Billion-Dollar Lessons

Alfred P. Sloan, the legendary builder of General Motors, once said to a meeting of one of his top committees, 'Gentlemen, I take it we are all in complete agreement on the decision here?' Everyone around the table nodded. 'Then,' Sloan continued, 'I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about”

“We think about it this way: The process isn’t designed to produce the best answers; it’s designed to produce the best questions. After all, business isn’t physics. Business isn’t about finding the exact right answer, but rather is about avoiding the wrong answers and then executing as hard and as well as possible the answers that might be right.”

“To avoid getting caught up in excessive financial engineering, you should start with two broad questions: Can the strategy withstand sunshine? Can the strategy withstand storms?