We got there in stages because, while you can force anything down the throat of an organization, if people don’t buy into the logic, the change won’t stick.

This is part of my management philosophy. Executives should know they don’t accumulate wealth unless the long-term shareholders do the same.

It worked, but it was a reminder to me of how difficult it is to get large organizations to give meaningful resources and attention to matters that offer little or no benefit to quarterly results, but which are critical to long-term success.

If a management team doesn’t believe that it has identified and is seriously funding new growth opportunities, then it is likely to wander off and drink the heady brew of acquisitions and diversification—and ultimately fail.

Thus, it is very hard to develop a unique strategy, and even harder, should you develop one, to keep it proprietary.