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Some great business tips from Rumsfeld's Rules
08 Apr 2004 by Jason Fried
- Don’t automatically fill vacant jobs. Leave some positions unfilled for six to eight months to see what happens. You will find you won’t need to fill some of them.
- When you initiate new activities, find things you are currently doing that you can discontinue — whether reports, activities, etc. It works, but you must force yourself to do it.
- That which you require be reported on to you will improve, if you are selective. How you fashion your reporting system announces your priorities and sets the institution’s priorities.
- Prune — prune businesses, products, activities, people. Do it annually.
- No plan survives contact with the enemy. — Old military axiom
8 comments so far (Post a Comment)
12 Apr 2004 | stone said...
Should work wonders, so long as your leadership is infallible. Otherwise, sounds like a great way to transform your corporate culture into one of mistrust and fear.
12 Apr 2004 | One of several Steves said...
Apparently he forgot the one about listening to people who've been doing something for 20, 30 years and quite possibly know more about it than you (e.g. numbers of troops needed in post-war Iraq), as well as the one about how you need to not only have a plan on how to do something (say, invade a country) but a plan for how to deal with what happens after you complete your goal.
But, I suppose especially the former makes sense with the fallacious pruning tip. If you prune too much, and without regard for whether it's really necessary, eventually you end up with an ugly, branchless tree. You need to do it intelligently, and not just cut for cutting's sake. (Something a lot of CEOs could learn, by the way.)
12 Apr 2004 | JF said...
These are business tips, not nation-building or war fighting tips.
12 Apr 2004 | One of several Steves said...
Just pointing out ironies. And, the same things apply to business. Don't assume that just because you have great theoretical ideas means you know more and better than people who've been doing whatever your business is (fighting wars, building cars, making doughnuts) for 20-30 years. Plan not only to execute a particular goal, but plan on what to do next, both for failure and success. In fact, planning for success might even be tougher.
Works just as well for business as public policy.
13 Apr 2004 | Don Schenck said...
Rumsfeld has built how many businesses?
13 Apr 2004 | Bryan said...
Check his bio.
13 Apr 2004 | Don Schenck said...
Thanks Bryan! He *does* have some pretty good credentials.
16 Apr 2004 | Jonny Roader said...
'Rummy', JF? You make him sound like a cuddly, harmless old grandpa!
