Excerpts A Troubled President The Numbers Do Not Add Up Sleepless Nights Torn in Half! The Military Understands Already Beyond the Value Chain Aspirations and Opportunities Emboldening Customers and Strengthening Their Capabilities Boxes and Lines Distrust Bigger than the Boxes Rethinking the Model

Excerpts #1 of Chapter 1 Excerpts: Next | Previous A Troubled President One Monday morning, Frank Giardelli, CEO of Custom Products and Services, Inc., a division of a large manufacturing and service company, arrives at his regularly scheduled staff meeting. Already present are the vice presidents of the functional departments: Wesley Schroeder, engineering; Vincent Gutierrez, manufacturing; Marjorie Callahan, finance; Carol Soo, sales and marketing; Gregory Kasmirian, service; and Alan Tanaka, human resources. Their casual conversation goes on as he enters the boardroom. He stands silently in front of them, waiting. The room grows quiet as, one by one, they notice that he is holding the familiar organizational chart. They cannot quite read their names on it, but each knows where his or her name is written. Now they gaze at him, at the chart in his hands. The tension softly grows. "Somebody ask me what's on my mind," says Frank. "What's on your mind, Frank?" asks Gregory Kasmirian, VP of service, trying to sound casual. "I'm glad you asked. This morning I found three major capital requests in my in box." He lays the chart on the table, walks to the flip chart, and picks up a marker. "Manufacturing wants $175,000 for a shop-floor scheduling system." On the flip chart he writes "175." "Information systems wants $80,000 for consulting and software to build a Home Page and get our company up on the World Wide Web of the Internet. Included is the salary for a webmaster and the building of a corporate-wide web for internal use." Below the first number he writes "80." "And engineering wants state-of-the-art workstations and networking capabilities for passing CAD files between ourselves, and our suppliers and customers--half a million dollars' worth, as a matter of fact." He writes "500" and draws a horizontal line beneath the three figures. Everyone silently mouths the words "seven fifty-five," but Frank turns back to the staff without writing anything further. "Now, as you know, advanced information systems is what we're all about. I've asked each of you not to be shy, to let me know what you need if you're going to do your job the way it ought to be done. At least once a week for the past ten years, I've said I don't want this company to take a back seat to anyone technologically, and I've asked you all to help us get to the twenty-first century ahead of the competition. Certainly, establishing a presence on the Internet and developing the ability to engage in electronic commerce are key building blocks, but by themselves they are not enough. "And you've done all I've asked. So far, so good." Excerpts: Next | Previous