| It's Not Luck |
| 1 | IT’S NOT LUCK Other North River Press Books by Eliyahu M. Goldratt The Race (with Robert E. Fox) Theory of Constraints The Haystack Syndrome It’s Not Luck Critical Chain The Goal IT’S NOT LUCK Eliyahu M. Goldratt The North River Press Additional copies can be obtained from your local bookstore or the publisher: The North River Press Publishing Corporation P.O. Box 567 Great Barrington, MA 01230 (800) 486-2665 or (413) 528-0034 www.northriverpress.com Copyright © 1994 Eliyahu M. |
| 2 | Goldratt Al rights reserved. Except for the usual review purposes, no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher. The North River Press P.O. Box 567 Great Barrington, MA 01230 Telephone (800) 486-2665 Manufactured in the United States of America ISBN paperback 0-88427-115-3 Table of Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 1 “As for Alex Rogo’s group . |
| 3 | . . ” At last, Granby has reached my part. I lean back and concentrate. I enjoy every word. No wonder, as the executive VP in charge of the diversified group, I wrote al of it. Wel, not exactly al. Granby has changed some superlatives—his prerogative being the CEO, I guess. It’s not just the way he reads it, with his deep baritone voice, it’s the music. Who said that numbers can’t be a symphony. Now he reaches the crescendo, “In total, the diversified group has finished the year with an operating profit of 1.3 milion dolars.” Granby paddles on, but now I barely listen. |
| 4 | Not bad, I think to myself. Not bad at al, considering that when I took over one year ago, this group was deep in the red. Each and everyone of its three companies. Granby has finished. Now it’s the external directors’ turn to justify their existence. You see, a board is composed of three groups. The top managers of the company—we do our work before the board meeting. The decoration directors, the ones who are (or were) top guns in other companies—they do their work elsewhere. |
| 5 | And the professional sharks, the “representatives” of the shareholders—they don’t do any work. “Wel done,” says the pompous ex-CEO of an oil company, “you have succeeded in putting UniCo back on track exactly in time for the upcoming market recovery.” Wel done, I say to myself, a whole sentence without referring to his own past achievements. He’s getting better. Now it’s the sharks’ turn. Who wil be the one to start poking holes in Granby’s report, demanding, as they usualy do, something more? |
| 6 | “I think that the budget for next year is not aggressive enough,” says one of the sharks. “Yes,” says another. “The forecasted performance is al based on the expected recovery in the market. There is nothing in the plan that shows real effort on the part of UniCo.” Exactly as expected. These professional directors are nothing but modern slave drivers; whatever you do is not good enough, they always crack their whip. |
| 7 | Granby doesn’t bother answering; but now James Doughty speaks up. “I think that we must constantly remind ourselves that business is not as usual. That we must put in extra effort.” And, turning to Granby, “Seven years ago, when you got the position of chief executive officer, the shares were traded for sixty dolars and twenty cents. Now they are oscilating around thirty-two dolars.” Better than the twenty dolars they were two years ago, I think to myself. |
| 8 | “Moreover,” Doughty continues, “this company has made so many bad investments that we have drasticaly eroded our asset base. The credit rating of UniCo has dropped two categories. That is totaly unacceptable. I think that the plan for next year should reflect a management commitment to bring UniCo to what it was before.” This is the longest speech I’ve ever heard Doughty make. He must be serious this time. |
| 9 | Actualy, he does have a point, of course, if you ignore the overal economy in which we operate. Never before has competition been so fierce. Never before has the market been so demanding. Personaly, knowing very wel how difficult this task is, I think that Granby has done a superb job. He inherited a blue chip company, but a company that had eroded its product base. A company that was diving into losses. |
| 10 | And he brought it back to profitability. Trumann raises his hand to quiet the murmur. This is serious. If Trumann backs up Doughty, they have enough power between them to do whatever they want. It is quiet around the table. Trumann looks at each of us, the managers, and then very slowly says, “If this is the best that management is able to come up with . . . I am afraid we wil have to look externaly for a successor.” Wow. |
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