L'ENTREPRENEUR CREATIF

2009-10-16T02:48:00.001-07:00

Why learn from one expert when you can have 54 in your corner? http://ping.fm/6ONiC

2009-07-02T11:25:00.001-07:00

Thus shall ye think of all thi s fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream,
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickerin g lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
-Diamond Sutra, ca. fourth century CE

2009-07-01T12:36:00.001-07:00

France updates l'Express: Getting old young:
http://ping.fm/LJiyJ

2009-06-25T09:30:00.001-07:00

FRANCE updates l'Express: A Retro Government - In Need of Iran: http://ping.fm/RU8uc

Where Have All the Leaders Gone? by Lee Iacocca

2009-06-08T04:46:00.000-07:00

By Lee Iacocca

November 2007

with Catherine Whitney.

I Had Enough?

Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening?

Where the hell is our outrage?

We should be screaming bloody murder.

We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.

But instead of getting mad,everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.” Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out! You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don’t need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you? I’ll go a step further.

You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have. My friends tell me to calm down. They say, “Lee, you’re eighty-two years old. Leave the rage to the young people.” I’d love to—as soon as I can pry them away from their iPods for five seconds and get them to pay attention. I’m going to speak up because it’s my patriotic duty. I think people will listen to me. They say I have a reputation as a straight shooter. So I’ll tell you how I see it, and it’s not pretty, but at least it’s real. I’m hoping to strike a nerve in those young folks who say they don’t vote because they don’t trust politicians to represent their interests. Hey, America, wake up. These guys work for us.

Who Are These Guys, Anyway?

Why are we in this mess?

How did we end up with this crowd in Washington?

Well, we voted for them

—or at least some of us did. But I’ll tell you what we didn’t do. We didn’t agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn’t agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason.

Where I come from that’s a dictatorship, not a democracy.

And don’t tell me it’s all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That’s an intellectually lazy argument, and it’s part of the reason we’re in this stew.

We’re not just a nation of factions. We’re a people. We share common principles and ideals. And we rise and fall together. Where are the voices of leaders who can inspire us to action and make us stand taller? What happened to the strong and resolute party of Lincoln? What happened to the courageous, populist party of FDR and Truman? There was a time in this country when the voices of great leaders lifted us up and made us want to do better.

Where have all the leaders gone?

The Test of a Leader I’ve never been Commander in Chief, but I’ve been a CEO. I understand a few things about leadership at the top. I’ve figured out nine points—not ten (I don’t want people accusing me of thinking I’m Moses). I call them the “Nine Cs of Leadership.” They’re not fancy or complicated. Just clear, obvious qualities that every true leader should have. We should look at how the current administration stacks up. Like it or not, this crew is going to be around until January 2009.

Maybe we can learn something before we go to the polls in 2008. Then let’s be sure we use the leadership test to screen the candidates who say they want to run the country. It’s up to us to choose wisely.

So, here’s my C list:

A leader has to show CURIOSITY.

He has to listen to people outside of the “Yes, sir” crowd in his inner circle. He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place. George W. Bush brags about never reading a newspaper. “I just scan the headlines,” he says. Am I hearing this right?

He’s the President of the United States and he never reads a newspaper? Thomas Jefferson once said, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter.” Bush disagrees. As long as he gets his daily hour in the gym, with Fox News piped through the sound system, he’s ready to go. If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale. If he doesn’t put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he’s right? The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don’t care.

Before the 2006 election, George Bush made a big point of saying he didn’t listen to the polls. Yeah, that’s what they all say when the polls stink. But maybe he should have listened, because 70 percent of the people were saying he was on the wrong track. It took a “thumping” on election day to wake him up, but even then you got the feeling he wasn’t listening so much as he was calculating how to do a better job of convincing everyone he was right.

A leader has to be CREATIVE, go out on a limb, be willing to try something different. You know, think outside the box. George Bush prides himself on never changing, even as the world around him is spinning out of control. God forbid someone should accuse him of flip-flopping.

There’s a disturbingly messianic fervor to his certainty. Senator Joe Biden recalled a conversation he had with Bush a few months after our troops marched into Baghdad. Joe was in the Oval Office outlining his concerns to the President—the explosive mix of Shiite and Sunni, the disbanded Iraqi army, the problems securing the oil fields.

“The President was serene,” Joe recalled.

“He told me he was sure that we were on the right course and that all would be well.

‘Mr. President,’ I finally said, ‘

how can you be so sure when you don’t yet know all the facts?’”

Bush then reached over and put a steadying hand on Joe’s shoulder.

“My instincts,” he said.

“My instincts.” Joe was flabbergasted.

He told Bush,

“Mr. President, your instincts aren’t good enough.”

Joe Biden sure didn’t think the matter was settled. And, as we all know now, it wasn’t. Leadership is all about managing change—whether you’re leading a company or leading a country. Things change, and you get creative. You adapt.

Maybe Bush was absent the day they covered that at Harvard Business School.

A leader has to COMMUNICATE.

I’m not talking about running off at the mouth or spouting sound bites. I’m talking about facing reality and telling the truth. Nobody in the current administration seems to know how to talk straight anymore. Instead, they spend most of their time trying to convince us that things are not really as bad as they seem.

I don’t know if it’s denial or dishonesty, but it can start to drive you crazy after a while. Communication has to start with telling the truth, even when it’s painful. The war in Iraq has been, among other things, a grand failure of communication. Bush is like the boy who didn’t cry wolf when the wolf was at the door. After years of being told that all is well, even as the casualties and chaos mount, we’ve stopped listening to him.

A leader has to be a person of CHARACTER.

That means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing. Abraham Lincoln once said, “If you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” George Bush has a lot of power. What does it say about his character? Bush has shown a willingness to take bold action on the world stage because he has the power, but he shows little regard for the grievous consequences.

He has sent our troops (not to mention hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens) to their deaths—for what? To build our oil reserves? To avenge his daddy because Saddam Hussein once tried to have him killed? To show his daddy he’s tougher? The motivations behind the war in Iraq are questionable, and the execution of the war has been a disaster. A man of character does not ask a single soldier to die for a failed policy.

A leader must have COURAGE.

I’m talking about balls. (That even goes for female leaders.) Swagger isn’t courage. Tough talk isn’t courage. George Bush comes from a blue-blooded Connecticut family, but he likes to talk like a cowboy. You know, My gun is bigger than your gun. Courage in the twenty-first century doesn’t mean posturing and bravado. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk. If you’re a politician, courage means taking a position even when you know it will cost you votes.

Bush can’t even make a public appearance unless the audience has been handpicked and sanitized. He did a series of so-called town hall meetings last year, in auditoriums packed with his most devoted fans. The questions were all softballs.

To be a leader you’ve got to have CONVICTION—a fire in your belly.

You’ve got to have passion. You’ve got to really want to get something done. How do you measure fire in the belly?

Bush has set the all-time record for number of vacation days taken by a U.S. President—four hundred and counting. He’d rather clear brush on his ranch than immerse himself in the business of governing. He even told an interviewer that the high point of his presidency so far was catching a seven-and-a-half-pound perch in his hand-stocked lake. It’s no better on Capitol Hill.

Congress was in session only ninety-seven days in 2006. That’s eleven days less than the record set in 1948, when President Harry Truman coined the term do-nothing Congress. Most people would expect to be fired if they worked so little and had nothing to show for it. But Congress managed to find the time to vote itself a raise. Now, that’s not leadership.

A leader should have CHARISMA.

I’m not talking about being flashy. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you. It’s the ability to inspire. People follow a leader because they trust him. That’s my definition of charisma. Maybe George Bush is a great guy to hang out with at a barbecue or a ball game. But put him at a global summit where the future of our planet is at stake, and he doesn’t look very presidential.

Those frat-boy pranks and the kidding around he enjoys so much don’t go over that well with world leaders. Just ask German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who received an unwelcome shoulder massage from our President at a G-8 Summit. When he came up behind her and started squeezing, I thought she was going to go right through the roof.

A leader has to be COMPETENT.

That seems obvious, doesn’t it?

You’ve got to know what you’re doing. More important than that, you’ve got to surround yourself with people who know what they’re doing.

Bush brags about being our first MBA President.

Does that make him competent?

Well, let’s see.

Thanks to our first MBA President, we’ve got the largest deficit in history, Social Security is on life support, and we’ve run up a half-a-trillion-dollar price tag (so far) in Iraq.

And that’s just for starters. A leader has to be a problem solver, and the biggest problems we face as a nation seem to be on the back burner.

You can’t be a leader if you don’t have COMMON SENSE.

I call this Charlie Beacham’s rule. When I was a young guy just starting out in the car business, one of my first jobs was as Ford’s zone manager in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. My boss was a guy named Charlie Beacham, who was the East Coast regional manager. Charlie was a big Southerner, with a warm drawl, a huge smile, and a core of steel.

Charlie used to tell me, “Remember, Lee, the only thing you’ve got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense. If you don’t know a dip of horseshit from a dip of vanilla ice cream, you’ll never make it.”

George Bush doesn’t have common sense. He just has a lot of sound bites. You know—Mr.they’ll-welcome-us-as-liberators-no-child-left-behind-heck-of-a-job-Brownie-mission-accomplished Bush.

Former President Bill Clinton once said, “I grew up in an alcoholic home. I spent half my childhood trying to get into the reality-based world—and I like it here.”

I think our current President should visit the real world once in a while.

The Biggest C is Crisis Leaders are made, not born.

Leadership is forged in times of crisis.

It’s easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else’s kids off to war when you’ve never seen a battlefield yourself. It’s another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history.

We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes.

Where was George Bush?

He was reading a story about a pet goat to kids in Florida when he heard about the attacks.

He kept sitting there for twenty minutes with a baffled look on his face.

It’s all on tape. You can see it for yourself. Then, instead of taking the quickest route back to Washington and immediately going on the air to reassure the panicked people of this country, he decided it wasn’t safe to return to the White House.

He basically went into hiding for the day—and he told Vice President Dick Cheney to stay put in his bunker. We were all frozen in front of our TVs, scared out of our wits, waiting for our leaders to tell us that we were going to be okay, and there was nobody home.

It took Bush a couple of days to get his bearings and devise the right photo op at Ground Zero. That was George Bush’s moment of truth, and he was paralyzed. And what did he do when he’d regained his composure? He led us down the road to Iraq—a road his own father had considered disastrous when he was President. B

ut Bush didn’t listen to Daddy.

He listened to a higher father.

He prides himself on being faith based, not reality based. If that doesn’t scare the crap out of you, I don’t know what will. A Hell of a Mess So here’s where we stand. We’re immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We’re running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We’re losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves.

The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership. But when you look around, you’ve got to ask: “Where have all the leaders gone?” Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We’ve spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened. Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina.

Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone’s hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn’t happen again.

Now, that’s just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you’re going to do the next time. Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing.

Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when “the Big Three” referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen—and more important, what are we going to do about it? Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem.

The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry. I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn’t elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bobblehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don’t you guys show some spine for a change? Had Enough? Hey, I’m not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here.

I’m trying to light a fire. I’m speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America. I

n my lifetime I’ve had the privilege of living through some of America’s greatest moments. I’ve also experienced some of our worst crises—the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11.

If I’ve learned one thing, it’s this:

You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action.

Whether it’s building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play.

That’s the challenge I’m raising in this book.

It’s a call to action for people who, like me, believe in America.

It’s not too late, but it’s getting pretty close.

So let’s shake off the horseshit and go to work.

Let’s tell ‘em all we’ve had enough.

http://www.bordersstores.com/features/feature.jsp?file=wherehavealltheleadersgone

2009-06-07T23:27:00.001-07:00

"people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy." B. Obama... - Thanks for quote @davidbeckwith -
"To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

- President Barack Obama

2009-06-06T12:53:00.001-07:00

“I love people. All people. No group is more deserving of human rights than another.” @markjoyner http://budurl.com/quqy

2009-06-06T12:51:00.001-07:00

"The return on my investment is what kind of impact I can have on the collective consciousness of humanity"~ Steve Pavlina

2009-06-05T06:56:00.001-07:00

"A leader has to show CURIOSITY...He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place." Lee Iacocca

2009-06-04T08:13:00.001-07:00

French Gov. developing secret plan=impose mandatory vaccination of entire French population allegedly agst SwineFlu http://budurl.com/9njg

2009-06-04T04:54:00.001-07:00

"All know the way, but few actually walk it" Bodhidharma sixth-century Zen master.

2009-06-03T14:50:00.001-07:00

Charlie used to tell me, "Remember, Lee, the only thing you've got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense. If you don't know a dip of horseshit from a dip of vanilla ice cream, you'll never make it." Lee Iacocca

2009-06-02T23:51:00.001-07:00

"Achievement in business, love, friendship, or any other area of life does not precede personal growth, it follows it" Robert Ringer

2009-06-02T11:33:00.001-07:00

"when a single bee sucks honey, all beings in the myriad universes suck honey; when a worm is crushed , all beings in those universes are crushed"
"Know that your mind itself is immeasurable, the container of a myriad, myriad universes, each of them vast beyond your comprehension. All the illimitable power that exists in those myrids of universes would be yours in full, if you had the wisdom enough to use it. The same is true of every sentient being ... when a single bee sucks honey, all beings in the myriad universes suck honey; when a worm is crushed , all beings in those universes are crushed. Remember, the source of all power lies within yourself ..."
John Blofeld, The Bodhisattva of Compassion

2009-06-02T06:02:00.001-07:00

"It is better to create than to learn! Creating is the essence of life." Julius Caesar

2009-06-01T02:28:00.001-07:00

...The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of man...
"Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, wether in music, in art, poetry, in mathematics, philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of man." - East of Eden - John Steinbeck

2009-05-28T07:17:00.001-07:00

"I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don't intend to waste any of mine."
Neil Armstrong

OBRA MAESTRA

2009-05-27T08:59:00.001-07:00

I found this fascinating quote today:

Puis John Ford se lança dans un programme de thèse sur la communication acoustique des orques qui est très particulière puisqu’il s’agit un véritable dialecte. C’est ainsi que commença l’ étude fabuleuse du cétacé le plus fascinant au monde .OBRA MAESTRA, May 2009

You should read the whole article.

2009-05-25T01:08:00.001-07:00

Best, Worst Countries for Life Expectancy

Japan Leads the Life Expectancy List; Sierra Leone Ranks Last

By Miranda Hitti

The report shows that 14 countries had life expectancies of at least 81 years. Here are those countries, along with their life expectancy for babies born in 2007:

* Japan: 83
* Australia, Iceland, Italy, San Marino: 82
* Andorra, France, Israel, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden: 81

At the other end of the life expectancy spectrum, 15 countries had life expectancy below age 50.

Here are those countries and their life expectancy for babies born in 2007:

* Sierra Leone: 41
* Afghanistan: 42
* Lesotho, Zimbabwe: 45
* Chad, Zambia: 46
* Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Swaziland, Uganda: 48
* Burkina Faso, Burundi, Mali: Nigeria 49

In the U.S., life expectancy for a baby born in 2007 is 78 years. Chile, Cuba, Denmark, Kuwait, Slovenia, and the United Arab Emirates share that same life expectancy.

2009-05-22T09:14:00.001-07:00

Reading @michelfortin eye opening article - Extortion Get Rich Quick scheme - http://ping.fm/IBsqr "Today, a client has requested, out of the blue, a refund for copywriting work performed last year. Yes, last year!"...

2009-05-22T02:49:00.001-07:00

Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week. George Bernard Shaw

2009-05-21T12:09:00.001-07:00

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

2009-05-21T12:03:00.001-07:00

Le Manifeste du Dr. Mani: La Valeur Avant Tout...Entrepreneurs...Il est temps de bouleverser nos habitudes... http://ping.fm/w0y1B

2009-05-21T12:01:00.001-07:00

Dr. Mani “Value First” Manifesto: philosophy, mindset, strategy to succeed wildly online: http://ping.fm/fX3sh

Le Manifeste du Dr. Mani: La Valeur Avant Tout

2009-05-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

Entrepreneurs...Il est temps de bouleverser nos habitudes...

Ajouter LA VALEUR AVANT TOUT...
Même avant que l'argent ne change de mains!

“642 mots, 14 ans d'experience, et plus de $400,000 de ventes
ont contribué à créer ce document très spéciale que bien des
gens ont lu

- et j'espère que vous le ferez, très rapidement.

Le Manifeste “La Valeur Avant Tout” met des mots sur une philosophie,
un état d'esprit, une strategie pour réussir au dela de toute
espérance dans votre business en ligne.”

Dr. Mani

"Le Manifesto" du Dr. Mani version originale en Anglais:

http://ezinemarketingcenter.com/valuefirst/ValueFirst.pdf

Traduction en Français:

http://start-self-growth.com/LaValeurAvantTout.pdf

A propos de mon ami le Dr. Mani

2009-05-20T09:55:00.001-07:00

Worry - a God, invisible but omnipotent. It steals the bloom from the cheek and lightness from the pulse; it takes away the appetite, and turns the hair gray.
Benjamin Disraeli

Seuls Les Paranoiques Survivent

2008-11-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

Nous vivons dans un monde de changement.

Les mots crise, récession, dépression sont à l'ordre du jour.

Le dirigeant créatif est celui qui reste à l'écoute constante des changements, sans confondre un simple "bruit" sans conséquence sur sa stratégie à long terme, avec un "signal" fort annonciateur d'un changement drastique.

C'est cela être un homme de "vision".

Le leader créatif d'une entreprise, homme de vision doit être capable de tolérer une certaine dose de "chaos", éviter l'expectative, gérer la transition, et enfin savoir se remettre en question.

*Andrew Grove écrivait déjà il y a 10 ans:

"Seuls Les Paranoiques Survivent"

Nous sommes parfois amenés à vivre certaines crises intérieures lorsque surviennent des changements qu'ils soient physiques, psychiques, voire même matériels ou symboliques.

Face à d'importants changements, notre psyché est confrontée à des nouveautés qu'il faut accepter (même si on n'a pas toujours le choix) et notre esprit doit apprendre à les accepter et à élaborer des réponses différentes.

Il doit trouver le moyen inconscient de se réadapter à des situations nouvelles.La crise accompagne donc le processus de changement et d'adaptation, la période de transition qui permet de prendre un virage, de vivre une charnière de la vie.

C'est une situation fréquemment inconfortable car intermédiaire et instable, mais qui amène toujours (je l'espère) à une nouvelle forme de stabilité, parfois même à une nouvelle vie.

Espérons juste que le meilleur reste à venir et qu'elle nous mènera vraiment vers le mieux. Il en est de même dans les entreprises.

La capacité d'une entreprise à anticiper les mutations grace à la vision de son dirigeant qui sait tolérer le chaos, et réagir au bon moment afin de mobiliser ses troupes rapidement.

Dix bonnes raisons d'être paranoiaque selon Andrew Grove:

1) Sachez que les règles du jeu selon lesquelles votre entreprise fonctionne
peuvent se modifier profondément à tout moment.
2) Limitez les risques de vous faire surprendre en vous mettant constamment
à l'écoute du client, mais aussi du discours tenu sur votre compagnie par les
médias et la communauté financière.
3) Agissez avant d'avoir toutes les données quand votre intuition vous signale que votre
entreprise est confrontée à un changement de grande ampleur. Si vous attendez
d'avoir des certitudes, vous n'aurez peut être plus les moyens d'inverser le cours
du destin.
4) Ayez toujours à l'esprit l'exemple d'IBM: lorsque la physionomie du secteur
s'est transformée, notamment sous l'impact du PC, la firme n'a pas voulu
remettre en cause les schémas stratégiques qui avaient fait sa puissance, attribuant
ses difficultés à la mauvaise conjoncture. Un travers dont elle aurait pu mourir.
5) Examinez, avec un soin tout particulier, les comportements d'achat de vos clients.
Leurs évolutions sont les plus importantes mais aussi les plus difficiles à deceler.
En effet, de tels changements sont à la fois lents et inexorables.
6) Diriger une entreprise, surtout en période de crise, est un chose extrêmement personelle.
Le piège mortel, pour le PDG, c'est de trop s'identifier à sa société, au point de ne plus pouvoir
adopter, à son égard, l'objectivité intellectuelle d'une personne extérieure.
7) Prêtez toujours attention à ce que vous disent les Cassandre de votre entreprise: ces cadres
intermédiaires, particulièrement les commerciaux, sont généralement mieux informés des changement qui se préparent que la direction, car ils passent plus de temps en dehors
de la société.
8) Suscitez un débat large et intensif dans votre entreprise, vous même avec des éléments
extérieurs à celle-ci, lorsque vous êtes confronté à une innovation dont vous mesurez la portée.
9) N'hésitez pas dans les moments d'interrogation stratégique, à faire régner le chaos, en laissant une large place à l'expression et à l'expérimentation individuelles. N'hésitez pas à renouveller votre équipe de direction si c'est le prix à payer pour se mettre en ligne avec les nouvelles orientations stratégiques qui s'imposent.
10) Donnez l'exemple et soyez le premier à adapter votre style de gestion, une fois la nouvelle
stratégie a été adoptée. Souvenez vous que votre premier outil stratégique c'est votre agenda:
l'emploi du temps de la majorité des patrons est trop souvent façonné par l'inertie d'actions
antérieures.

*Andrew Grove: Hongrois immigré aus USA, titulaire d'un doctorat à l'université de Berkeley, Californie. Co-fondateur en 1968 d'Intel, dont il deviendra le directeur général en 1987.