Don’t let your business rely on past glories and successes. Keep
pressing forward to change and improve your business by prospecting, selling, and
marketing no matter what state your business is in.
How Steve Jobs saved
Apple;
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, the company he had
co-founded 12 years earlier and was forced out of, Apple was 90 days from
bankruptcy. He made the tough decision to bury the hatchet and revive Apple by
asking for $150 million cash infusion from long time rival, Bill Gates of
Microsoft.
When it was announced that Apple would partner with their rival,
Loyal Apple fans booed! Jobs knew without the cash, Apple would not survive.
Jobs then, simplified Apple’s product offerings. They had a
dozen versions of the Macintosh computer and offered a huge assortment of other
products. He asked, “Which ones do I tell my friends to buy?” When he didn’t
get a simplified response, he drew a grid on the white board and wrote in the
top two spaces, “Consumer and Pro”, and on the sides, “Desk and Portable”. On
this grid he listed “4” Apple product offerings; a laptop and desktop for
business, and a laptop and desktop for personal users. This action reduced
Apple’s product offerings by 70%, cutting operation expenses in half, reduced
the workforce by 3,000 people.
Steve Jobs decisive actions and tough shakeup paid off! Apple
went from losing $1.04 billion the first fiscal year following Job’s return, to
turning a profit of $309 million 12 months later, in 1998.
Steve
Jobs saved Apple with the following 3-
step plan:
1) Revive
Apple by asking for $150 million cash infusion from long time rival, Bill Gates
of Microsoft.
2)
Streamlined Apples products from 15 to 4 products, reducing Apple’s product
offerings by 70%.
3)
Cutting operating expenses in half and reducing workforce by 3,000
people.
Alan
Mulally was hired as Ford’s CEO and President:
Alan Mulally was the former CEO and President of Boeing. He had
worked at Boeing for 37 years. Ford hired Alan Mulally in 2006 as CEO of Ford
to save the struggling car company from bankruptcy. The automobile industry in
the United States was known for running on a “status quo” basis, on an existing
state of affairs. Detroit and the auto industry were sinking in debt, living on
their “glory days” when Detroit was America’s wealthiest city. Ford continued
to use outdated tactics and beliefs.
Alan Mulally was an aerospace engineer who had no preconceived
ideas of how Detroit operated. He saw the potential and tapped into the talents
and resources at Ford that had been ignored.
Bryce
Hoffman said, Mulally as CEO of Ford Motor Company followed this 3-step plan:
1) Streamlined their product line up just like
Jobs had done at Apple and used the money he saved to give Ford’s remaining
products Class-leading features and..styling.
2) He worked with suppliers and the United Auto
Workers Union to create a winning environment for the both of them. The
concessions from the union were necessary to keep the automobile production in
the United States and to profitably produce the new vehicles.
3) Mulally
relentlessly focused on team and culture. Ford shed its caustic careerist
culture by showing the company’s executives how they could be “more successful
working together as a team” than they could ever be as rivals. (Created his
“One Team”: “One Ford” Mantra)
Mulally in a little over 3 years made Ford Motor Company
profitable and they didn’t need the Government bailout!
In fixing your business it is a good thing to have an outside expert
come in like Steve Jobs and Alan Mulally did. Apple and
Ford were going bankrupt, had to many products, cost
overruns, and work forces that did not work as a team. They each cleaned house
by borrowing money, cutting down the number of products and there by
cutting costs down, and creating workers who worked together as a team. By
following the 3-step plans of Jobs and Mulally you can repair your business
too!
Madeline Frank, Ph.D. is an Amazon.com Best Selling Author,
speaker, business owner, teacher, and concert artist. She helps businesses and
organizations “Tune Up their Business”. Her observations show you the blue
prints necessary to improve and keep your business successful. Her latest book
“Leadership On A Shoestring Budget” is available everywhere books are sold. If
you need a speaker contact Madeline at: mfrankviola@gmail.com
