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If They Had It To Do Over ...
By Steve Wetterling
There was once a very successful American company that made clothes washers. Their machines did a good job of washing clothes and delivered decades of reliable service. When we were newly married college grads, we purchased one as soon as we could afford to. It washed our clothes for 24 years.
Eventually this famous company stumbled badly. It branched out into other home appliances, products that did not deliver the service and reliability their washing machines did. Sales declined, manufacturing costs were too high, and problems got away from them. Eventually a large competitor bought and liquidated the company.
It is, unfortunately, a typical life cycle for a business that starts out well and goes through three generations of family leadership before coming under "professional management" who ruin it--slowly at first, and then quickly and painfully at the end.
The story doesn't end there. Read the rest. |
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Speaking Truth to Power:
What to Look for When You Hire a Consultant
By Gary Hinkle
Ever watched one of those reality TV shows where expert chefs go to struggling restaurants and tell them everything they need to fix?
Robert Irvine and Gordon Ramsey are celebrity chefs and restaurant consultants, both of whom dive directly into the problems and tell the owners straight up what's wrong.
In Restaurant: Impossible, Irvine meets with the owners, listens to them, and then quickly assesses the food, service, decor, cleanliness, and financial state. He doesn't hesitate to get tough with the owners and staff, showing them clearly what he's found, no matter how grim. Like many of us, the owners often resist the changes he insists on, but Irvine uses a tough-guy approach to help these stakeholders face the truth and change their attitude.
Chef Ramsey has a similar approach in his series, Kitchen Nightmares. His style is more brutal than Irvine's, often including some over-the-top shouting and swearing. The owners usually don't want to face what he's telling them, and they immediately doubt that chef Ramsey is the right person to help them. That's because the truth hurts. The owners and managers then reject the advice they're getting because their egos can't take it.
Of course, both of these shows hype the drama to improve the entertainment. But the reality of these struggling businesses rings true. Without direct and experienced help from consultants, these restaurants would fail.
Read on. |
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Engineers and the Economy
In the last Engineering Momentum issue I wrote about how engineers can fix the economy. Thanks to all who read it and especially to those who provided feedback at our blog. Some engineers took offense and defended engineers, but my point was that engineering talent is underutilized and to imagine the global impact we could enjoy if this were to change!
Looking forward to more comments on the blog and a year of prosperity for all of our readers!
Best regards,
Gary Hinkle
President
Auxilium, Inc. 
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