Leadership

The standard advice is to cut costs first, and the reason given is always the same: cost is inside your control and price is not. It sounds prudent. It is the single most expensive piece of conventional wisdom in industrial management, and it survives because it feels responsible rather than because it works. Here is […] Read More

In July 2022, Stanley Black & Decker closed the sale of its commercial electronic and healthcare security businesses to Securitas for $3.2 billion in cash. The business was not failing. It had produced roughly $1.6 billion of revenue the previous year, and the price worked out to about sixteen times trailing adjusted EBITDA, which is […] Read More

Verdict: Macon Brock def. Dave Gold by split decision, 3 rounds to 2. Gold was the better visionary and the sharper merchant. Brock built the thing that lasted — and in this league, the institution that survives its founder takes the belt. This is the purest cage match in extreme-value retail: two men who bet […] Read More

What is actually blocking your rationalization? What the spreadsheet already does What the software actually adds From diagnosis to decision When should you buy the software? When is the spreadsheet the right answer? How to run it on a spreadsheet You are asking which tool to use. The question that decides it is different: is […] Read More

The standard advice for this situation is to build an airtight business case. Get the numbers right, show the contribution per hour, quantify the complexity cost, put it in a deck, and present it calmly. Reason will prevail. It will not, and it is worth understanding why before you spend three weeks on the deck. […] Read More

1. Which variety do customers actually choose on? 2. Which variety did you inherit rather than choose? 3. What does one more option cost downstream? 4. Two kinds of customization, and only one of them scales 5. How far back can you standardize without touching the choice? 6. When does standardizing actually lose you a […] Read More

What does this article cover? Why is almost nothing written for you? What should you read in the first ninety days? What should you read across the rest of year one? What did I read, and what changed? Where does my own book fit? What should you not read yet? Who should this article send […] Read More

Why doesn’t the unit cost settle it? What a business I ran bought instead of made What are you actually comparing? From comparison to decision When should you make it? When should you buy it? When is the answer neither? Hypothetical: $38. That is the quote that came back from the supplier, against a standard […] Read More

It is the annual technology review, and the agenda has eleven projects on it. Each one gets twelve minutes, each has a champion, and each has a return calculation that clears the hurdle. By the end of the afternoon every project has received something, the total matches last year’s number within a few percent, and […] Read More