The Secret

I came across a recent New York Times “Digest” article with a title that, on its own, pinpoints the big clue to competitive advantage for any company. Ready for the secret? Here’s the title:

Detroit’s Problem: Making Cars People Want

There it is, folks. Short and sweet. You executives, MBA’s, investment bankers, consultants, and professors who make the art of business so darn complicated, listen up. At the end of the day, after one plows though all the spreadsheets, algorithms, databases, reports, and committee meetings, a company’s success is based on its ability to make and sell stuff that customers want to buy. Period. End of story.

GM and Ford have plenty of problems vis-à-vis gas prices, pension liabilities, health care costs, labor unions, and interest rates. But to quote the article, the basic reason that those companies are in trouble is that “not enough people like their cars.” If that’s a no-brainer, here’s another one: From customers’ perspectives, Detroit’s products don’t seem to get the formula right when compared to competitors like Toyota, Hyundai and BMW. And according to many observers, that formula includes factors like quality, reliability, style, and excitement.

I have just done you a great favor. I have saved you oodles of money that you would have spent for consultancies, surveys and training materials. Whatever it is that your company does, it all boils down to “making cars people want”. The problem is this: the larger the company, the higher the percentage of people on the payroll whose jobs have little to do with making products that people want. Too many people are spending their days earnestly writing reports that will gather cobwebs and attending endless meetings that numb the mind. But they’re not focusing their attention and imagination on helping the company make stuff that customers want to buy. That’s the reason that companies become bureaucratic, slow, and uninspired, and why quality, reliability, style and excitement plummet. I am certain that G.M. and Ford suffer from this malady. The question is: Does your company suffer too?