Business by the Book
GOODMAN, WALTER
Fair Game BY WALTER GOODMAN Business by the Book The news leaped out from the business pages and hit Wilmer J. Winter-bottom smack in his heritage: Executives at companies like AT&T were taking...
...Dumb is beautiful...
...That may be what they think up in Cambridge, son, but don't forget the trouble Texas Instruments ran into trying to make time with wrist watches, not to mention the frying pan Heublein found itself in when it bought Colonel Sanders...
...It's an invitation to employees to take on the boss whenever the impulse moves them...
...Knitted leggings, crocheted leggings, needlepoint leggings—the future wove on like an endless magic carpet...
...What ever you say, partner," mumbled Freddy, retreating hastily...
...Would you like us to fade our leggings a deeper fade, Heather my dear...
...Where to start...
...Was the secret of getting Winterbottom's leggings strapped up again to be his for the irresistible investment of $19.95...
...Swell of you, Heather...
...I love it...
...He was a leader, a role model, a hero...
...Autonomy and Entrepreneurship"— edifying, whatever they meant...
...he tried every trick in The Book...
...Remembering "Big Jim" Daniell, head of RMI, who posted notices with lines like, "If you see a man without a smile, give him one of yours," Wilmer gave Harry one of his smiles...
...Certainly, Heather...
...Wilmer was delighted at the opening...
...Pervert...
...Productivity Through People"—wow, blast through them, the malingerers...
...Then he printed out a name tag and attached it to his lapel, like the folks at Walt Disney Productions, and opened his office door, which squeaked a bit, just the way Tom Watson himself used to do at IBM...
...If these precepts were good enough for IBM, Procter & Gamble, McDonald's, Tupperware, and Levi Strauss, they were good enough for Winterbottom Leggings...
...What say we give some thought to gaiters...
...Sounds dumb to me, but I drive a Toyota...
...He even formed his crew members into new venture teams, just like they do at 3-M, which, he respectfully reminded everybody, invented Scotch Tape when a sales manager created a dispenser with a built-in blade...
...Within three minutes, with the decisiveness that distinguishes the executives of the best-run companies, he fired his sales manager (6'3") and his chief engineer (230 pounds), and he posted a one-page memo (the optimum memo length, according to Peters and Waterman) instructing employees to get down to 5'5", all muscle...
...Say, boss," said Freddy, the head of purchasing, "I couldn't help overhearing...
...In the ensuing weeks,.Wilmer kept his door open, his name tag buffed...
...Treat them as partners...
...Chicken ain't vodka, son, and leggings ain't mufflers...
...Hands On, Value-Driven"—zoom, at the wheel, a heavy foot on the pedal, watch out, America...
...Yet it was great granddad who had built Winterbottom Leggings and made the family fortune, of which there was barely enough left to send Wilmer III to business school...
...As you of all people must recall, it was Bloomingdale's that invented faded jeans for Levi's...
...I fear to think what the acquisition of Conoco is going to do to Du Pont...
...Right on the mark again, Heather...
...There it was, everything that someone like himself, in search of excellence, needed...
...Do you have any idea what silver is going for these days...
...The principal finding on the diversification question, son, is that organizations that do branch out but stick very close to their knitting outperform the others...
...He remembered his grandpa, hand outstretched, grin aglow, winning friends and influencing people like mad, which worked fine as long as the Navy was recruiting...
...Don't think I am not aware of how often the customer has inspired the manufacturer...
...Just lay on the silver, big boy...
...He remembered his poppa, thinking positively week after week, hour after hour, as leggings sales kept declining...
...he was prepared to try again to get as close as he could to a customer should one appear...
...cost tradeoff...
...And, Freddy, call me partner...
...That line alone was worth $19.95...
...Close to the Customer"—a terrific idea for the moment when a customer showed up...
...he wandered around and thought as small as possible...
...Heather, my dear," Wilmer moved in, arms outstretched for the hands-on approach, as practiced at Delta and Digital...
...Wilmer was at a fever pitch of enthusiasm...
...Somebody ought to warn those big boys down there in Wilmington...
...He promised, "Besmall and you'll be beautiful...
...From now on, Winterbottom, Inc...
...Wilmer knew he was on the right track, because "The best companies are pushed around by their customers, and they love it...
...Heather left without turning her back on Wilmer...
...Simple Form, Lean Staff'—yessir, the whole sales force was overweight and overdeveloped...
...What we want is $70 off a gross and silver hooks and eyes...
...Fair Game BY WALTER GOODMAN Business by the Book The news leaped out from the business pages and hit Wilmer J. Winter-bottom smack in his heritage: Executives at companies like AT&T were taking to heart the rules for success discovered by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr., as revealed in their prodigious best seller, In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies...
...A Bias for Action"—right, he had let tolerance get the better of his company...
...But I have to get out there on the floor now and practice Management by Wandering Around, the way they do at Hewlett-Packard— it's the HP way, partner, and now it's the Winterbottom way...
...Harry was full of stories about the great days when Winterbottom's had trouble filling all the orders coming from Navy boot camps...
...But, dad, leggings...
...SticktotheKnit-ting"—knitting...
...Finesse Fashionables was one of the few places in the country where you could find a decent legging these days...
...The Harvard Solution "Maybe we should diversify, old fellow," suggested Wilmer III, home during a break from his studies at the Harvard Business School...
...That could be a mistake...
...Over at Levi Strauss the open door is called the "fifth freedom...
...he jogged along with the best-runners in the land...
...Hands off, big boy," said Heather, whacking Wilmer with her carry-all...
...I love it, Heather," he said, breathing hard and advancing again...
...treat them with respect...
...I guess I'll go back up to school, dad," said young Wilmer, who took the next bus out of town...
...I'd love to hear about that, fellow crew member," replied Wilmer, keeping in mind that the one thing you never call a worker is "worker...
...It was called The Wealth of Nations...
...It's quite a point you're raising, Harry old partner, an adult point, and I respect and dignify you for it...
...He said, 'If I wasn't making mistakes, I wasn'tmaking decisions.' What you have to keep in mind, Freddy, is the Stability Pillar, the Entrepreneurial Pillar and the Habit-Breaking Pillar...
...it made the edges of his mouth ache...
...Wilmer went all out for excellence...
...You know what General Johnson of Johnson & Johnson once said, Freddy...
...And, as far as Wilmer knew, great granddad had only read one best seller in his life...
...That's what the authors call 'The Smart-Dumb Rule.' The dumber, the smarter...
...At the office, dusting off his knickers and inspecting the damage done by the bicycle that had knocked him down as he was pondering "the matrix response to manifold pressures on various fronts," Wilmer decided to begin with smallness...
...For a week, the suggestion box was filled with suggestions for legging dispensers with built-in blades...
...Bursting with high spirits after this exchange, Wilmer applied the handson principle to a shapely stitcher named Jennifer, whispering into her ear, "Remember what Chuck Knight of Emerson says, crew member, 'You can't accomplish anything unless you have some fun.' " Jennifer left her machine and took a cab to her brother-in-law, the lawyer, who instantly brought suit against Winterbottom for sexual harassment...
...Can't say as I do...
...If anybody comes through my open door while I'm out, give them a name tag...
...Didn't I learn just this morning that there is no quality vs...
...Conglomeration is the name of the game...
...said Heather and kicked him in the shin...
...They'll never get into the next Excellence book that way...
...Saw your open door and figured I'd drop in to talk about the great days when Winterbottom had trouble filling all the orders coming from Navy boot camps," said Harry...
...and still Winterbottom's sales curve sagged like a clothesline under a boot camp full of wet leggings before inspection...
...The notion of him wearing a name tag or keeping his office door open or wandering among the workers and laying hands on anybody, of tacking cheery slogans to the bulletin board, of believing that you can raise quality without increasing cost, of listening to customers, thinking small, treating his fellow man with respect, worrying about Value Systems—inconceivable...
...The only problem was that the leggings were not selling...
...As he was thanking the Lord for his leggings, a slogan occurred to Wilmer: "The unshod shin is just asking for it...
...Puzzled and pensive, Wilmer set aside his text and thought about the search of his forebears for success...
...What can we do to help...
...Remember the General Motors' foundry manager who painted his foundry white and so led to a remarkable cost turnaround...
...Wilmer, the fourth of his line to head Winterbottom Leggings, Inc., remembered his grandpa studying the inspiriting slogans of Dale Carnegie and his poppa memorizing the inspiring sentiments of Norman Vincent People...
...Heather was wearing a mauve pair today, with a Victorian charm on the zipper...
...treat them with dignity...
...Treat people as adults...
...Early Monday morning, Wilmer hastened over to his local Waldenbooks to make the purchase...
...And then he thought about his great granddad, who had the reputation of never having won a friend in his life and who thought negatively as a matter of principle...
...Well, why not...
...Sure enough, in shuffled old Harry, who had been with the company 40 years and wouldn't let anybody forget it...
...would be obsessed with service and quality...
...He was not disappointed...
...We have to get together soon, partner, to analyze your excellent point," he said...
...Ah, speaking of customers, there was Heather Finesse, owner of the classy chain of boutiques that bore her name...
...Another move like that and I'll fade you," said Heather...
...At last things were moving...
...Tucking his receipt away for tax time, he exited thumbing the pages in hope and expectation...
...Out went Wilmer, in search of a Customer to get Close To...
Vol. 67 • April 1984 • No. 6
