Michael E. Raynor

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Let’s keep in mind that for anything worthwhile, how we get it is often more important than the getting itself. In other words, how we make the numbers matters as much as whether or not we make the numbers. The numbers should be only one of the things we hope to make; the plan must count, too, and sacrificing the plan to the numbers is, if anything, a far greater failure than the other way around.

With that as our bias, when it begins to look as though we are going to miss our profit (or growth or share-price) targets, perhaps the initial recourse should be to ask whether we have first made all the other elements of the plan. If so, perhaps it was a flawed plan, and maybe those who drew up the plan should bear the brunt of the pain implied by any remedial measures. On the other hand, if the financial results you committed to aren’t materializing because you didn’t make those other elements of the plan, perhaps the causes of your impending distress lie farther upstream. […] What is almost certain is that cutting costs in ways that increase your profits in this quarter to make your targets for the year is highly unlikely to raise revenue.

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