentations? Habit? Fear of screwing up (and thus the crutch of text-heavy slides)? Maybe they don't know better? Or they do know better, but have to give an "approved" (and deadly) presentation. No matter the reason, there's no reason why
you have to be part of that group. You know when the tone is set for a presentation? With the very first slide—even before you open your mouth, if that slide happens to be displayed before you begin. Imagine that: You're on the way to engaging your
audience or turning them off before you say a single word. Sorry to be the voice of doom, but that's really the way it is. Why? ...
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Why are Tiger Woods, Oprah, and Bill Gates uncomfortable?
They have fame. Power. Influence. And more money than most of us could ever imagine.
So why wouldn't they live lives of blissful ease and endless fun? The answer is simple, says author Jon Gordon: It's because they are the best at what they do—and the best are never comfortable with where they are. "The best have a burning desire to improve, and this naturally creates a healthy discomfort," Gordon says. "Winners
like Woods, Oprah, and Gates are always seeking new ways to learn and grow, and the process is rarely fun and easy." The same is true in all realms of business. Highly successful professionals in every industry display a relentless drive toward constant improvement. And according to Gordon, this is just one of the eleven key
traits and habits that separate "the best" from "the rest." To succeed you need to be focused, and have initiative, dedication, and positive energy, Gordon says...
Read the article. Back to top
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How to revise an email so that people will read it
"People think that the first draft is the big event and that revision is cleaning up afterward. But the first draft is really setting up the chairs, tables, and cups, and revision isn't cleaning up after the party, it is the party."
"All first drafts are terrible. I don't care if you're Hemingway." "What comes out unfiltered from anyone's mind is mud." The first two quotations come from writing professors whose names I've since forgotten (and they were quoting other people whom they'd forgotten). The last one is one I just made up myself. But regardless of the
source, the advice is sound: no email should be clicked-to-send without revision. I've found that for your average email, the number of revisions largely depends on the number of recipients. Here's my experience:...
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The art of the self-imposed deadline
For people who work for themselves, the self-imposed deadline is a fact of life.
Whether you're starting a business, writing a dissertation, or consulting for a dozen clients, paying attention only to your drop-dead dates would mean never meeting them. You obviously have to set up interim goals along the way. But the art of self-scheduling is not unique to entrepreneurs and PhD students. It's one that I
actively -- and successfully -- practiced for the two decades I spent working for other people. And it's now making my transition to freelance life a lot smoother. Here are the self-scheduling techniques that worked for me really well in the office
-- and that remain the hallmarks of my working style out on the professional fringes:...
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Three big assumptions leaders should question
Corporate success rests on good leadership.
Or so we all believed. For at least a generation, we have praised corporate executives as examples of good management. To me, one of the most disturbing aspects of the current recession — aside from financial insecurity — is the failure of leadership, especially corporate leadership. So the question arises, what were
senior executives thinking? How did they allow this to happen? And why were they so late to respond? In May 2008, just as the recession was gaining steam, management strategist Gary Hamel convened a group of business leaders and scholars together to consider the future of management. [And so I believe it is appropriate for those of
us who teach and write about leadership to question our own assumptions, too. Here are three assumptions about how leaders manage that are coming under challenge...]
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Susan Boyle: A lesson in talent management
Susan Boyle, who recently performed on the UK television show Britain's Got Talent, has captured the world's attention. And it's a good lesson for managers the world over.
In case you've missed it: she's a 47-year-old unemployed charity worker who lives with her cat in a small village in Scotland. As soon as she walked on stage the audience began to snicker and roll their eyes. Simon Cowell, the show's host, asked her some pre-performance questions in his famously condescending style and, to the
audience's enjoyment, she answered awkwardly. She was painfully ordinary and everyone was prepared, looking forward even, to see her fail. By now, if you don't know the story, you could guess it, right? She more than wowed them. She opened her mouth to sing and, as one of the three judges Pierce Morgan later said, she had "the
voice of an angel." She wasn't painfully ordinary; she was extraordinary. [But there's something else Susan Boyle awakens in us as we watch her come out of her shell. Our own selves. Who among us doesn't move through life with the hidden sense, maybe even quiet desperation, that we are destined for more?...]
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Change your mind before you change your company
Organizational change never works on its own.
Your organization has likely been charting a new course to get through today's economic turmoil. But is your new direction getting you there? History shows that change initiatives--realignment, restructuring, re-engineering and the rest--succeed only one time out of every four. Why so much failure? Because senior leaders blame their organizational problems on faulty structures, systems and processes, and those are the things they try to fix. They are partly right, but there is usually another, more powerful, factor at work too:...
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Genuine business lessons from Donald Trump
He may go through bankruptcies, but he couldn't be a savvier self-marketer.
At a time when Main Street is calling for the scalps of business titans from John Thain, the former chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch, to Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, somehow Donald Trump remains unscathed. Not just unscathed but extremely popular. NBC just announced that it will pick up Trump's Celebrity
Apprentice program for another year. His namesake casino may have filed for Chapter 11 in February, but there are still a lot of leadership lessons we can learn from the Donald. He has mastered the art of defining the core values of his brand and leveraging his brand equity to appeal to a wide customer base...
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