Yes, I may well change my mind about MV (Most Valuable) book picks. But is changing one’s mind a sin? NOT IN CHANGING TIMES! The sin, instead, is staying the course when you’re on the wrong course … in increasingly intolerant times.
Message: There’s a reason Wal*Mart keeps us all in awe.
THEY’RE DAMN GOOD!
MAKE THAT … ABSURDLY GOOD!
“Agile giant” tops my list of “probable oxymorons.” No way! Thence, I read … with dropping jaw … the 5 January New York Times’ minute-by-minute account of how the UAG (Ultimate Agile GIANT) adjusted … strategically … in literally hours … to the troubled pre-Christmas economic climate. Of course it’s a long-playing Wal*Mart saga of the matchless use of IS/IT. But the “soft side” of the tale is even more impressive than the technology part. That is, an executive corps processing ambiguous information at the speed of light … & making strategic decisions at the speed of light … & implementing those decisions at the speed of light … & involving everyone down to the sales clerks (in a 1.5-million person outfit). Legendary war strategist John Boyd (see Boyd by Robert Coram) says victory goes to those who most rapidly transit their “OODA Loops” (OODA = Observe. Orient. Decide. Act.); OODA champs disorient their opponents—something Wal*Mart has been doing for four decades now. Just for laughs, can you imagine the new Kmart/Sears combine accomplishing this? As I said, just for laughs!