Table of Contents
1. Industry Inventors: It's one thing coming up with a great business idea, quite another to change the face of the business world. Henry Ford, Apple and Sears, Roebuck are among those taking a bow.
2. The Name Game: Deciding to call your business the Computing Tabulating & Recording Co. rather than IBM can mean the difference between success and global acclaim. Naming the baby is hard; naming the company often more problematical.
3. Marketing Magic: A single marketing decision can change the shape and fortunes of a business. Witness Coca-Cola's decision to make its drink available to US troops during wartime or even the Grateful Dead's decision to allow fans to tape concerts. Marketing brilliance comes in many shapes and forms.
4. Lucky Foresight: Intuition, gut feeling, instinct, call it what you will, but it plays a huge role in decision making D even though you may not acknowledge it to the rest of the board. Forget analysis; back your gut.
5. Leading by Example: Great decisions often have an ethical dimension and thy are all the greater for it. Nice guys often make the greatest decisions.
6. Supermodels: Decisive moments in business history have frequently produced new and imaginative solutions to age-old organizational challenges. Whether it is the M-form, the virtual organization or the shamrock, organizational models change the business world and, sometimes, the world.
7. Getting On: Career management is highly fashionable, but what are the decisions which can really inspire career moves? Machiavelli or bust?
8. Competitive Advantages: There are more ways to leave your lover than to establish genuine competitive advantage. But, some decisions have managed to do just that, keeping companies ahead of the game.
9. Bright Ideas: Innovation is the modern mantra. Amid the grey order of business life, bright ideas are often notable by their absence; but some have succeeded in splashing original primary colors onto the grey.
10. People Power: It's all about people. Every business is a people business. Trouble is, amid the paperwork, the deadlines, the hubhub and corporate politics, people are easily forgotten.
The Hall of Infamy: There is always a flip side. For every triumph, there are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of failures. We all fail, but some failures have been more memorable than others. The Hall of Infamy provides a timely reminder.
