Lições de um homem do terreno

Com Peter Drucker aprendi uma lição que recomendo muitas vezes nas empresas: em vez de nos concentrarmos no que uma pessoa tem de pior, concentrarmos-nos no que essa mesma pessoa tem de melhor.
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Por isso, apesar do lado negro do senhor, recomendo a leitura destas 5 lições da vida de Samuel Zemurray, sublinhando uma constante, em vez de confiar nos sábios, nos técnicos, nos consultores, o homem ia ao terreno, falava com quem andava no terreno, falava com quem sujava as mãos:

"When Sam decided to become a banana grower, he moved to the jungle in Honduras. He planted stems, walked the fields and loaded banana boats. He believed that this was his great advantage over the executives of United Fruit, the market-leading behemoth that he battled for over a decade. U.F. was bigger, but it was run from an office in Boston. Sam was on the ground; he understood his workers, how they felt, what they feared and believed. Telling fruit honchos in Boston why he knew better, Sam would curse and say, "You're there, I'm here.""

As bananas eram uma commodity, a eficiência na cadeia de fornecimento era crítica. Hoje em dia, para muitas empresas, mesmo para as que têm fábricas, esta lição passa, na minha opinião, por não confiar só nas estatísticas e relatórios, passa também por visitar os clientes, conversar com os fornecedores, ver com os próprios olhos, sentir com todos os sentidos o pulsar da rede ou redes onde a empresa está inserida.

"In the 1930s, with United Fruit staggered by the Great Depression—its stock price fell from $100 a share to just over $10—the company's executives, in search of a game plan, consulted experts, solicited reports and interviewed economists. Zemurray wanted answers to the same questions—by then, he was the biggest holder of United Fruit stock—but he went instead to the New Orleans docks, where he buttonholed the sea captains and fruit jobbers who really understood the situation on the ground."

E para quem ganha a vida honestamente na subcontratação, no private label, não esquecer:

"A person who doesn't control his own name and image has nothing."

Nestes tempos de crise é compreensível que muitos baixem os braços, que muitos se refugiem atrás de uma porta fechada, que muitos evitem ir à empresa... mas que mensagem é essa para os trabalhadores?

"When Zemurray took over United Fruit in 1932, the company was a few months from collapse. The stock price was heading to zero, the best workers fleeing. As soon as he took control, he set off on a whirlwind tour, crisscrossing Central and South America, meeting workers in the field and asking for their ideas. The perception of activity, he explained, is just as important as the nature of that activity. The boys in the fields need to know that there is a person in charge. If they think you know what you're doing, they'll follow you anywhere."

Trechos retirados de "Five Lessons From the Banana Man"