Tom Nies Bio/Archives

Leading IBM sales rep, founded Cincom in 1968, still at the helm as CEO today. Bachelor’s in marketing, master’s in finance. Recognized by U.S. President Ronald Reagan as "epitome of the entrepreneurial spirit of American business” in 1984, profiled by Smithsonian Institution as "pioneer of software industry" alongside Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Larry Ellison (Oracle) in 1995, inducted into Ernst & Youngs’ Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame, 2004.

Entrepreneurial Leadership

-- by Tom Nies

“Entrepreneur” is a French word meaning “to take an opening.”  But before one can take an opening, one must first see it.  This seeing we call "vision."  In other words, a visionary sees an opportunity, or an opening, and then shares this vision with others who help to realize that opportunity.

Successful entrepreneurial leaders create a compelling vision of where the organization is headed.  They also continuously communicate how to proceed, and energetically guide the development of the organization to advance that vision. Unshakeable will, undaunted determination and relentless pursuit of goals are key hallmarks of these endeavors.

Rigid rule-followers (or deliberate rule breakers) need not apply

Entrepreneurial success, like success in any pursuit, is about the consummate understanding and mastery of key principles – and not about following rules.  A rule states, “You must do it this way.”  A principle says, “This works well – and has done so through all remembered time.  The difference is crucial

The less experienced rigidly follow rules, while the rebellious delight in breaking them. Worse still, they both try to succeed focusing upon subsets of situations – without realizing how all of the forces at work interact in both conflicting and supporting ways.  But the master of any art develops mastery by using time-tested and time-proven principles.  Mastery should be the ideal of every entrepreneur.

Many fine authors on business, commerce, marketing and sales have never been entrepreneurs.  So, these teachings, as valuable as they may be, must be accommodated to the world of the entrepreneur as each tries to build their own future.

Innovation and differentiation

The entrepreneur focuses on innovation of some type.  But something every successful entrepreneur well knows is that differentiation is at least as important as innovation.  While innovation focuses upon the offering, differentiation focuses on the value, satisfaction, utility or delight that the innovation provides to the customer. 

Innovation without differentiation seldom produces optimal appeal to potential customers or optimal results for the seller.  When these innovative differentials are significant, whole new categories of business opportunities can be created.  Then within these new categories, opportunities are provided for many others to expand the possibilities spawned by entrepreneurial leadership.  In this way, entrepreneurial leaders are major dynamic forces which significantly transform our world. 

Servant Leadership

Successful entrepreneurial leaders also well know and consistently practice the art of “Servant Leadership.”  Such leaders realize that their staff does not work for them, but with them in their joint and unified pursuit of common goals.  “Servant Leadership” helps each to do more, and perform better

Each entrepreneur will seek to lead an organization which reflects the substance, style and structure consistent with each one’s own visions and values. In turn, businesses must attract customers, staff and capital. And it is in these attractions that trust is the coin of the realm.  Entrepreneurial leaders understand that we, and the organizations we serve, are all parts of a vast cosmos of interacting relationships.  This network must be structured such that there is a harmonious, valuable and profitable sense of community among all involved. 

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Much of this we surely already realize – at least to some degree.  But in life we learn forward; it’s only in hindsight that we are able to understand.  We will make many errors as we proceed forward, yet we must not let our failings cause us to become discouraged or cynical.  If success were easy to achieve, then all would be successful.  But success, like anything truly worthwhile, is never easy.  That’s why dauntlessness in the face of adversity is a hallmark of the successful among us.  And it is in our retrospective understandings we become more able to successfully lead others.

Posted by TomNies on January 24, 2007 at 02:53 PM in Business Transformation | Permalink

Friends and Family

-- by Tom Nies

From our very beginning, Cincom has always considered all of our members to be “family” and not employees, staff or associates.  That’s why we call ourselves Cincomers – just as all in an immediate family call themselves by their last name. Unabashedly, I admit to being paternalistic. I have Cincomers. I do not seek to preside over them, but to provide for them, just as does every father who tries to provide for his wife and children.

But, besides this special relationship with one another, we, members of our Cincom “family,” consider our clients to not be merely business relationships but to be “friends” of our “family.” So, just as we should consider and treat Cincomers as family, we should – and have always considered -- our business associates (customers/clients) to be friends.

That’s why, from our earliest days we have cherished and promulgated the motto: “Whatever it takes.” That’s the way all good friends guide their relationships with their friends. They don’t exploit them; they don’t “use” them. Certainly, they don’t abuse them. To the contrary, they do whatever they can to help them to be happier, more successful, more comforted in their sorrows, distresses and hardships – and to always wish them the very best in every way possible.

It is these ideas, beliefs, and behaviors which truly make Cincom so radically different from so many other companies who place “maximizing shareholder return” as their primary objective.

So to those many "friends of our family" ... we wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year!

Posted by TomNies on January 2, 2007 at 02:44 PM in Customer Dialogue | Permalink

Drive Innovation by Getting Out of the Way!

-- by Tom Nies

Thanks to Cincom’s long-term success, we are often asked how do we, as a medium-sized, privately held company, effectively compete with larger, publicly held companies.

In 1985, Gifford Pinchot III coined the phrase “intrapreneurship” to describe the marriage of an entrepreneurial spirit – complete with its fierce independence and lack of deference to established views – with the resources of a large corporation. While these two spirits may seem in conflict, they actually thrive in many of the world’s best-run companies.

Intrapreneurship is a strategy for stimulating innovation by making better use of entrepreneurial talent. When effectively promoted and channeled, intrapreneurship not only fosters innovation, it also helps employees with good ideas to better channel the resources of a corporation to develop more successful products.

Some of the greatest business leaders of the past century made their early mark in business as intrapreneurs. Former General Electric chairman Jack Welch made a name for himself by building GE’s engineering plastics business as if he were starting his own company. Lew Lehr, former chairman of 3M, similarly built his career on his intrapreneurial pursuit of 3M’s expansion into the healthcare industry. Both General Electric and 3M are long-time Cincom customers, and both are very successful.

Cincom fosters an intrapreneur ethic within our company. The result is many of our associates are empowered and enabled to become company “change agents” who are comfortable bringing new ideas forward and promoting their execution.

Read more

Posted by TomNies on November 14, 2006 at 04:10 PM in Business Transformation | Permalink

How Soon We Forget

-- by Tom Nies

Xerox is widely considered to be an excellent “Learning Organization.” Not only does this firm consistently recruit top-notch staff, but Xerox also invests heavily in education, learning and training activities. As one measure of just how thorough are their efforts, Xerox tracks the amount of education and training that has been retained 30 days from a specific learning session. According to a person who was closely involved in these testing measurements, Xerox found that 82% of everything taught had apparently been forgotten after 30 days. 

“How can this be?” you might ask.  According to experts, such conditions develop for many reasons.   

First, it is the nature of our conscious mind to seek to focus its interest as narrowly as possible. To do so, we must “off-load” other areas of interest which would distract from the specificity demanded for top attention. 

Second, our human nature, as well as our conscious and subconscious, is organized hierarchically.  Since our conscious mind constantly receives so much information, it could not function if all objects were kept at equally high priority.  In order for us to optimally focus, our conscious mind constantly organizes and prioritizes the information received.  Some information remains in our conscious mind, while other information is stored in the subconscious, retrieved when needed by “triggers.”   This is why note-taking is such an important endeavor.  Without such notes, we would have to rely on random triggers to summon up needed information from or subconscious. 

Third, we tend to be creatures of habit.  If we repeat something enough, we will not only remember it, it will become part of our makeup.  Therefore, for any behavior to be habituated, the execution of it must be repeated over and over again. That’s why learning must be solidified by frequent drill and repetitious exercise.  Failing to do so causes us to be com stale or “out of practice,” and hence subject to error or forgetfulness.

For those who may have a desire to consider these topics a bit further, I suggest the following resources:

The Act of Creation, by Alfred Koestler
Take Back Your Life, by Sally McGhee (specifically Chapter Five, “Clearing the Mind”)

Posted by TomNies on October 17, 2006 at 11:12 AM in Business Optimization | Permalink

The Power of Negative Thinking

-- by Tom Nies

We’re all familiar with “The Power of Positive Thinking.”  Well, quite frankly, too many people today seem to be practicing just the opposite, saddling themselves with negative thoughts and self-doubts, and seeing only flaws and faults all around them. 

This reminds me of someone beginning a climb of the Himalayans. The plains are very low and gentle at first and they become steeper as the air becomes more thin.  Finally they become very steep.

Now if you will imagine a big empty knapsack on your back, and each time you have a negative thought such as, “I can’t do this, we don’t have that, if only this, if only that,” you bend over and pick up a pebble and place it in your knapsack. And as you go on walking the gentle slopes, you’re putting more and more rocks from your negative thoughts into your knapsack.

The result is that when the climb becomes steep and the air very thin, when you really need to be able to climb, you already have so much weight pulling you back that you can’t progress any further. You, in the easy going, have destroyed your potential for later on.

Each one of us does it. What we need to do instead, as we walk forward, if we are loaded with a big burden, figure out every way you can (every day) to throw a pebble out of your knapsack. Every five minutes, every 10 minutes, get rid of another pebble, another impediment.

Realize that our greatest agent for progress is each one of us, but we’re also our own greatest liability. We’re our greatest friend, our own worst enemy. In realizing this, decide to be a businessperson, not a sales rep. See the big picture, and prepare your knapsack for the “steep climb” just ahead.

Posted by TomNies on March 6, 2006 at 02:22 PM in Business Transformation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Imagine

-- by Tom Nies

“Technology,” Daniel Bell* once said, “like art, is a soaring exercise of the human imagination.” Here, Bell wasn’t simply talking about technology and artist disconnect. The Greek word “techny” actually means “art.”

To confirm Daniel Bell’s point, we can point to Albert Einstein who said, “Imagination is more important than intelligence.” I’ve always liked that thought because I feel that even though I may not be much more intelligent than anyone else, I can still work my imagination harder around what is possible – in other words, I’m willing to think big!

And I encourage everyone else to think big also. This way, even if I don’t achieve the “big objective,” it doesn’t frustrate me. I’d much rather go for a gigantic accomplishment and fall just a little bit short, than try to put a little tiny step forward, because too many tiny little steps forward can cost a lot of time.   

And look what can be done with technology when we think big! When we in our business now talk about “real time,” we’re saying something that happens here in Cincinnati instantaneously is known in Tokyo, Australia, Rio de Janeiro, and all other points in the world. That’s what real time is ? virtually at the speed of light. When we talk broadband, we’re talking about tiny filaments of light, millions of those concurrently traveling around the world. So, instead of single handedly channeling information, voice and/or data, we’re sending many channels of information. That’s amazing – and it’s all the result of people using their imaginations and thinking big!

So, let’s go for it and make the most of our life. We humans, each and everyone of us, have gifts of adaptive skills and redirected thought, which enable us to prefigure or imagine innovations and improvements and seek to change the reality that exists in accordance with the thoughts we imagine.

* Daniel Bell is perhaps the most famous sociologist of our time. He put forth the concept of a post-industrial society or information age in his book The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (1973). Later, he re-named this concept the “information society,” for which he is generally considered as the creator of the term (1979).

Posted by TomNies on February 20, 2006 at 04:04 PM in Business Transformation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Method to Our Madness

-- by Tom Nies

Daniel Bell* says that the heart of modern discovery is method. Method is to mind what levers are to muscles. We must have method and we must know how to work with method. Within this structure, thoughtful activity produces positive results.

Our search for method is not just pursuit of exactitude and a measure of our progress; it has a double purpose. The first of those purposes is to raise our general intellectual powers so we become more powerful.

Descartes once said, “An artistic ignoramus with a compass can draw a more perfect circle than the greatest artist working freehand.”  And you know that’s true, since you remember your early days in grade school where you stuck in a compass and drew perfect circles. You had a tool to guide your hand.  Method makes perfect.

The correct method is to the mind what that compass is to the hand. In business it makes more perfect sales cycles. I emphasize this over and over again because salesmen often resist method. They want to lift stones barehanded instead of using levers and tools. They want to do things free-form their own way, and they don’t understand why they never seem to be able to do very much. Those who understand how to use tools and to use methods will always have skills that others don’t.

* Daniel Bell is perhaps the most famous sociologist of our time. He put forth the concept of a post-industrial society or information age in his book The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (1973). Later, he re-named this concept the information society, for which he is generally considered as the creator of the term (1979).

Posted by TomNies on February 15, 2006 at 03:57 PM in Business Optimization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Zen Story

-- by Tom Nies

I'd like to relate to you a Zen story:

Two people were wandering around in the desert aimlessly. They didn’t know where they were and they were weary. They sat down on a rock, quiet and silent, just sitting, until the one fellow said to his companion, “My brother is lost.” And the companion responded back, “I am not lost. Only the way is lost. I am here.”

Now that story may make us chuckle, because we can realize from this fellow’s predicament that often when the way is lost, everything is lost.  And yet aren’t we often like this in our everyday lives? We show up yet we don’t really know how to get where we want to go.

In order to ensure that this does not happen, we must learn to always “check our bearings” so we can understand where we are, where we’re going - and what price we are willing to pay to get there.

In order to “stay on track,” we often have to improve ourselves and work with others (such as our customers) to get information we need to know. For instance, we don’t want to be lost when we’re trying to navigate our way through a sales account. We don’t want to be in the position of knowing that we are sitting there, and yet the way forward is lost.

One way to do this is through “confirming by questioning.”  We want to say to our customers, “Do I have that right? Is my understanding correct? Is it correct to assume this or that? Am I overlooking something? Is there something you want to do (somewhere you want to go) that we haven’t really touched on yet? Am I talking to you about the right things?”  Thus, we can ensure that we know where we stand (or sit, as the case may be) – and that the way is not lost.

Posted by TomNies on February 3, 2006 at 04:19 PM in Customer Dialogue | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Magic of Thinking Big

There really is magic in thinking big.

First, we have to have a dream or vision of what we want to accomplish.  I would urge you to make that vision as big as possible. Think big. Think big for your organization. Think big for yourself. Why shortchange yourselves?

Now I’ll let you in on a little secret to accomplishing your big dream or big vision.

Compounded growth.

What's that? Just a small two or three percent improvement per month.  For example, spending just fifteen minutes per night reading good books, another fifteen minutes in the evening catching up on your trade magazines, news journals and things like that, instead of just lying back and watching TV. No one ever got anywhere doing that. That’s a passive process. It takes the “magic” of compounded growth to get anywhere.

For instance, remember the rule of 72? The rule of 72 is that a number divided into 72 will give you the number of years or months it takes to double your capability or double your asset. For example, if you invest at eight percent per year, eight percent per year in nine years will compound and be doubled.

The same principle applies to our own personal growth. If we say to ourselves, “I’m going to improve my capability, my skill, or my know-how just two percent per month - just a little improvement - in 36 months you are twice as productive, twice as capable, and perhaps able to earn twice as much and be twice as successful!

Descartes once said, “Give me extension and motion and I will construct the universe.” He took it further than Archimedes who said, “Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I can move the earth.” Descartes says, “Give me unlimited extension and unlimited control of motion, and I will construct the universe.” Now that’s big thinking.

We’re each active re-shapers of our own world. Each one of us reshapes our own world, for better or for worse, every day - by the thoughts we think, the goals we set, the people we associate with, the effort we put forward, going the extra mile or an extra 15 minutes a night.

The key word here, the key idea, is activity. I’m urging you to be a businessperson, not a "sales rep." Be a businessperson and reshape the customer’s vision of the possible. Help them elevate their sites. Help them think bigger. Help them see potential they don’t see. Show them how you can help them accomplish that.

Remember, it just takes a few minutes each day to see your "big dreams" become reality - through the principle of compounded growth.  Open your mind to the potential and the “magic” of thinking big.

Posted by TomNies on January 30, 2006 at 05:49 PM in Business Growth | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

American Companies: Ready to Compete?

The Pulitzer Prize winning biographer and historian Edmund Morris once said that, "Good writing always has an unblinking acceptance of the truth." However, it is difficult to determine "the truth" about affairs as complex as today's globalized economy and America's status therein when there are so many conflicting opinions.

David Walker, who audits American government's accounting records in his role as the U.S. Comptroller General, said quite starkly to the Associated Press that, "I believe the country faces a critical crossroad and that the decisions made -- or not made -- within the next ten years or so will have a profound effect on the future of our country. The problem gets bigger every day, and the tidal wave gets closer every day."

Is an economic tsunami soon to break upon us? Some think so. Some think not. But, what really is the "truth" of America's situation? Perhaps, in the longer term, which is to say when historical realities become more apparent and widely different opinions are then sifted out by the development of events known more clearly, perhaps only in retrospect, we may then know what was "truth" and what was error in the mid-2000's decade.

The above excerpt is from Line 56: The E-business Executive Daily. Competitive issues facing American companies today are discussed in this article, including:

• What the Japanese Learned from America Others Have Learned Too
• Are American Manufacturing Workers Between a Rock and a Hard Place?
• Is America Failing to Keep Pace With International Productivity?
• America's Comparative Trading Success -- or Decline?
• Enter -- The China Factor
• America's Adverse Trade Balance
• Whatever Happened to Savings?
• Corporate Tax Rates
• Small and Mid-Size Firms as Engines of Employment Growth
• Median Household Incomes Declining While Job Risks Increase

To view the entire article, go to: http://www.line56.com/articles/default.asp?articleID=7196&TopicID=9

Posted by TomNies on January 16, 2006 at 02:46 PM in Business Growth | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Who's on 1st?

-- by Tom Nies

Words of Encouragement to technology industry leaders

Put your customers first – and the people who are serving those customers a very close second.  Seems obvious, doesn’t it? 

But today, it's become very difficult for many public companies to properly balance support for all their constituencies because the pressure for market-share value is so great that they can't always find a way to properly balance all priorities for all stakeholders at one time. This is unfortunate. But it seems to make good sense to focus on your customer, their interests and desires, and on one's own people.

Shareholders should not be the exclusive focus for the company because this may cause companies to put their customers and their people in too distant a priority. Some companies have become so obsessed with shareholder value that they may neglect, or perhaps even seek to exploit unfairly, their customers -  and pay too little attention to their own people. This, I believe, is a very dangerous game to play.

Cincom’s strategy is to deliver the best value one possibly can at the lowest overall cost, and provide the most creative and productive environment possible. This incidentally has been our strategy for over 36 years, as well. We believe that, in the end, shareholders will be well taken care of as a result, and not as a focus. In this way, all stakeholders can be optimally served.

Posted by TomNies on November 2, 2005 at 04:31 PM in Business Optimization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Blurred Vision: When to Lead, When to Manage

-- by Tom Nies

Not so long ago, I read a quite interesting book with the intriguing title of Blur. The premise of this book is that a whole new approach to management of commercial affairs and business enterprises is now urgently demanded because events, situations, technologies and opportunities in modern society are moving at such an ever-increasing rate of speed that we are no longer able to bring the many factors into a clearly intelligible focus. In other words, everything has already become "blurred," and will become even more so as the pace of change continues to accelerate.

One of the conclusions based upon the foundational premise of our "blurred" society is that we become comfortable with uncertainty, daring in doubt, and boldly go forward, even though there may be legitimate debate about the goals to be sought, the opportunities present, the resources available, and the chances for success. Never before has it been so necessary to rapidly “Move, Monitor and Modify” as we push forward.

If the author is correct, then the primary principles of management as they had been taught throughout almost all of the 20^th Century must increasingly give way to new approaches to guide and develop a fast-moving, opportunistic commercial enterprise.  Whereas in the past, the three foundational functions of management have been planning, organizing, and control, in the future, leadership must become evermore prevalent.

However, the principles of leadership and management could be said to be radically different.

Management: The Authority
Management is designed to direct or mobilize a unified and established organization. Just as a king governed not several different kingdoms, nor a confederation of independent states, so too a manager governs one united group that is not independent of, or free from, control by its superior manager. The authority of this manager or executive comes from the principle of jurisdiction. The principle of jurisdiction is a lawful, or official, authority over persons and matters under the domain of that jurisdiction. For example, a judge has jurisdictional power over those who are brought into, or under his court. But that judge has authority only therein.

Similarly in management. Based upon the authority provided by the jurisdiction of the manager's hierarchical office, the manager decides. The manager's judgment is influenced and guided, just as is that of the jury and the judge, by the information provided, and the context within which it is framed, along with the bias, opinion, experience and wisdom of the manager. But, these judgments and the authority to make such judgments apply only to those persons and matters under the jurisdiction of a specific manager. For example, the research and development manager can no more order or direct the sales force of its own company than the president of IBM can order or direct the actions of Ford Motor.

In summary, without jurisdiction there is no power. And without power, organizations can do very little. That's why the principle of hierarchical authority is one of the most severely and zealously guarded and maintained of all organizational principles. Within a chain of command, there can be no doubt over who is in command. To attempt to discredit or to subvert lawful authority is one of the most heinous of offenses in society, and in a business organization, since without authority and the power it provides to an organization, all members are put at risk.

Leadership: The Will
Whereas management is based upon the principles of jurisdiction, leadership draws its strength and vitality from the principle of volition. The word volition is derived from the Latin words volitio and volo, meaning the noun will. The human will is the power of conscious, deliberate action by which the free and rational human mind makes its choices of its ends, and of actions, and directs its energies in carrying out its determinations. In common parlance, we use such words as choice, purpose, decisions and directive effort or energy to describe the work of the will. It is the intellect that absorbs and processes information; but it is the will that decides and directs. Those who of their own free will join into various organizational pursuits or endeavors in support of a leader are often called "volunteers" (from Volo). So, the volition of all, leaders and followers alike, is the key to leadership.

Unlike management where the manager decides based upon jurisdictional authority, within the leadership sphere the volitional forces are in very large part a function of the free and natural choices that the followers make, which gives power to and confirms the leader. Without one's followers it is difficult to lead. Without followers, the leader may lie fallow. But, unlike those subject to or under the authority of a manager, the followers of a leader operate quite differently. This is because the word follower in no way means a subordinate, or a subject. This is because the words to follow mean to imitate. While Managers direct and control, Leaders everywhere encourage imitation, and followers voluntarily do so.

The leader then becomes "primes inter pares" (first among peers). The leader, therefore, must above all else lead by example. It is the leader who must set the precedent. But, the leader must also teach as well as lead. The leader's followers must know and understand what the leader seeks to accomplish with and through the leader's followers. But more importantly still, the followers, or imitators, must both believe in and similarly agree with the pursuits if the collaborative endeavors of the leader and the followers are to succeed. So by effectively leading, the leader teaches those who follow the leader's example, and thereby seek to imitate the leader. Example is a powerful and positive form of teaching.

Whereas managers direct through authority and subordinates respond through duty, a leader must communicate, teach and guide by example. Common belief and affectation are also essential between and among the followers and the leader. The leader, therefore, must also be a learner. And, the leader must not only learn ever more about the goals and objectives commonly sought, but must also learn from the leader's community about their wants, needs, beliefs and understandings. But besides this, the leader must also be a formal teacher. The leader must continuously think about, seek and formulate the ways and means to teach others so that they can better accomplish.

In summary, management is more authoritarian; leadership is more collegial. But, this does not mean that leadership is done through committee vote or majority rule. Since the followers are attempting to imitate the leader and to share the leader's vision, hopes and dreams, it is always the leader who must lead. The visionary leader's place is always with the team in the front ranks; the commander is usually more properly above the ranks. Moreover, within the leader's community, there are many other ancillary and facilitative leaders who must guide and shape ancillary and supportive functions that are in full and perfect harmony with the leader's vision or strategic intent. Just as there can be no subversion of a manager's authority, there can be no diversion or rebellion among a leader's ranks, or a desertion of the cause by the volunteers, if success is to be gained. While leaders must lead, followers must follow.

Leaders and Managers both seek to successfully and to effectively achieve important objectives. Where the management approach may be more appropriate for mature or established situations, the leadership style can be more suited for dynamic environments.

Posted by TomNies on October 28, 2005 at 11:45 AM in Business Optimization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Leaders are Teachers

-- by Tom Nies

It is axiomatic that leaders are learners. They learn from their own experiences, from others directly, from their readings, and from their studies of situations before them. But, in a very real way, leaders are learners who realize that they must also teach as they lead.

As every teacher knows, the teacher often learns more in the process than do the students. It's been said that, "When the student is ready to learn, a teacher will appear."  This suddenly appearing teacher may be a book, a friend, an experience, a success, a reversal, or any of a virtually infinite number of possibilities.

Quite likely, however, the teacher that appears may be one's own self, in that the learner adopts a more inquisitive, open-minded, thoughtful attitude based upon a humble but growing awareness of one's need to know more, and a willingness to do what is necessary to learn.

True humility is the groundwork for all good growth.  But just as none are so blind as those who refuse to see, so too are none so stupid as those who refuse to learn.  Good and humble leaders who well understand this, therefore, are not only are eager learners, but also are willing and helpful teachers as well.

Posted by TomNies on October 21, 2005 at 09:56 AM in Business Transformation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Leaders are Learners

by Tom Nies

In his brilliant book entitled Links of Leadership, John Laffin notes that, "Most great leaders have, throughout history, studied the campaigns of their predecessors, profiting by their mistakes, capitalizing on their successes.”  Therefore, “an ingredient that makes a commander great is the readiness and the ability to profit from the experiences of others."

These insights are simply loaded with guidance for modern leaders in the combat of competitive commerce. We must learn from the experiences of others. Failing to do so, we are subject to repeat and experience the same failures. Santayana perceptively noted that, “those who cannot learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.” 

True, we sometimes learn our lessons best by the pain of our own errors.  But experience gained the hard way, by trial and error, is as painful as it is limiting.  Study and consideration of the experiences and understandings of others are very great aids to learning. The best leaders everywhere were and are also voracious learners.

Posted by TomNies on October 14, 2005 at 11:34 AM in Business Transformation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

LEADERS AND MANAGERS BOTH REQUIRED

-- by Tom Nies

Almost always, management theorists are reluctant to emphasize leadership as the key factor in determining an organization's success. Experts of the management persuasion tend to assert that factors such as a winning culture, efficient work processes, customer focus, planning, organization, structure, control and cmmunication, along with marketing, research and development, and any number of other ancillary attributes are the "sine quo non" (without which there is none) for success.  Few would disagree with the very great importance of each and every one of the above factors; moreover, many more could be added.

However, those of the leadership school believe that leadership takes precedence over everything else. Those theorists support their belief with the argument that it is the leaders who understand why certain opportunities exist and decide what needs to be done to optimally capitalize on these situations, and appoint or attract those who will help the leader to bring these possibilities to fruition. Moreover, those of this school argue, it is the leaders who are the visionaries, who transmit these visions to others, who create the culture and who choose the managers.

In fact, however, it is not an either/or condition because both leadership and management must harmoniously coexist for ongoing success. Moreover, a single person, no matter how powerful a leader he or she may be, certainly can't develop or improve even a moderate size organization alone. Rather, success takes the concentrated energy, ideas, enthusiasm, dedication, skills, commitment, belief and sacrifice of many people. Still, without the leader, movements cannot get the traction needed to begin, and once underway tend to dissipate for lack of the necessary ongoing direction and momentum building.

While leaders and managers are both essential to a successful organization, they fulfill different functions. Peter Drucker teaches that an effective organization does the right things, while an efficient organization does things right. If an efficient organization is doing the wrong things, it will not succeed. Conversely, even though an organization becomes effective choosing the right things to do, if it is not efficient, it can gain neither the quality nor the economies needed to continuously succeed in highly competitive environments.

Since leaders and managers fulfill different functions, their skills, interests, desires and approaches are also different. Seldom is one found who can be at the same time both an excellent leader and an excellent manager. While leaders focus more on the vision and the goals and encourage others to follow and support these desires, managers focus more on what must be done and how to best accomplish these goals and objectives, as well as establish the all-important metrics needed to measure progress and develop the systems and procedures needed to propel the organization forward towards these goals as rapidly and efficiently as possible. Just as a healthy left and a right leg are needed for a person to run forward, so too is it necessary to have both good leaders and good managers working harmoniously together to have a healthy and professional organization.

Leaders inspire, mobilize, and encourage support; managers organize and manage those supporting the leader, and the leader's objectives. While managers of necessity must usually operate in a type of hierarchical chain of command structure through a series of subordinate managers, leaders tend to operate more informally, with ancillary teams or project groups, usually operating around (not necessarily under) leaders in a more networked, or loosely linked structure. Managers move towards stability and predictability; leaders tend to be more ad-hoc and dynamic, always pushing towards the future.

It is the desire of leaders to make the future that does not yet exist become a reality. Managers seek to make the current situations more productive and more successful, and by so doing provide support for future accomplishments. Leaders usually think in terms of quantum leaps; managers of necessity usually, but not always, process incrementally. But, both leaders and managers must operate well proactively (causing things to happen) and reactively (responding to events and opportunities).

Built to Change
Because of the hierarchical nature of the structure usually needed once an organization develops critical mass, there often develops an environment where leadership tends to dry up within the hierarchical structure. When, and if, this happens, the stabilizing nature of the hierarchical organization tends towards rigidity and ossification. And in dynamic environments and marketplaces, this can become catastrophic all too quickly. In slower moving past times, organizations could gradually and incrementally improve themselves and carefully and methodically respond to change over very long product or service life cycles. Moreover, such approaches tended to maximize product life cycles and multiply significantly the returns made on past investments. Sometimes in times past the profit yields from such long-term returns were truly fabulous and generated immense wealth. So, it was highly desirable to maintain this order of affairs as long as possible. Because of this, organizations in times past were "built to last." Organizations, once established and constructively managed, tend to stability, and not to change. But, with increasingly short product or services life cycles, and the myriad of opportunities and threats evermore present, modern organizations must now be "built to change." Effectively developing the changes necessary to improve such an organization becomes the joint responsibility of leaders and manager working collectively and constructively together in harmony and concord for the best interests of all involved.

Posted by TomNies on September 28, 2005 at 11:08 AM in Business Optimization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Dynamic Times Demand Dynamic Organizations

-- by Tom Nies

Like the laws governing the rate of acceleration of falling bodies, the dynamics of society and business affairs tend also to be subject to accelerating forces demanding ever more responsive and fast-changing, commercial organizations. If there is an essential theory that must pervade a modern organization, it is that success requires the ability to quickly master revolutionary change.

This demands the dramatic and dynamic challenge of what is often referred to as the creative destruction and the rapid rebuilding of an organization in order to improve it - and to be willing to do so repeatedly.

In order for organizations to consistently win over time, internal revolution (not evolution) must be driven by leaders and managers with the ideas, the heart, and the will to continuously respond to an ever-growing number of new opportunities. To stay alive, an organization must adopt life-sustaining change as its way of life. Of course, not all change is improvement, but without change an organization cannot improve itself.

Similarly, without the ability and desire to respond to new opportunities, or better still, creating products and services that create new opportunities, an organization can neither survive over time, nor thrive in its current time. There is little doubt that the revolutionary changes usually needed to properly respond to new opportunities can be painful, and risky. Nor is there little doubt that the conserving forces within an organization will tend to resist the potential pain and risk that such dramatic change demands.

Leaders Needed
In all facets of life, including business affairs, one must master change. Faced with increasingly difficult, demanding, large, and frequent mega-shifts in worldwide economies, societies, technologies, marketplaces and competitive forces, organizations need leaders and managers at every level and throughout all aspects and functions who can optimally redirect an organization's emotional and economic energies and resources.

Throughout every organization, its leaders and managers must be willing, if not eager, to repeatedly let go of the tried and true established ideas and ways of doing things and quickly adopt newer and better ones. And, its leaders and managers must be able to encourage, to guide and to help each and every member of the organization to generate the very high levels of positive energy and commitment needed to do the same. As the monkey swinging through the trees of the forest must let go of the trailing but then still supporting branch as it grasps the next branch forward, so too must all members of a modern organization be eagerly grasping upon the next great opportunity as it moves rapidly forward, and willingly letting go of the old as it progresses.

For us, today's economic life is one of constant change. And these changes, while individually often seem to happen little by little, collectively they occur at such a great rate of speed that, in very short time, very great shifts in the organization have occurred.

Sometimes before we have realized what is happening, it has already happened. If, at every level, people are not constantly noting and thinking about the possibilities latent within seemingly small changes, by the time the cumulative effect of these is realized by those at the top of an organization, it is usually too late. No organization can rely solely on leadership from the top.

Leaders and managers at every level must realize that an organization will survive and thrive only through change. No matter what its situation, an organization's managers and leaders, at every level, can improve the organization and its competitive performance only if individually and collectively they can do an ever better job of generating new ideas, instilling better values, creating more positive energy, making tough decisions, and having the courage of their commitments to implement both incremental improvements, and to also gain quantum leaps forward as well.  In today's organizations, everyone must contribute to the collective knowledge for us to achieve.

Posted by TomNies on September 27, 2005 at 11:35 AM in Business Optimization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

3 Requirements for Great Entrepreneurship

-- by Tom Nies

Entrepreneurs are a key driving force of our economy. They help to create the jobs that deliver value, that deliver paychecks to people to raise their families, send their kids to college, and buy cars from the local car dealer.  Entrepreneurship, for many, has now become the new “Great American Dream” – that is, to become an owner, and so more able to shape and control one’s own destiny in today’s globalized world.

• Seven out of 10 new jobs are created by entrepreneurial businesses.

• The National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Commerce and others have reported that since World War II, "smaller entrepreneurial firms have been responsible for 67% of all inventions and innovations, and 95 percent of all radical innovation in the United States.”

What are the three factors for entrepreneurial success?

• Passion
• Luck
• A willingness to risk everything

I define passion as the willingness to suffer and endure pain for one’s beliefs. Any business builder must possess passion for what he or she does if success is to be achieved.  Without the willingness to endure very hard and uncertain times and to defer gratifications, there will be little chance of success, and little reason for others to follow.

Luck, I believe, is everywhere – although not everyone sees it when it beckons. But an entrepreneur does recognize luck when it happens and seizes lucky moments to advance. The word entrepreneur means “to take an opening.” And the word opportunity suggests an open port, or portal, for success.  One simply cannot overestimate the importance of being in the right place at the right time.

But finally – and this is what separates an entrepreneur or job-creator from a job-seeker – is an entrepreneur’s willingness to risk almost everything – comfort, income, home, health, and yes, even family involvement, to seek opportunities, to take openings, and to satisfy as yet unmet demands. Success demands action. The greater the success, the bolder the actions required.

Fortunately, successful entrepreneurs quite often feel a responsibility to encourage entrepreneurship not only in the United States but also throughout the world.  That’s why Cincom launched its “Encouraging Entrepreneurship” program. In the United States, we’ve begun to sponsor programs at colleges and universities, such as business plan competitions and fellowships to further encourage entrepreneurship.  Take a look.

Posted by TomNies on September 20, 2005 at 04:14 PM in Business Transformation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

“Creative Destruction” Part 5 – The Challenge of Constructive Change

By Tom Nies

To resist potentially improving change means to risk eventual decline – and to all too quickly become non-competitive and obsolete.  Therefore at Cincom, we seek the via media, or middle way.  We realize that, however uncomfortable it may be in the short term, improvement always demands change.  We strive to progress as fast as we can, in order to achieve the greatest advantages possible, but not to proceed at a pace beyond our means or capabilities.

How we seek to minimize the sense of loss and confusion felt by those in our organization due to this change determines to a large extent whether we will continue to be successful.  Since all innovations demand to some degree a destruction of the old, training for those who wish to become part of the “new” is imperative, and companies must continually prepare and plan for this inevitability.

Every company was, at one time, a “progressive,” or an active agent of change. It is companies who have learned to incorporate this “ebb and flow” pattern into the fabric of their organization who will continue to be successful in the long term.

Posted by TomNies on August 25, 2005 at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

“Creative Destruction” Part 4 – Ah, Change

By Tom Nies

If all of the benefits of “creative destruction” discussed in the previous posts are so, then why is there such resistance to the changes that bring with them the innovations and improvements that fuel and fund not only entrepreneurial growth but also competitive advantage?

Part of the answer may be in this explanation (again, from Wikipedia):

Unfortunately for some, creative destruction can hurt. Layoffs of workers with obsolete working skills sometimes signal these new innovations. Though they allow more workers to be available for more creative and productive uses, they can cause severe hardship in the short term.

In varying degrees, we are all by nature “conservative.”  By this I don’t mean the generally accepted political meaning of the word; rather, that by this, we recognize that when it comes to our own personal situation, if we are at all comfortable in our role, we tend to want to conserve that agreeable condition, and will resist or fear change.

Posted by TomNies on August 25, 2005 at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

“Creative Destruction” Part 3 – The Role of Entrepreneurs

By Tom Nies

It was stated in the previous post that Foster and Kaplan, in their book Creative Destruction, suggest that long-term companies “create new businesses and close down slow-growth divisions” in order to continue their success. 

However, in 1942, economist Joseph Schumpeter postulated that there was much more to “creative destruction” than merely introducing the new and abandoning the old. According to Wikipedia:

Creative destruction is the colourful expression introduced by the economist Joseph Schumpeter to describe his view of the process of industrial transformation that accompanies radical innovation. In Schumpeter's vision of capitalism, innovative entry by entrepreneurs was the force that sustained long-term economic growth, even as it destroyed the value of established companies that enjoyed some degree of monopoly power.

Companies that once revolutionized and dominated new industries - think of Xerox in copiers or Polaroid in instant photography - have seen their profits fall and their dominance vanish as rivals launched improved designs or cut manufacturing costs. Creative destruction may also go the other way, pushing an industry to a monopoly situation. An example of this is Wal-Mart, a corporation that increasingly dominates retail markets by using new inventory-management, marketing, and personnel-management techniques, at the expense of older or smaller companies.

In fact, successful innovation is normally a source of temporary market power, eroding the profits and position of old firms, yet ultimately succumbing to the pressure of new inventions commercialised by competing entrants.

Creative destruction is a powerful economic concept because it can explain many of the dynamics of industrial change: the transition from a competitive to a monopolistic market, and back again.

Posted by TomNies on August 25, 2005 at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

“Creative Destruction” Part 2 – What this means to companies today

Building on the thoughts already posted on Creative Destruction, a book of the same title published in 2001 by Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan, is provocatively subtitled "Why Companies That Are Built to Last Under-perform the Market – and How to Successfully Transform Them." An introductory digest of the essence of this book offered on the internet is as follows:

Foster and Kaplan, drawing on research they've conducted at McKinsey & Company on more than 1,000 companies in 15 industries, show that even the best-run and most widely admired companies are unable to sustain market-beating levels of performance for more than 10 to 15 years. They write: "Corporations are built on the assumption of continuity; their focus is on operations. Capital markets are built on the assumption of discontinuity; their focus is on creation and destruction. The data present a clear warning: Unless companies open up their decision-making processes, relax conventional notions of control, and change at the pace and scale of the market, their performances will be drawn into an entropic slide to mediocrity."

Corporations operate with management philosophies based on the assumption of continuity; as a result, in the long term they cannot change or create value at the pace and scale of the markets. Their control processes, the very processes that have enabled them to survive over the long haul, deaden them to the vital and constant need for change. What will be required are more than simple adjustments for these corporations.

Foster and Kaplan explain how companies like Johnson & Johnson, Corning, and General Electric overcome cultural "lock-in" by transforming rather than incrementally improving their companies. In order to continue their success, these companies create new businesses and sell off or close down businesses or divisions whose growth is slowing. They also abandon outdated, ingrown structures and rules and adopt new decision-making processes, control systems, and mental models. Corporations, they argue, must learn to be as dynamic and responsive as the market itself if they are to sustain superior returns and thrive over the long term.

Posted by TomNies on August 25, 2005 at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

“Creative Destruction” Part 1 – Capitalism’s Role

By Tom Nies

According to www.investopedia.com, this phrase "creative destruction" is meant to denote "a process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one."

In other words, creative destruction occurs when something new kills an old thing.

A great example of this is personal computers. The industry, led by Microsoft and Intel, destroyed many mainframe computer companies – but in doing so, entrepreneurs created one of the most important inventions of this century.

We can see by this example why Joseph Schumpeter, “the most important economist of the 20^th century” according to the Wall Street Journal, characterized capitalism as “creative destruction” in his book, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy – published in 1942. 

Posted by TomNies on August 25, 2005 at 10:23 AM in Business Transformation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Responsibility of Management

By Tom Nies

All social organisms, whether they are corporate businesses or national governments, whether they are clubs or paternities, sororities, or institutions -- all need to reflect beyond the needs of the managers. 

It is the principle that the few always govern the many, and the sign of corruption in any organization is where the few govern the many for the benefit of the few. Properly functioned societies, proper government, proper governance - the few who are entrusted with the honor and the duties of the governance - govern the many for the benefit of the many.

It is a telltale sign - whether it’s in Washington D.C., Tokyo, Singapore, Brazil - it doesn’t matter.  All over the world - Mexico, developing nations, mature nations - if the few are governing for the benefit of the few, we have a corrupt system.  Lord Acton once said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts.”  Absolutely.

We all have a responsibility to manage so that many benefit. This is especially vital to consider when we are at the task of reorganizing or transforming our businesses. We must consider how our plans and strategies will serve those who have committed to the success of the organization. This does not dismiss the need sometimes to make difficult decisions, but such decisions should not be to the advantage of the few who hold the power.

Posted by TomNies on August 17, 2005 at 01:35 PM in Business Transformation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Developing Mental Toughness for the Big Win

By Tom Nies

Some years ago, at a Cincom sales meeting, I happened by chance to find that one of our staff was a former Olympic swimmer. Of course I was interested in the Olympic swimming training. But, in our discussion, I was surprised when the Olympic swimmer told me that her training time and the emphasis spent in mental training exceeded her time spent in physical training and the time "in the pool" combined. When I expressed surprise at this, she told me that, "Like all sports at top levels, the differences in performance can become more mental than physical." She explained to me that the mental focus on each swimming stroke must be extremely precise because the slightest breakdown would cause a temporary delay, or inefficiency, which among the world's best swimmers could usually not be overcome.

Of course, we all know this to be so in many other sports. But never having been a swimmer, I was amazed that even here a sport that I had always thought was so much dependent on physical skill and technique demanded top mental conditioning, and the right mindset as well. So, I thought that this article might be especially interesting to you. What we believe determines what we will become; how we think determines how we will perform. That's the message we hear over and over again. And the greater the achievers are, the more those truly top-performing will stress these very same points. So, there must be validity in opinions so universally shared by great champions everywhere.

Recently I read a newsletter by Dr. John C. Maxwell that provided five thought-starters it would do well for us all to ponder over:

1. Everything begins with a thought. Every great invention, every technique, every conversation, every leadership practice and every bit of personal growth starts in someone's head.

2. What we think determines who we are, and who we are determines what we do. What kind of person do you want to be? What do you want to accomplish in your life and career? Are your thoughts paving the way for you to achieve those goals, or are they getting in the way?

3. Our thoughts determine our destiny, and our destiny determines our legacy. That's pretty sobering, especially for those of us who have already passed life's halfway point. The good news is that, no matter how old you are, it's not too late for good thinking to influence your legacy in a positive way. This quote by James Allen says it well: "You are today where your thoughts have brought you, and you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you."

4. People who go to the top think differently than others. There are many reasons for this, but it's absolutely true. As William Arthur Ward said, "Nothing limits achievement like small thinking, and nothing expands possibilities like unleashed thinking."

5. We can change the way we think. This is a comforting thought, especially in light of the previous statement. One of the best ways to change the way we think is to invest in resources that help us improve our leadership methods, our relationships, our technical competencies, our time-management skills, our ability to handle conflict, and so on.

Posted by TomNies on August 2, 2005 at 04:39 PM in Business Transformation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Burning Ambition

By Tom Nies

Burning ambition, that desire for the recognition of one’s peers and the sense of accomplishment that comes along with it, is a driving force among almost all high achievers. Zealous souls usually want to make an impact and to be appreciated as being among those who truly do make a major difference. Recognition and appreciation are dear to almost everyone.

But, after all of this has been accomplished, motivations quite often change; or maybe better said, become more refined and sophisticated. After having achieved success, a sense of responsibility, of duty and of obligation to others usually increases. Full maturity typically brings with it an ever-increasing desire to assist others to accomplish their hopes and dreams too. “Doing Well By Doing Good” is an idea that never seems to go out of fashion.

Someone once told me that I seem to be “by profession a capitalist; by disposition a humanist.” This may be a good synopsis. Of course, all of this means that I intend to continue to do all that can be done to help Cincomers all over the world to grow and be as successful as we are able. We’ve kept “the pedal to the metal” for 36+ years, and this approach has served us all very well. We don’t expect to ease up in the future.

Posted by TomNies on August 2, 2005 at 04:27 PM in Business Optimization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Start with the Vision

By Tom Nies

You cannot move forward without seeing where you are headed -- three to five years out. That's what all CEOs know of as "vision."  It is a basic of business, but one that is often ignored.

Cincom’s vision is to grow our performance based on four foundations: higher value for the customer; low overall total cost; low risk on investment; and significant return on investment for the customer. We intend to accomplish these objectives by providing increasingly greater simplification through innovation.

From our standpoint, the vision for the company is to continue to deliver excellent return on invested capital that is among, or above, the very best rates achieved in our industry — or any industry. But to increase revenues at the same time we’re increasing margins and return on invested capital is an ever increasing challenge as size and scale increase. But we believe we are doing a reasonably good job of balancing satisfaction of these conflicting demands.

Vision is not easy to arrive at. It demands a thorough understanding of your business, your customer needs, your industry and competition – all with a crystal ball looking into the future. It demands the CEO’s personal time locked in a room where we can think without obstruction. Once the direction is sighted, then the CEO leads team building and confirmation around the vision and its implications.

Posted by TomNies on August 2, 2005 at 04:00 PM in Business Transformation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

State of the Industry and Cincom Transformation Strategy

By Tom Nies

Our industry today has become increasingly more competitive and also increasingly more demanding. Immense amounts of capital have been directed into our industry, both in IPOs and in major secondary offerings. And so the capacity in our industry relative to demand may have grown very substantially ahead of normal growth requirements. Our industry may need five to 10 years of consolidation to bring supply more in line with demand. Because supply is so significant, buyers now have an excellent situation.

Whenever supply is greater than demand, pressure is on price, but in every other aspect of competitive performance as well.  Cincom’s differentiating strategy for the 21^st century is to provide much higher value and to reduce overall costs as well. We also deliver very fast Return on Invested Capital, and we significantly Reduce Risk for customers. These four differentiating capabilities are at the heart of our corporate strategy. 

This is to consistently deliver a lot better value through high-quality products and services.  Cincom’s approach is to provide greater simplification through innovation.  These themes are our major strategic differentiations.  Of course, quality, service, support, etc. are also of very great importance.

We anticipate a substantial amount of future consolidation in our industry. By that we mean larger companies buying smaller companies. Oracle acquiring PeopleSoft is one good example of that.  But we think we are also going to see mid-tier and others also being consolidated. As that happens, the seller gains immediately because they usually sell their company at a nice premium. The buyer then has to justify and recover the premium paid for that acquisition. Usually this means reducing overall industry capacity by reducing staff, eliminating product lines, and further consolidating activities. We believe that as excess supply is so reduced, there will be increasing opportunity for us.

For example, Siebel is now being rumored to be an acquisition target. Cincom has offerings in the CRM space.  So, this acquisition, if it happens, should help us quite a lot because the uncertainty surrounding the acquisition and potential liquidation and dismemberment of a Siebel should further increase the preference for Cincom.

In the near future, we will be offering far more integrated services and support than we now offer. Our goal is to provide greater simplification through innovation.  We will become more and more an outcome or results-based company, which will include software, services, even taking complete responsibility for the entire operation of the company’s requirements.

We believe the software industry is going to continue to be one of the most important industries throughout the entire 21^st century.  We’re not in business to maximize ourselves over a seven- to 10-year lifecycle. We are a company that’s built to last, and a company that’s striving to go from being a good company to become a truly great company.  But, our ongoing goal is to thrive, not just to survive.

Posted by TomNies on August 2, 2005 at 01:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The optimum size for a business: Is growth always the best policy?

By Tom Nies

Business growth is usually a key aim, with strategies and five year plans required by everyone from investors to staff. But should growth always be pursued? Or will unbridled growth and the proliferation of 'super companies' subsume the economy?

Ever since the industrial revolution, and never more than in the 1980s, “big is best” has been the mantra of the manufacturing industry. In the scramble for profit and power, in industry as in nature it often seems that bigger equals stronger.

Yet firms that are of mid- to intermediate-size tend to grow at faster rates, and add more employment faster, while also providing better possibilities for increased return on investment than do