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Revealed Preference

Revealed preference—watch what people do, not what they say

I recently learned a new term what economist call "revealed preference". This came about as I've been struggling in how to write a mission and values statement for my next venture.

I have known for a long time that it is important to do what I say I will do. But I also think that there is a place to formally spend time in writing out a mission values statement. But I need to keep in mind that all mission statements look the same to the reader.

I will still hold that writing out a mission and values statement can be beneficial for myself and the team.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

So far this is the best business book I have read. Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker

Drucker was a truly remarkable thinker! What I liked about the book is that he does not pretend to know everything. On a few occasions he explores business issues (I was getting exited that he would have answers to my questions) and then asserts that he does not know.

One example is when he explores the idea that so few businesses today are customer centric. He then asks the question why it is so, to give the answer "I cannot explain". So much of the business literature today is written with the pretence of knowing exactly what to do and the answers to every problem long before the problems have been identified. Most of the business literature does not go beyond common sense (this goes for other literature too).

From the book

Whatever customers buy has to fit their realities, or it is of no use to them

...Entrepreneurial strategy remains the decision-making area of entrepreneurship and therefore the risk-taking one. It is by no means hunch or gamble. But it also is not precisely science. Rather, it is judgement

What I like about Drucker is that he respects the worker.

Drucker believed that employees are assets and not liabilities. He taught that knowledge workers are the essential ingredients of the modern economy. Central to this philosophy is the view that people are an organization's most valuable resource and that a manager's job is to prepare and free people to perform (source).

This will be a book I will buy for my bookshelf.

Quote - create wealth

I like the following quote from Ron Baker at Verasage

The sole purpose of a business is to create wealth outside of itself. Unlike a biological organism, the true test of a firm’s success lies outside of its four walls. All results are external, there is no such thing as a "profit center," there are only cost, activity and effort centers. The only profit center in your firm is a customer’s check that doesn’t bounce.