Borders and Xerox are two business organizations that can teach us a valuable lesson. Borders sells books through retail stores to customers. Xerox sells machines for making copies of papers. What could these two different companies have to teach us?
It is a lesson that we can learn from nature. Charles Darwin was a scientist who realized that species (i.e. animals) were evolving over time. Species learned to adapt or risk becoming extinct. I learned much about Darwin from an exceptional movie titled Creation. This movie presents the story of how he ended up writing a book on his theory of evolution. (I am aware that there has been controversy on this book because some people believe his theory in contradiction with what was written in the Bible. That is a subject for another blog.)
Xerox successfully adapted when the business world started to reduce paper consumption and copying. Borders, on the other hand, did not successfully adapt when the world started moving more toward electronic, rather than paper books. That is why Borders recently filed for bankruptcy protection. Barnes & Noble, another bookstore retail chain, has successfully adapted thus far. For example, this organization has moved into the electronic age with its book reader and online bookstore.
Adapting is not the only condition for continued life and prosperity. To prosper, an organization must successfully implement an effective plan of strategies and tactics to become ever-flourishing. A number of organizations have utilized the Transformational Strategy and Tactic tree (from TOC) to become ever-flourishing. The key to continued life and prosperity of any organization is to not only be successfully led and managed, but also to continue to adapt to the changing environment.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Planet Earth - ensuring our home is in great shape
This morning, I was enjoying my walk on the Greenbelt trail in Scottsdale, Arizona. This trail is a long one that winds through the city and forks in different directions at times. It consists of a concrete path, with large areas of grass on either side. Scottsdale (which is near Phoenix) is part of the desert. That means all this grass has been artificially implanted here, along with an underground sprinkling system to sustain it.
As I was walking, I noticed there were a number of large puddles on the concrete. I realized these puddles were not due to rain, but rather the sprinklers. I became dismayed by the fact that so much water is being wasted, not just on the path, but on the implanted grass. I admit that the grass looks appealing and feels good to walk on with bare feet. However, we need to also consider the negative ramifications of our actions. Water is a valuable resource that should not be wasted.
The other night I watched an amazing YouTube video titled Home. The scenery and narrative were compelling. The objective of the video was to protect our planet, to understand how much damage we humans have caused. Watching the movie reminded me of Al Gore's work on global warming. His movie, The Inconvenient Truth, was also compelling. Even great movies, such as Avatar, The Bee Movie and The Last Unicorn convey similar ideas. Will we finally start listening to these messages and take appropriate action?
After I contemplated the movies further, I remembered some thoughts that Eli Goldratt shared in his great book, The Choice, explaining his philosophy of life. He pointed out that Newton stated that nature is exceedingly simple and harmonious with itself. Eli used lessons and methods from the hard sciences to apply to developing his approach to teach the world to think (his goal in life).
My conclusion is that we need to take actions to not only protect all life on Earth (plants, animals, ...), but more importantly to ensure that the harmony is restored and sustained in the future. Nature has much to teach us about life.
As I was walking, I noticed there were a number of large puddles on the concrete. I realized these puddles were not due to rain, but rather the sprinklers. I became dismayed by the fact that so much water is being wasted, not just on the path, but on the implanted grass. I admit that the grass looks appealing and feels good to walk on with bare feet. However, we need to also consider the negative ramifications of our actions. Water is a valuable resource that should not be wasted.
The other night I watched an amazing YouTube video titled Home. The scenery and narrative were compelling. The objective of the video was to protect our planet, to understand how much damage we humans have caused. Watching the movie reminded me of Al Gore's work on global warming. His movie, The Inconvenient Truth, was also compelling. Even great movies, such as Avatar, The Bee Movie and The Last Unicorn convey similar ideas. Will we finally start listening to these messages and take appropriate action?
After I contemplated the movies further, I remembered some thoughts that Eli Goldratt shared in his great book, The Choice, explaining his philosophy of life. He pointed out that Newton stated that nature is exceedingly simple and harmonious with itself. Eli used lessons and methods from the hard sciences to apply to developing his approach to teach the world to think (his goal in life).
My conclusion is that we need to take actions to not only protect all life on Earth (plants, animals, ...), but more importantly to ensure that the harmony is restored and sustained in the future. Nature has much to teach us about life.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
A chance meeting on a plane with an exceptional young man
About a week ago, I met an exceptional man on my flight from Indianapolis (on my way back to Arizona after visiting family there). His name is Josh Bleill. Josh lost both his legs as a Marine in Iraq during the war. Josh was traveling with his wife, Nikki, and their two month-old daughter, Allie. We had a good conversation on the hour-long flight. I was impressed with his attitude and approach to life.
Josh is the Colts Community Spokesman. It was interesting to talk with him given my family's passion for the Colts NFL football team. I started following the sport closely last year after I developed a real interest in American football once I understood more about strategy in the sport. It must have been difficult for the team and Peyton Manning (the quarterback) to lose in the playoffs in the last few minutes of the game.
Before the end of our flight, I decided to give Josh a gift: President Barack Obama's book Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to my Daughters. I thanked him for his service to our country. I didn't sign the book because it not up to me to do so. I think it would be great if our President, at the very least, signed his book.
Today, I went online to find out more about Josh. I learned that he wrote a book titled, One Step at a Time: A Young Marine's Story of Courage. He also can be booked to speak at events. For more information, go to www.colts.com/onestep.
Josh is the Colts Community Spokesman. It was interesting to talk with him given my family's passion for the Colts NFL football team. I started following the sport closely last year after I developed a real interest in American football once I understood more about strategy in the sport. It must have been difficult for the team and Peyton Manning (the quarterback) to lose in the playoffs in the last few minutes of the game.
Before the end of our flight, I decided to give Josh a gift: President Barack Obama's book Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to my Daughters. I thanked him for his service to our country. I didn't sign the book because it not up to me to do so. I think it would be great if our President, at the very least, signed his book.
Today, I went online to find out more about Josh. I learned that he wrote a book titled, One Step at a Time: A Young Marine's Story of Courage. He also can be booked to speak at events. For more information, go to www.colts.com/onestep.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
