It's Not Luck - Eliyahu M. Goldratt [108]
Jim says, “I don’t think that this is realistic.”
Granby says, “It’s dangerous.”
That gets to me. Why can’t they see the obvious? Just because it puts more responsibility on their shoulders? Let them think whatever they want. I’m sick and tired of top people who refuse to acknowledge the responsibility that they actually carry. Refuse to acknowledge it at the expense of the people around them.
Give me all the authority, none of the responsibility, that’s probably their motto.
Good-bye connections.
Julie will understand. She will.
31
“So, what happened then?” Julie is not happy with me.
“Nothing for a while.”
“And after that while? Alex, stop pulling my leg.”
“I’m telling you exactly what happened,” I say innocently.
“Listen, my dear husband. I’ve known you for many years. And I know you would not throw your career to the wind and then come home with a face like a cat who just swallowed a canary. So please stop these funny games and tell me what happened.”
“You want just the bottom line? Without what I had to go through to get it? No way, darling. The entire story or nothing at all.”
“Sorry, I’ll be patient. Continue.”
“So then Brandon asked if I am against laying off no matter what the situation. What a question! Of course when you have maneuvered your company into a cash crunch, you must lay off. Otherwise everybody will lose his
“Sorry, but I don’t understand. If that’s what you think, why did you put them off when Jim asked if you are against laying off when the company is not profitable?”
“Because I am. Not having cash and not having profits are two different things. Listen, Julie. Seven, six, even five years ago, UniCo was firing like crazy. The company was not profitable enough, but at the same time it had hefty cash reserves. There was no reason to lay off. That was the easy way for top managers to try to improve their bottom line. Cut cost rather than finding ways to better satisfy the market. Of course it didn’t help. We laid off and we continued to lose money, so we laid off again. It’s a vicious cycle. That’s what I’m against.”
“I see now. So what was their reaction?”
“The same as yours. I had to explain the difference to them as well.” “And?”
“They were unhappy. Especially Granby. He said that not everyone can come up with new ways to take the market.”
“He has a point.”
“No, he doesn’t. We were discussing what a good strategy is, and at that point in the conversation, we were discussing a company that had already achieved a competitive edge.”
“You lost me. If it’s the best company in its field, how can it lose money?”
“Let me remind you where we were. A company succeeds in developing for itself a dominant competitive edge, or as you call it, is the best in its field. Everybody is working, the company makes a lot of money, everybody is happy. Now the market goes down, the demand drops. As a result you have more people than you need. What do you do? That was the question.”
“I understand. What can you do?”
“My answer is that if you are operating under a good strategy, it will never happen.”
“Once again I don’t understand. Look, Alex, companies and markets are not my forte. I’m a marriage counselor. Why don’t you just tell me what happened? Why are you so happy?”
“No, Julie, it won’t help you. You understand no less than they did. It’s common sense, you don’t need to know much about industry. What you read in the newspapers is more than enough. So what don’t you understand?”
“I don’t remember. What were you talking about? Oh, yeah, you said that if you follow a good strategy, the market should never drop on you. What do you mean? When the market drops, it drops.”
“Precisely what they didn’t understand. Jim asked the same question, almost word for word.”
“I’m glad that I’m not the only dummy around you.”
“Jim is no dummy. Not at all. It’s only that people are so used to blaming external circumstances that at the moment cannot be changed, rather than blaming themselves for not preparing in advance. It’s