Hi. I fight monsters.

Gimme business, gimme business.

Get him, boys!

Gimme business, gimme business.

Step aside, flimsy little

man!

Thanks for the insult! Now I’ve closed your eyes and made your

mouth squiggly.

Gettin’ business, gettin’ business.

Glad I was able to help.

the end.

You’re probably wondering “how did he beat those monsters?” Well, I’ve fought them

before…many times. Read on.

First, I was studying management when management wasn't cool.

Then, I learned how to use the tools. Look at this pivot table. Look at this macro. There’s

so much more it’s crazy.

Next, I used experience to beat

these monsters.

This monster, Missed Opportunity, only appears

in retrospect if you see him at all. One time, for example, at Rug Doctor

a bank wanted our business. Because of contractual obligations we couldn’t

change. Rather than dismiss the experience, I questioned our bank’s rates. That question lead to $50k in yearly savings that would have been

a missed opportunity.

Inefficiency knows you will not fight him as long as there’s fires

to fight or busy work to do.

Ameriserve acquired a competing company where productivity was low. I was

asked to lead the Transportation Department. There was much blaming, screaming customers, and chaos. Instead of getting

bogged down in the fires, I focused on goals and created service metrics. We went from

worst to first.

Sometimes you don’t know this monster, Knowledge Gap, is there. The closer

your are to the actual output, the more transparent he is.

How do you measure shrink at 6,000 Walmart and Kroger

stores when you’ve not even done it at one? This was my

task. I built a model that worked well for 400.

Then asked “what if I.T. could write a program that could

expand this model?” They did and it worked.

Uncertainty is always there. It’s fear of the

unknown that causes great worry.

Beating this monster requires constant evaluation of

everything. I saw that due to personnel changes, mission

critical positions did not have adequate back up. I instituted a program of cross-training. When bad weather caused a seemingly crippling number of absences, mission critical functions were unaffected.

And that’s how I beat these monsters...by using experience,

creativity, and action.

the end.

darreljackson@gmail.com