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But for every company, Dell included, kaizen is an ideal rather than a reality. Success is not a straight line up. It’s fail, learn, try again, then (you hope) succeed. How successful you are is really a function of how well you deal with failure—and how much you learn from it. Many people don’t reach their greatest potential because they fear failure. In avoiding failure, they deprive themselves of a great teacher. Many others fall short because of lack of opportunity, capital, knowledge, or skills. Persistence is an all-important quality on the road to success. (And success presents its own challenges, avoiding complacency being the first and biggest. Which is why, along with kaizen, PBNS—pleased but never satisfied—has been part of our culture since the beginning.)
Play Nice but Win
Michael Dell and James Kaplan
Within two years of arriving in Chicago, my father left the grain business and started his own wholesale jewelry company. His great-uncle helped him buy a large quantity of surplus jewelry, which he then resold around the Midwest. My father was a great believer in productivity. He worked six days a week, at least thirteen hours a day. His business took him to eleven states. For him the key to business was access—getting the goods into the stores. Even with his heavy accent, my father gained access to major retailers that others had failed to sign. People responded to his confidence, his work ethic and his intelligence.
Am I Being Too Subtle?
Sam Zell
Bill walked into the office sporting a green eyeshade, the kind accountants used to wear in the early parts of the twentieth century to reduce eye strain. He went around the office space, greeting people at their desks before eventually arriving at Dan’s door. Congratulations, he said, you saved the company. You are now the most successful nongrowth CEO in the valley! The accountants may be happy, but that’s about it, because that’s not what you came here to do, is it? He hugged Dan, then chucked the eyeshade at him. Dan realized in that moment that he had solved only one problem, a big one, but Bill was right. Dan didn’t want to just save the company, he wanted to grow it. The truth was a bit of a slap in the face, but it was time to get back to work.
Trillion Dollar Coach
Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle
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