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Constantly Reassessing Past Decisions |
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by Vadim Kotelnikov & Ten3 East-West
"Unless a company constantly reassesses every decision it makes and every direction it takes, it will eventually end up as road kill"1
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Learning from Fastest Companies Fastest companies credit their firm's ability to move quickly to their willingness to annually reassess everything they do, including the business they own, every decision that is made, and the validity of all executive positions. Case in Point: 25 Lessons from Jack Welch Jack Welch, the legendary former CEO of General Electric (GE), urged his managers to face the reality of each morning: "Confront what the reality is today. It may be a competitive reality, or a marketing reality, but each morning is different. What was important yesterday may no longer be important today. You might make a completely different decision about a deal you agreed on yesterday or a program you started, in light of the changing environment of the last twenty-four hours. Start every day as if it were your first day on the job. Make whatever changes are necessary to improve things. Reexamine your agenda constantly. Rewrite it, if necessary. In that way, you avoid falling back on old habit."2...More Case in Point: Dell Computer Corporation "It is really dangerous if everyone in a company starts thinking the same way", says Michael Dell5, Chairman and CEO of the Dell Computer Corporation. "The danger comes when you fall into the trap of approaching problems too similarly. You can encourage your people to think about your business, your industry, your customers innovatively. Ask a different question - or word the same question in a different way. By approaching a problem, a response or an opportunity from a different perspective, you create an opportunity for new understanding and new learning. By questioning all the aspects of our business, we continuously inject improvement and innovation into our culture."...More |
Bibliography:
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"It's Not the Big that Eat the Small... It's the Fast that Eat the Slow", Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton, 2000
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"Jack Welch and the GE Way", Robert Slater, 1999
