I was, a few years ago, on the board of directors of a research laboratory in Cambridge, U.K. It was associated with Cambridge University, and I periodically was involved with classes at the university.
One day, I arrived early for a lecture I was giving. The class before me was in session. The professor, an absolute caricature of himself in a Harris tweed jacket with antelope suede elbow patches, was holding court.
“Today I’m going to teach you the only thing that I personally will teach you all semester. To the extent that you learn anything in this class from here forward, it will be from your reading of the texts and casework, or from the ruminations of your pointy-headed classmates. But what we will discuss today is too important to leave to amateurs.”
He turns to the board and writes, in all caps, “DROOC.”
Turns back around. “DROOC. A concept as critical to the local dry cleaner as it is to the multinational corporation. Equally important to BP and BT. So important is this concept that, if perhaps you entered this university through some unusual means -- perhaps an ancestor was a benefactor --, or if you wonder if you are perhaps less capable than your classmates, I recommend that you tattoo DROOC somewhere on the body where it can be reviewed daily. Perhaps on the back of a hand, or between the eyebrows.”
He goes on in this vein for some time, waxing eloquent on the incredible value of the DROOC concept about to be revealed. Finally, he grins slightly and says:
“DROOC. Don’t...Run...Out...Of...Cash.”
Truer words have rarely been spoken.
There is a lot to be said in business for just staying alive. It affords you the opportunity to learn from the marketplace, to make necessary changes.
The really big risk, the one that could completely crater the company, should be taken only with quite a lot of knowledge and forethought. Because, ultimately, the biggest difference between Oracle and most of its longtime competitors? Oracle is still alive and kicking.
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