Business & Innovation

A Better Idea  An explanation of great performance that makes sense      Growing up in Crawford, Mississippi (population: 636), Jerry Rice had to be talked into joining his high school’s football team. The coach had reportedly heard that the…Read more

  Deciding which problems to work on may be one of the most important decisions you make, because people can lose years (or a lifetime) working on the wrong problem.  Dave had a problem once (okay, he’s had a lot…Read more

  I got a letter from that Jeff Johnson fellow at the start of the year. After our chance meeting at Occidental, I’d sent him a pair of Tigers, as a gift, and now he wrote to say that he’d…Read more

Introduction   NOTHING IS WRONG WITH ANYTHING         January 9, 1928: Henry Ford was in a spirited mood as he toured the Ford Industrial Exhibit with his son, Edsel, and his aging friend Thomas Edison, feigning fright…Read more

We drove over to the Brewer house in two vehicles (fuel efficiency be damned, Howdy Doody). On the way over I received a call from the deputy examiner; she had sent a paramedic over so the death could be pronounced.…Read more

We’re Going to Need a Bigger Van  Hong Kong, China, December 2007  In the lobby of Hong Kong’s opulent Shangri-La Hotel, perched on a steep hill with views over the city’s skyscrapers and the narrow harbor below, there was a…Read more

  Rule Two—Embrace Your True Expenses  You’ve already met Rule Two: Embrace Your True Expenses. You know it prompts you to break down big expenses by assigning dollars to them each month. Enough said, right?  Sort of. Here’s the thing…Read more

Despite all the failures of individuals, units, and leaders, and despite the myriad mistakes that had been made, there was only one person to blame for everything that had gone wrong on the operation: me. I hadn’t been with our…Read more

FACING AN INSURMOUNTABLE PROBLEM—her low Social Security benefit—Linda did what anyone would: consulted the internet. She came across a website with the following words:  Maybe you were a gypsy, vagabond or hobo in a past life, but you think you…Read more