Category Archives: Thinking for Profit

How to Win the Battle and Lose the War

Sunday, December 7th, 1941. Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington D.C. He was paged and told there was a phone call for him. When he answered the phone, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the phone. … read on

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Profit Pitfalls

When I talk to managers about profit generation, I’m often asked about profit pitfalls – logic traps that lead to major profitability drains. Here are three big offenders: Contribution – Why shouldn’t we take business that contributes to overhead, even … read on

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The Accidental Company

Have you ever wondered why we hiccup? I recently reread a fascinating book, Your Inner Fish, written by Neil Shubin, a professor of anatomy at the University of Chicago. In this very readable book, he describes how we humans carry … read on

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Precision Forecasting

Have you ever had an experience at a meeting that you will never forget? Here’s one of mine. A few years ago, I was advising a major company in restructuring its supply chain and customer relations. I visited one of … read on

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Strange Finance Problem: Too Much Accuracy

One of the biggest problems in effective profitability management is the instinctive desire on the part of many CFOs for too much accuracy. How can this be? In my experience, there is good accuracy and bad accuracy. Let me explain. … read on

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Great Summer Reading

Here are four terrific books that you might enjoy this summer. One is an enduring classic of nature writing. Two are great management books that are not technically about management. And the fourth is a very interesting brief overview of … read on

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New Executive Briefing – First Steps to Profitability Turnarounds

I was recently interviewed by Lindsay Konzak, Editor of Modern Distribution Management, on managing profitability turnarounds. Here’s the 14 minute You Tube segment: “First Steps to Profitability Turnarounds”.

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New Article – The Use and Misuse of Business Cases

I recently wrote an article for Business Finance, “The Use and Misuse of Business Cases”. I hope you find it helpful.

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