It's Not Luck - Eliyahu M. Goldratt [36]
Yes. They intend to continue with their plan to sell the company. No wonder; their major concern is the credit rating of UniCo. But if Pete’s idea does work, and I’m becoming more and more convinced that it will, then his future is secure. No one will mess around with a goose that lays golden eggs. And to think that our starting point was to invest a small fortune to replace our fast set-up presses. How stupid could we be?
Doughty breaks into my thoughts. “Alex, were the diagrams used to construct this nice solution.”
“Yes, definitely. Without them we didn’t have a chance. With them we barely made it.”
“Hmm,” is the only response.
12
Many travelers complain about English cooking, but in my opinion English restaurants have one thing that compensates for everything: the way they serve coffee. For the coffee they direct us to another room, furnished with big leather sofas, low tables and a real wood fire.
I’m easily persuaded to try a 1956 brandy. Brandon and Jim are persuaded just as easily. I stare at the fire, trying to digest what I’ve learned in the last two days. If you noticed, it’s not Trumann and Doughty anymore. After two pints of beer and two bottles of red wine, it’s only natural for me to switch to using their first names.
Trumann gained my respect on the flight when I came to better understand his motives. This evening I learned to appreciate the other side of his personality, the “Brandon side,” as I think of it. He is a warm, caring human being. So different from the stereotype of a heartless shark that I glued on him. But the big surprise is Jim. He is not a cold fish. After-hours Jim is quite different from the Doughty at work. Not that he’s very talkative or optimistic, but he is friendly and has a charming but rather cynical sense of humor.
When Brandon notices that I have returned to reality he says, “Alex, there is one thing bothering us. You said that this breakthrough marketing solution that you are testing in the printing company was not invented by fluke, but by systematically using logical diagrams. But you have two other companies, bigger and more in trouble. How come you haven’t succeeded in coming up with marketing solutions for them?”
They are starting to sound like Julie. But what can I tell them? That I haven’t tried? Yes, that is the true answer—but why haven’t I? Because I’m sure it would just be a waste of time.
“Logic by itself is not enough,” I explain. “You must have intuition as well. Pete has spent all his life in the printing business; he had enough intuition to draw from. That’s why working with the Thinking Processes he succeeded in finding a breakthrough solution for his company. But Bob Donovan and Stacey Kaufman are relatively new to their companies.”
“So we are back to intuition.” Brandon sounds disappointed. “If that’s the case, what is the big advantage of using these logical diagrams?”
I can demonstrate to them how important the Thinking Processes are. They force you to verbalize your gut feel, and by that enable true unleashing of your intuition, and the ability to check it. But what the heck. If I do it, they will turn back on me with their heavy question of why haven’t I done it for I Cosmetics and the pressure steam division? So rather than answering, I just finish my superb brandy.
Jim takes my lack of response as an answer, and summarizes, “If you don’t have intuition, no method will help you. If you do have intuition, you don’t need a method.”
This provokes me. That is totally wrong. “If you don’t have intuition,” I reply, “no method will help you. I agree. But if you do have intuition, you can still flounder. Intuition is a necessary