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30 09, 2022

The Curious Case of the Small Business (Q&A)

By |2022-09-30T15:13:41+00:00September 30th, 2022|Interview, John R. Brandt, Small Business Advice|Comments Off on The Curious Case of the Small Business (Q&A)

MPI Insight sat down with MPI CEO John Brandt to talk about the challenges and opportunities for small business owners right now, and to spotlight case studies in performance improvement excellence with a small team. MPI Insight: In your writing, you always make a point to use case studies from small businesses, often with 20 employees or fewer. Why do you make a habit of focusing on small business? John: Many times if you’re learning about a business concept or how a business can get better, you’ll go online or read a magazine to find examples, but they're almost always huge [...]

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18 12, 2018

Life Cycles of the (Not-So) Rich and (Formerly) Famous

By |2018-12-19T16:59:23+00:00December 18th, 2018|Alec Pendleton, Big Ideas for Small Companies, Business, Customer Service, Growth, Process, Small Business Advice, Strategy, Value Proposition|Comments Off on Life Cycles of the (Not-So) Rich and (Formerly) Famous

Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world and the founder of Amazon, recently predicted to a group of employees that “Amazon will go bankrupt.” He was reflecting on the recent bankruptcy of Sears, which not that long ago was as formidable as Amazon is today. “If you look at large companies,” he said, “their lifespans tend to be 30-plus years, not a hundred-plus years.” I know what you’re thinking: That doesn’t seem right. Large companies have enduring strength. Massive corporations such as those in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are cornerstones of our economy. We don’t think [...]

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11 12, 2018

The (Occasional) Wisdom of Inefficiency

By |2018-12-11T19:36:00+00:00December 11th, 2018|Alec Pendleton, Big Ideas for Small Companies, Business, Customer Service, Leadership, People, Small Business Advice|Comments Off on The (Occasional) Wisdom of Inefficiency

By Alec Pendleton, Big Ideas for Small Companies, powered by The MPI Group Many leaders think they know the Magic Bullet for Maximum Success: Efficiency! If only we could do everything in our lives with superior efficiency, they believe, all sorts of wonderfulness would be sure to follow. Profits would surge! Competition from China and elsewhere would dwindle! Our standard of living would soar! What could possibly go wrong? Well, actually … quite a lot. The Theory of Constraints, described by Eliyahu Goldratt in The Goal — one of the best business books I’ve ever read — makes it clear [...]

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