Sublime

At the end of the quarter, a lone HR person ran around like a Jack Russell, nipping at managers’ heels to get updated numbers before the board meeting.

Best-practice steam engine technology could have saved the equivalent of a quarter of labor costs at most plants. Inefficient furnaces were oxidizing away huge amounts of metal. The Germans were pulling ahead in the use of overhead belt conveyors. It was absurdly wasteful to support 119 rail-shape standards. Better management of furnace linings, mo

have a strong incentive to prevent all waste in operations within their ownership.

In the brief time he had served as the president of Continental Airlines, Tom Plaskett learned that aircraft suppliers made a point of keeping a little something in reserve in any negotiation with Lorenzo, even past the point of the handshakes, because Lorenzo would try to re-trade the deal. They called it the “Frank factor.” Phil Bakes would call

In 2006, billionaire technology investor John Doerr announced that “green is the new red, white and blue.” He could have stopped at “red.” As Doerr himself said, “Internet-sized markets are in the billions of dollars; the energy markets are in the trillions.” What he didn’t say is that huge, trillion-dollar markets mean ruthless, bloody competition

Each quarter we try to study an admirable company and discuss it with our Operating Group managers and board members. We focus on high performance conglomerates that have demonstrated at least a decade of superior shareholder returns.

to log anyone dragging in after 8:05—we

Impact Tied to Pay, Promotion, and Recognition GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt is serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He has set a reduction target for each of the business unit leaders at the company. If a business unit meets the profit target but not the GHG emissions target, those executives will not earn their full bonuses. This is similar to

Companies started to keep vendor histories and records of product performance.