The Urgency for Action

Abstract

The French author Andre Maurois said, “Business is a combination of war and sport.” Among several notions, including the importance of strategy and tactics, Maurois was alluding to the premise that those engaged in war despise their enemy. In business, your competitor is the enemy. Hugo Powell, an outstanding leader who preceded me in the corner office at Jacobs Suchard, reportedly lived by the credo that to achieve success in sales and profit, the other guy had to fail. The truth of the matter was that Hugo was a skilled turnaround expert recruited to save a failing business on the brink of bankruptcy. When a company is in the red because of smart competitive maneuvers or its own ineptitude, disdain for the competition rises to the surface. This happens to be the psyche of leaders in a “turn-around” mode.