It's Not Luck - Eliyahu M. Goldratt [91]
Julie is not getting excited. She’s heard all of it before, one way or another. “Do you have more obstacles to add to our list, Alex?” she asks in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Just the fact that Trumann and Doughty are not kids. They are the shrewdest, most clear-minded business people I have ever met. I guess that when you’re talking about recommendations, you are talking about them?”
“Yes. As I understand it, they think highly of you. As they should.”
“Darling, this is a tough world. Trumann and Doughty would never make a recommendation that they didn’t feel totally comfortable about. They must protect their reputations. If they recommend somebody, he or she better be good.”
“I still don’t understand the problem.” My loyal wife.
I try to explain. “If Trumann and Doughty do not get enough money from the sale of my companies, and it doesn’t matter what the reason is, they will not be impressed with me. In my position I must deliver results, not excuses. Just results, nothing else counts.”
Julie is not impressed with my emotional speech. “Anything else?”
“Let me see the list,” I say. I read it carefully. “No. I think we have all the major obstacles. Can we move to the next step?”
Starting with the list of obstacles is not as devastating as you might expect.
What’s the next step? The obvious. We all know that when the objective is ambitious it stands to reason that the plan to achieve it will contain several intermediate objectives. Where are the intermediate objectives coming from? The only reason for an intermediate objective is to overcome an obstacle that stands in the way of reaching the desired end objective. There is no other reason.
Therefore for each obstacle on our list we have to figure out the corresponding intermediate objective; the thing that if we achieve it the obstacle will be overcome.
“The first obstacle that you mentioned,” she starts, “is ‘There is still no marketing solution for Stacey’s company.’ What intermediate objective do you have in mind? How can you overcome it?”
I’m trying to be as professional as she is. It’s not easy. In her job she has developed a remarkable ability to remain analytical, no matter how emotional the issues are. She must.
“Nothing fancy. I just need enough time to implement the necessary actions. You see, the guidelines that Don and I developed are so powerful that I’m really not too concerned. Stacey needs time, nothing more.”
She writes it down and continues, “The next obstacle is, ‘Profits of Pete’s and Bob’s companies are abysmal.’ I guess that the intermediate objective is the same. Once again, ‘Have enough time to implement the necessary actions.’ ”
“Yes, and there is no problem in getting the time. I’ve already scheduled a meeting with Brandon and Jim. They will grasp Bob’s solution in no time and they’ll be happy to wait. You see, implementing this solution will bring more cash in the next few months than what they hoped to get from selling the company. And then we’ll end up with a company that can be sold for at least three times the current reasonable price. Nope, there’s no problem buying time for Bob. As for Pete, there was no problem to start with.”
“Excellent. The next one is ‘Values of Pete’s and Bob’s companies are low.’ I guess that the intermediate objective is to reach ‘Values of Pete’s and Bob’s companies are high,’ and you already took the actions that will guarantee it.”
“Nothing in business is guaranteed. But yes, conceptually you are right. What’s the next obstacle?”
“I wrote it as, ‘Not enough knowledge to construct persuasive presentation for potential buyers.’ What do you have to do to overcome it?”
“Many tiny details. I’ll spend time with Brandon and Jim to construct it. I think that between us we know enough. Besides, it will be a good idea to make them part of this process. In the end they’re the ones who will have to do the actual sale. Basically it boils down, once again, to having the time to do what’s needed. No big deal.” I’m quite confident about it.
“And this will pave the way to taking