Rating

★★★★★

Category

non-fiction

Read

2021-02-21

Pages

304

Very clear. Have been thinking a lot about the similarities/differences between manufacturing companies (subject of this book) and R&D focused companies, where outcomes are far more variables and activities more abstractly removed from the financials (and often more risk, say in VC funded business).

e.g. “Most important, no one tells people how to make money and generate cash. Nine times out of ten, employees don’t even know the difference between the two.” This isn’t really a critical distinction for many of the types of companies I’ve worked in. Is it so useful in R&D for that to be the focusing educational point?

“The best, most efficient, most profitable way to operate a business is to give everybody in the company a voice in saying how the company is run and a stake in the financial outcome, good or bad.”

“There is no point in giving people stock if they can’t see the numbers that determine its value.”

“The more people know about a company, the better that company will perform. This is an iron-clad rule. You will always be more successful in business by sharing information with the people you work with than by keeping them in the dark.”

“Sponsorship of outside competitions may be the best bargain in business today.”

“Too many CEOs only want to share the good news. It’s a combination of the good and the bad that builds credibility. If you continually make the situation look good, it’s a fairy tale. Life’s not like that. And people know it.”

“When “they” have bad news, we get angry. When Irene has bad news, we ask if she needs help.”