Ideas

Jim Estill, my mentor, is found of saying "ideas are a dime a dozen" and says that implementation is what counts. There is truth to it although it is only one side of the truth. As far as ideas go, it is more of a question of weather they are good ideas or poor ideas.

Many businesses start and go bankrupt in very short periods of time. Most of the bankrupcies can be attributed to poor ideas implemented. This is also true when customer service is bad and when a company has a lousy product offering.

Good ideas are absolutely essential in almost anything in life. It is from great ideas that all innovations start. First, for ideas to work, they need to be theoretically sound. Most of all, a good idea will be implemented thoughtfully and with consideration.

What is lacking in much of business literature today is a solid theoretical foundation (this is also true for a lot of other literature). There is a small wave of criticism starting on the quality of business literature. I hope it will start to grow.

And the quote for today:
"There is nothing so practical as a good theory" - Ikujiro Nonala and Hirotoka Takeuchi

From Worst to First

I recently purchased a book called “From Worst to First”. It is a fascinating story about Continental Airlines written by the CEO Gordon Bethune himself . Continental Airlines filed for bankruptcy twice (1980’s and in 1993) and was on the verge of once again to file for bankruptcy in late 1994 when Gordon Bethune took over.

The story is about how Bethune revolutionized the company from being the worse Airline to fly with in the USA and abroad to being one of the first. He talks about how he changed the whole culture at the company when he took over as CEO.

He came up with a plan called “Go Forward Plan”. The plan had four components, “ Fly to Win: The Market Plan, Fund the Future: The Financial Plan, Make Reliability a Reality: The Product Plan and Working Together: The People Plan.”

Here is a quote on what Gordon says about management. “A manager’s job, I think, is simple. A manager wants to hire the best people for the job; make sure they have the proper training, resources, and support; and then get out of the way. When employees have problems, the manager should take the problems of their hands if possible, so the employees can keep doing their jobs well. Basically, managers do their best work by letting employees do theirs.”

For the employees to trust management he as the CEO setup a personal phone line to him so that his employees could call him with problems (They had 40,000 employees in the 1990's). That is a courageous act!

I highly recommend the book!