Direct From Dell - The Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry

In Direct from Dell, founder and CEO Michael Dell tells how he started his company from a dorm room at the University of Texas with less than $1,000 and built it into an industry powerhouse with a market capitalization of well over $100 billion. What makes Dell Computer unique is "Not what it sells, But rather how it sells it". Dell was first in the PC industry to pioneer the “Direct-Selling Model”, a method that competitors are only now starting to embrace. By cutting out the intermediary and creating a direct link between manufacturer and customer, Dell was able to provide customers with high-speed computers that cost less and that were more adaptable to meet customer needs. Founded on a deceptively simple premise to deliver high-performance computer system directly to the end user-Dell Computer is the envy of its competitors. It has consistently grown at two to three times the industry rate. It’s stock went up more than 200 percent – the largest share-price gain in the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ 100 in the year 1998.

The book is neither a memoir nor a complete history of Dell Computer Corporation. Rather it provides examples and advice for start-up business owners on ways to handle change and the importance of constant communication with employees, customers, and suppliers. He offers some innovative ideas for encouraging employees to think outside the box and for suppliers to work as partners with the company for everyone's benefit. Dell also has provided strategies for using the Web to enhance sales and empower information throughout business.

The efforts put by Dell were astonishing: A 19 year-old with $1000 starts a company, remains at the pinnacle and on top of changes in the industry for 10 years. And watches the stock rise 36,000 percent over another decade as his company becomes the second largest maker of PCs in the world and the largest in the U.S.

CONTENT IN BRIEF

"Direct from Dell" is divided in to two parts, with seven and eight chapters respectively.

The book explores what have come to term Dell’s “competitive strategies” – speed to market; superior customer service; a fierce commitment to produce consistently high quality, custom made computer systems that provide the highest performance and the latest relevant technology to their customer; and an early exploitation of the Internet.

In Part One Dell describes how these strategies took hold, born of good times and bad, as the company grew and changed and grew some more.

In Part Two Dell describes how he had enhanced these strategies, and how, by finding innovative ways to combine technology with the information his company gleaned from their direct relationships with employees, customers, and suppliers.

CONTENT IN DETAIL

The first part discusses Dell's history in chronological order. From its early success and immense growth afterwards over a period of becoming a professional organization and developing the core of the "Direct selling Business Model" until finally expanding systematically on vertical, horizontal and geographical axes based on well-developed principles.

It had always made more sense for Dell to build a business based on what people really wanted, rather than guess at what he thought they might want, this was the official beginning of what is called the “Direct Selling Business Model”. One can really attribute the evolution of Dell and its success story in the computer industry to their “Direct Selling Business Model” .The Direct Model has been evolved from the basic idea of eliminating the middlemen, and is based on direct selling – not using a reseller or the retail channel. The Direct Relationship – first through telephone calls, then through face-to-face interactions, and now through the Internet – has enabled Dell to benefit from real-time input from real customers regarding product and service requirements, products on the market, effective Inventory Management, and future products they would like to see developed.

In the First part Dell discussed the problems that he faced while starting his business and latter developing it globally. He suggested certain strategies that he had learned from his good and bad experiences:

Ø No matter what one’s industry is, one has to identify potential problems early – and fix them.

Ø Involve your customers early in the development process, as they are your most valuable focus group – Listen early and Listen well.

Ø Communicating is one of the most important tools in recovering from mistakes as it enables to diffuse the fear of the unknown and focus on the solution.

Ø Under Promise and Over Deliver.

Ø For any company to succeed its critical for top management to share power successfully, as one has to focus on achieving goals for the organization, but not on accumulating power.

Ø Plan or Die. Planning is one of those areas where experience counts as much as intellect. One needs to insert more discipline into one’s planning process, as it is hard to anticipate the ups and downs of business cycles that one had actually never experienced before. Above all one has to remember that planning is nothing with out execution.

Ø Divide and Conquer – when one has got a huge market opportunity, the only way to handle it is to divide and conquer i.e. Effective Segmentation of the Market.

The second part of the book details Dell's management principles: creating powerful partnerships, building a company of owners, learning directly from the source, developing a customer-focused philosophy, forging strong alliances, bringing your partners inside your business, differentiating for a competitive edge, and thriving on change in the connected economy.

In the Second part Dell discussed how he had enhanced his competitive strategies - which are mentioned as under:

Ø Mobilize your people around a common goal. Help them to feel a part of something genuine, special, and important, and you’ll inspire real passion and loyalty.

Ø Invest in mutual long-term goals by hiring ahead of the game.

Ø Looking at learning as a necessity, not a luxury.

Ø Study the obvious for non-obvious solutions. If you’re trying to solve a customer’s problem, go and ask him how he’d like to see it solved. This kind of problem-solving “empathy” leads to innovative thinking.

Ø Make failure accept as long as it creates learning opportunities.

Ø Communicate the goals of the organization to everyone.

Ø Treat all employees as owners, even if they technically aren’t yet.

Ø Marry high tech and high touch.

Ø Run with suggestions your customers provide.

Ø Always think bottom line – but not just yours. Consider your customer’s bottom line as well. Can you save them money, while enhancing your partnership with them?

Ø Go beyond your products or services, and make yourself valuable to your customers as an advisor. Be a student of your customers as they can provide a much-needed perspective on products and services.

Ø Exploit the talents and investments of the experts.

Ø Keep your friends close and your supplier’s closer.

Ø Communicate directly with the decision-makers and don’t underestimate the value of information.

Ø Flip the equation: Don’t settle for the standard supply/demand relationship – it doesn’t work anymore. Work toward demand/supply. The benefits to both sides in terms of time, market flexibility, cost-savings, and competitive advantage are immeasurable.

Ø Think of the customer and not of the competition.

Ø Turn your competition’s greatest strength into a weakness. Study the “Game of Competition”: Exploit its weakness by exposing its greatest strength.

Ø Expect change and plan for it. Rather than seeing it as a potential threat or problem, welcome it as an opportunity.

Ø Exploit the Internet. The Internet is the most effective and pervasive change agent in this connected economy. Use the Internet to break down traditional boundaries as it enables to connect more directly with people, customers, and suppliers; it can enable to work faster and become more adept at riding the ways of change.

Ø Integrate your business – virtually. Search for ways to partner virtually in an effort to eliminate steps, enhance efficiencies, and provide a better total customer experience.

In the last part of the book Dell has concluded that these are the true roots of strategies that should continue to help us – and you – revolutionize our industries for a long time to come.

Mavericks at Work By William C. Taylor, Polly G. Labarre

Rethink Competition

1. Do you have a distinctive and disruptive sense of purpose that sets you apart from your rivals?
2. Do you have a vocabulary of competition that is unique to your industry and compelling to your employees and customers?
3. Are you prepared to reject opportunities that offer short-term benefits but distract your organization from its long-term mission?
4. Can you be proactive without provoking a backlash?
5. If your company went out of business tomorrow, who would really miss you and why?

Reinventing Innovation

1. Keep the focus narrow and tightly defined.
2. Keep broadening the range of participants.
3. Keep it fun.
4. Don’t keep all the benefits to yourself.
5. Keep challenging yourself to be more open to new ideas and new ways of leading.

Reconnecting with Customers

1. There’s always a demand for something distinctive.
2. Not all customers are created equal.
3. Brand is culture, culture is brand.
4. Advertising to customers is not the same as connecting with customers.
5. When is comes to creating brand value, dollars-and-cents thinking doesn’t always make sense.

Redesigning Work

1. Why should great people join your organization?
2. Do you know a great person when you see one?
3. Can you find great people who aren’t looking for you?
4. Are you great at teaching great people how your organization works and wins?
5. Does your organization work as distinctively as it competes?

"The Art of War" By Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu's The Art of war offers lessons in competition. It explains the strategy of winning without going into wars. These strategies can be used in any form of competition, like business or our day-to day life. The book was penned by Sun Tzu about two thousand years ago. It has the distinction of being the first of military classics and offers a distinct and non-intuitive insight for winning competition while avoiding the most destructive aspects of conflict. It emphasizes that certain key factors influence the outcome of any battle and that victory goes-not to the strongest or most aggressive-but to the person who best understands how to use and leverage the situation and avoid the costs of conflicting desires.

Sun Tzu's text can be divided into thirteen parts which are:-

Laying Plans

The art of war is critical for the nation-a basis of life and death and a philosophy of survival and destruction. It is a matter of enquiry which can never be ignored. The art of war is steered by five factors. These are: The Military Philosophy, The Weather, The Ground, The Commander and The Military Methods.

The Military Philosophy instructs the people to follow the ruler regardless of their lives, without the fear of any danger or dishonesty. Weather signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons. Ground signifies distances - near and far(danger and security),open and narrow(life and death).The Commander must have virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness. With the help of these factors the army can plan its structure, ranks, supplies and expenditure. One who takes into account these factors is always victorious. Plans should always be led by circumstances. Warfare should be deceptive so that the enemy does not know about the plans. The military devices, leading to victory, must not be displayed beforehand.

Waging War

For victory, a large army and long wars are not desirable. To maintain a big army, resources too should be huge enough. A large army is the same as invaders as both drain the resources of the nation. If the war continues for long ,the army will get drained, unorganized and demotivated.So, to make good use of war the army should be small but strong, only basic supplies should be carried and the army should feed off the enemy. The main objective of the army should be to capture the enemy’s supplies rather than to kill them. The objective of a war should be victory rather than long campaigns.

Planning An Attack

Everyone depends on the arts of war. Anything united is stronger than anything divided. A united nation is stronger than the divided one. Unity wins every battle fought. The best time to attack is when the enemy is still planning. In this way the army will be caught unawares. The next best is to prevent the grouping of the enemy's forces, the next is to attack the enemy's army in the field, and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities. It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy's one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide own army into two. Thus the essentials of victory are:

Victory comes from knowing when to attack and when to avoid battle.

Victory comes from correctly using both large and small forces.

Victory comes from everyone sharing the same goals.

Victory comes from having a capable commander and the government leaving him alone.

Positioning

The good fighters first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then wait for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. Defeat of the enemy lies in his hand rather than ours. Thus the good fighter is able to secure himself against defeat, but he cannot make sure of the enemy’s defeat.

Security against defeat implies defensive tactics whereas ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive. To win with much of fanfare is not a great victory. A clever fighting is actually when one excels in winning with ease. Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position, which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy. In respect of military method, we have:

The ground determines the distance.

The distance determines the numbers.

Numbers determine the calculations.

The calculations determine the decision.

The decisions determine the victory.

Energy

The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men, it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers. So the structure matters a lot. To ensure that the army may withstand the brunt of the enemy's attack and remain unshaken--direct and indirect maneuvers occur.

In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as ground and weather. There are not more than five primary colors (red, white, blue, yellow, and black), yet when combined they produce more colors than can ever been seen. Similarly there are five primary tastes which combine to form so many new tastes. In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack--the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers. The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals. Hence his ability to pick out the right men and utilize combined energy.

Weakness and Strength

Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight, whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted. Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him. An army must capitalize on its own strength and the enemy’s weakness. One can be sure of succeeding in one’s attacks. If he attacks places which are undefended. He can ensure the safety of his defense if he holds positions that cannot be attacked. Numerical weakness comes from having to prepare against possible attacks; numerical strength, from compelling our adversary to make these preparations against us. Knowing the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses is also a part of the strategies.

Armed Conflict

In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign. Having collected an army and concentrated his forces, he must blend and harmonize the different elements thereof before pitching his camp.

After that, comes tactical maneuvering. The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortuneinto gain. Maneuvering with an army is advantageous, with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous. One cannot enter into alliances until he is well acquainted with the designs of the neighbors. He will be unable to turn natural advantage to account unless he makes use of local guides. Whether to concentrate or to divide the troops must be decided by circumstances. One should ponder and deliberate before making a move.

He will conquer who has learnt the artifice of deviation. To be near the goal while the enemy is still far from it, to wait at ease while the enemy is toiling and struggling, to be well-fed while the enemy is famished:--this is the art of husbanding one's strength.

Adaptability

In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign, collects his army and concentrates his forces. The general who thoroughly understands the advantages that accompany variation of tactics knows how to handlehis troops. The general who does not understand these, may be well acquainted with the configuration of the country, yet he will not be able to turn his knowledge to practical account. Hence in the wise leader's plans, considerations of advantage and of disadvantage will be blended together. If, in the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune. There are five dangerous faults, which may affect a general:

(1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction;

(2) Cowardice, which leads to capture;

(3) A hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults;

(4) A delicacy of honor that is sensitive to shame;

(5) Over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.

Armed March

An army should be aware of where to march and where to camp.

Mountains should be quickly passed over and the army should camp in valleys. The army should always be placed higher than the enemy. Rivers should be avoided. All armies prefer high ground to low and sunny places to dark. In case of heavy rains the army should wait for the rainwaters to subside. We should focus on keeping ourselves away from difficult terrains and the enemy into it. Movement along the trees, movement of birds and animals etc. signals the advancement of the army. Humble words and increased preparations are signs that the enemy is about to advance. Violent language and driving forward as if to the attack are signs that he will retreat. Peace proposals unaccompanied by a sworn covenant indicate a plot.

Terrain

There are six kinds of terrain:

(1) Accessible ground; (2) Entangling ground;(3) Temporizing ground;

(4) Narrow passes; (5) Precipitous heights; (6) Positions at a great distance from the enemy.

Ground, which can be freely traversed by both sides, is called accessible.

Ground, which can be abandoned but is hard to re-occupy, is called entangling. When the position is such that neither side will gain by making the first move, it is called temporizing ground. With regard to narrow passes, if one can occupy them first, let them be strongly garrisoned and await the advent of the enemy. With regard to precipitous heights one should occupy the raised and sunny spots, and there wait for the enemy to come up. If one is situated at a great distance from the enemy, and the strength of the two armies is equal, it is not easy to provoke a battle, and fighting will be to one’s disadvantage.

The Nine Situations

The art of war recognizes nine varieties of ground:

(1) Dispersive ground; (2) Facile ground; (3) Contentious ground;

(4) Open ground; (5) Ground of intersecting highways;

(6) Serious ground; (7) Difficult ground; (8) Hemmed-in ground;

(9) Desperate ground.

When a chieftain is fighting in his own territory, it is dispersive ground.

When he has penetrated into hostile territory, but to no great distance, it is facile ground. Ground the possession of which imports great advantage to either side, is contentious ground. Ground on which each side has liberty of movement is open ground. Ground which forms the key to three contiguous states, so that he who occupies it first has most of the Empire at his command, is a ground of intersecting highways. When an army has penetrated into the heart of a hostile country, leaving a number of fortified cities in its rear, it is serious ground. Mountain forests, rugged steeps, marshes and fences—all country that is hard to traverse makes for difficult ground. Ground which is reached through narrow gorges, and from which one can only retire by tortuous paths, so that a small number of the enemy would suffice to crush a large body of his men is hemmed in ground. Ground on which one can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is desperate ground. The tactics of war should thus be based on the type of ground on which the army is fighting. Therefore one should not fight on dispersive ground, should not halt on facile ground, should not attack on contentious ground, join hands with allies on intersecting grounds, refrain from blocking the enemy on open grounds and so on.

Attack By Fire

There are five ways of attacking with fire. The first is to burn soldiers in their camp. The second is to burn stores. The third is to burn baggage trains. The fourth is to burn arsenals. The fifth is to hurl dropping fire amongst the enemy. In order to carry out an attack, one must have means available. The material for raising fire should always be kept in readiness. There is a proper season for making attacks with fire, and special days for starting a conflagration.

Use of Spies

Raising a host of a hundred thousand men and marching them great distances entails heavy loss on the people and a drain on the resources of the nation. Thus prior knowledge of the enemy’s objectives must be known. This knowledge cannot be gained from spirits or calculations. Other men can however brief the general on these things. Hence a group of spies can be instituted. Spies can be of five types. These are: local, inward, converted, doomed and surviving. Services of inhabitants of the district are sought as local spies. Officials of the enemy work as inward spies. Enemy’s spies can be captured and used as coverted spies. Doomed spies do some things openly and let the army know of crucial things. Surviving spies are those who bring back news from the enemy’s camp. secrecy should be maintained in case of spies.

Sam Walton: “Made in America”

This book focuses on Sam Walton and his world “ Wal-Mart.” Mr. Walton was a man who never dwell on his disappointments. He always had an idea of what he wanted and followed through with it. Sam Walton was a man who took chances, never said never, and kept on fighting the odds. Sam Walton was a leader not a follower.

General Strategy and Values

Mr. Walton had many secrets to creating a retailing empire. One of these secrets was what he called the “ secret of successful retailing.” The secret of successful retailing is to give your customer what they want. Once this has been accomplished the customer will more than likely come back. This is how you create a successful relationship. One very important ingredient of Wal-Mart success was the treatment of his people working inside his stores. If you make sure you the company is taking care of the people working in the stores. Then the effect will be that your people will take care of the customers. This in effect increases the customer’s satisfaction and your employees as well. One more important formula Walton used for his success was the way he “roll it out.” “Roll it out” refers to the way Walton planned his saturation strategy into the market. Walton was one who would go where no one else would even think to go. He moved into small towns with else than 5,000 people and set up a store. He implemented this by building stores so that the distribution centers, or warehouses could take care of them, but they so could be controlled. This saturation strategy saved a fortune in Marketing and Advertising costs.

Sam’s Initial Years

Sam Walton grew up during the depression and knew that hard work and thrift were a way of life. Sam Walton was born on March 29, 1918 to Thomas Gibson and Nancy Lee Walton near Kingfisher, Oklahoma. As Sam Walton grew up he was always an ambitious boy. Don't think this is all Sam did though, he also had to help support his family, along with his father and brother because money was lacking due to the depression. Sam's job was to milk the family cow, bottle the milk, and then deliver the surplus of to customers and then went off to deliver newspapers afterwards. When he graduated from high school he was voted the "Most Versatile Boy" in his class. During this time it would have been easy for Sam to just give up on school and go to work full time. At the University of Missouri Sam majored in Economics. He could not really afford to attend school so he worked extra hard to get the money. Sam waited tables in exchange for meals, lifeguarded at the school pool, and also delivered newspapers. When Sam Walton graduated in 1940 he was voted the permanent President of his class. While waiting, Sam took a job in a Du Pont munitions plant near Tulsa, Oklahoma. While working and living near Tulsa, Sam met his future wife Helen Robson. She lived in a little town called Claremore where she attended Claremore High School and graduated valedictorian of her class and went on to attend college at the University of Oklahoma at Norman and graduated with a degree in business. Soon after they were married, Sam went to serve in the US Army intelligence corps in the continental United States, supervising security at aircraft plants and prisoner of war camps. By the time Sam was discharged from the war he was ranked as captain and decided he wanted to own his own department store. Sam borrowed $20,000.00 from his father-in-law and had $5,000 saved from the military.

How WALMART Came Into Existence

Sam's store was a franchisee of the Butler Brothers, who consisted of two chains. One chain was the Federated department stores, which were small department stores and then the Ben Franklin variety stores. Sam store was going to a variety store and with the assistance of the Butler Brothers, his store led in sales and profits in the six-state region. Since his store was such a success everyone wanted a piece of the action. Sam sold the store and made a profit over $50,000.00. In 1950 though, he purchased a store in Bentonville, Arkansas, which ended up being called Walton's 5 & 10, this store was also a member of the Butler Brothers' Ben Franklin chain. Before this store opened it needed many improvements but to Sam that was no problem. To introduce his store to the new town in July 1950, Walton staged his first sales promotion , called the "remodeling sale" and then the following March he had the grand opening. During this time Sam operated both stores the one in Newport and the one in Bentonville. Most people would not have time to do anything else but Sam did, he decided to start a second store in Fayetteville, located about 20 mile south of Bentonville. Walton knew though he needed a qualified manager to run the store so it would be as successful as his other store. Even with this new manager Sam did not neglect the new store. To keep his stores running in tip top shape Sam was always trying to find new ideas to improve business. As time passed Sam opened more stores with the help of his brother, father-in-law and brother-in-law. In 1954 he opened a store with his brother in Ruskin Heights, a suburb near Kansas City in a shopping center. This store was quite profitable, too. Sam opened larger stores which were called Walton's Family Center. More than 600,000 Americans work at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart goes according to what Sam Walton believed, "Each Wal-Mart store should reflect the values of its customers and support the vision they hold for their community"

Distribution and Technology

Wal-Marts distribution was a very important strategic point for growth. With Walton’s distribution systems gave him one of his greatest competitive advantages. Distribution was very important to Walton because of his saving and flexibility of controlling distribution. With his private fleet of trucks and distributions centers set up everywhere. Walton set costs to run less than 3 percent to ship goods to his stores. With his competitors shipping costs between 4.5 to 5 percent for the same goods. With these savings meant even lower prices for the consumers. Technology at first for Walton had a great uncertainty, but eventually he gave in and went with it. With new technology helped him move way out front of the industry in both communication and distribution. Walton was always still convinced that technology are just tools and people in the system are primary responsible for the customers.

Thinking Small at Wal-Mart

l Think One Store at a Time

l Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

l Keep your Ears to the Ground

l Push Responsibility--- and Authority—Down

l Force Ideas to Bubble Up

l Stay Lean, Fight Bureaucracy

Sam’s Rules for Building a Business

RULE 1 – COMMIT to your business. Believe in it more than anyone else. If you love your work you will always be there everyday trying to do the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everyone around will catch the passion from you – like a fever.

RULE 2 – SHARE your profits with all of your associates, and treat them as partners. In turn they will treat you as a partner, and together you all will perform beyond your wildest expectations. Remain a corporation if you like, but behave as a servant leader in a partnership. Encourage your associates to hold a stake in the company. Offer discounts stock, and grant them stock for their retirement.

RULE 3 – MOTIVATE your partners. Money and ownership aren’t enough. Constantly, from day to day, think of new and more interesting ways to motivate and challenge your partners. Set high goals, encourage competition, and then keep scores. Make bets with outrageous payoffs. If things get stale cross-pollinate; have managers switch jobs with one another to stay challenged. Keep everyone guessing what your next trick is going to be. Don’t become too predictable.

RULE 4 – COMMUNICATE everything you possibly can to your partners. The more they know the more they will understand. The more they understand the more they will care. Once they care there is no way of stopping them. If you don’t trust your associates to know what’s going on, they will know you don’t really consider them as partners. Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your competitors.

RULE 5 – APPRECIATE everything your associates do for the business. A paycheck and a stock will buy one kind of loyalty. But all of us like to be told how much somebody appreciates what we do for him or her. We like to hear it often, and especially when we have done something we are really proud of. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They are absolutely free and worth a fortune.

RULE 6 – CELEBRATE your success and find humor in your failures. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up. Have fun. Show enthusiasm—always.

RULE 7 – LISTEN to everyone in your company. And figure out ways to get them talking. The folks on the front lines—the ones who actually talk to the customers are the only ones that really know what’s going out there. You better find out what they know. This is really what total quality is all about. To push responsibility down in your organization and to force ideas to bubble up within it, you must listen to what your associates are trying to tell you.

RULE 8 – EXCEED your customers’ expectations. If you do they will come back over and over again. Give them what they want – and a little more. Let them know that you appreciate them. Make good on all your mistakes, and don’t make excuses – apologize. Stand behind everything you do.

RULE 9 – CONTROL your expense better than your competition. This is where you always find the competitive advantage. You can make a lot of different mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation.

RULE 10 – SWIM upstream. Got he other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If every one is going one way, there is a good chance that you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction. But be prepared for lot of folks to wave you down and tell you you’re headed the wrong way.

Learning from Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

...at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the worlds greatest lie.

There is a force that wants you to realize your destiny , it whets your appetite with a taste of success.

The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it...

It’s a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your destiny. It prepares your spirit and your will, because there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, its because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. Its your mission on earth.

God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to read the omens that he left for you.

Beauty is the great seducer of men.

People need not to fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want.

We are afraid of losing what we have, wheteher it,s our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.

One always had something that the other needed – as if everything were indeed written by one hand.

If you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity.

God only rarely reveals the future. When he does so, it is for one reason: it's a future that was written so as to be altered.

When something is written, there is no way to change it.

Courage is the quality most essential to underatanding the Language of the World.

It's not what enters men's mouths that's evil, it's what comes out of their mouths that is.

One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving

Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself, and that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.

Every search begins with beginner’s luck and ends with the victor’s being severely tested.

Your eyes show the strength of your soul.

Anyone who interferes with the destiny of another thing never will discover his own.

There is only on thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.

Usually the threat of death makes people a lot more aware of their lives.

By Paulo Coelho

Fish by Stephen Lundin

Fish

Play:

Work made fun gets done, especially when we choose to do serious tasks in a lighthearted, spontaneous way. Play is not just an activity; it’s a state of mind that brings new energy to the task at hand and sparks creative solutions.

Make Their Day:

When you “make someone’s day” (or moment) through a small kindness or unforgettable engagement, you can turn even routine encounters into special memories.

Be There:

The glue in our humanity is in being fully present for one another. Being there also is a great way to practice wholeheartedness and fight burnout, for it is those halfhearted tasks you perform while juggling other things that wear you out.

Choose Your Attitude:

When you look for the worst you will find it everywhere. When you learn you have the power to choose your response to what life brings, you can look for the best and find opportunities you never imagined possible. If you find yourself with an attitude that is not what you want it to be, you can choose a new one.

External energy is important at the beginning of any large-scale change initiative. To implement a new vision, you must first have everyone’s attention. But external energy is only effective for the short term. Eventually the external energy must be replaced by natural energy in order for the change to stick.

The minute a new way of working in initiated, the gravity pull of old ways begins. In the beginning, novelty can be adequate source of energy. Overtime a deeper and more sustainable source must be found.

Attrition is a fact of life but turnover is preventable.

A vision is made manifest in real time by identifying and bringing to life possibilities that are always present. These become “vision moments” once we take action.

The only way to find our IT inside the vision is to talk about with coworkers. The conversation both must be real and fierce. Real because they require an authenticity that belies pretense or posturing. Fierce because the amount of time we spend at work makes these conversations vital to a satisfying life.

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FIND IT

A vision is often designed to serve multiple constituencies. A vision comes alive only when those who work in the vision community personalize it. This happens when each of us assumes responsibility for finding out IT inside the vision. And we can only find out IT through conversation with other members of the vision community.

The most basic ingredient of any vision is the individual IT. IT is our personalization of the vision. Vision – sustaining energy is released as we seek to find out IT through conversation.

LIVE IT

Every day we are presented with countless opportunities to crate the vision. Once we find out IT we must commit to living IT by living fully the naturally occurring vision moments.

Once we are clear about or IT, opportunities to Live IT are more obvious. We call these opportunities vision moments. Vision- sustaining energy builds as we live as many vision moments as we can.

COACH IT

Keeping a vision alive is hard to do alone because it is difficult to observe ourselves in action and feel the impact you are having on others. Therefore feedback plays a key role. By creating a atmosphere where it is not only Ok but our responsibility to give and receive feedback, we will make the daily adjustments necessary to keep the vision strong. This is called coaching and it is crucial ingredient in sustaining anything worthwhile.

Coaching is the gift we give to each other and to our vision to keep IT strong. Whether it’s about the way we work together, the feedback needs to flow in all directions. Coaching can’t be an ego trip. We only do it for the vision. We coach IT.

Stephen Lundin