Re-Thinking Your Business

June 24, 2009

Interview with Ric Merrifield, author of Rethink

Mike Carruthers:
A common trap many managers in business fall into is they get so caught up in how the business functions that they lose sight of what it is the business does and what's important.

Ric Merrifield:
I like to use the example of the Newman's Own organization that Paul Newman founded, initially with salad dressings.

     Ric Merrifield 

Ric Merrifield, author of the book Rethink: A Business Manifesto for Cutting Costs and Boosting Innovation  

I spent time with them a number of years ago and learned very surprisingly that at the time they had fewer than twenty employees and what Mr. Newman told me was that he didn't care about running a business. All he cared about was high quality recipes and giving money to charity and the rest of the business was outsourced. And so often (when I meet with executives and managers) I'll say, "Paul Newman was really clear about what was most valuable to him - are you that clear about what's most valuable to you?"

With so many businesses today needing to cut costs, Ric says rather than looking for ways to simply do with less, smart businesses are finding innovative ways to do things differently. And he gives the example of the online bank ING Direct…

Something simple like eliminating paper face checks so people can't write paper checks anymore with ING Direct. They can't overdraft because it won't let them write a check if they don't have the funds. That bank doesn't have any of the people in a department that would handle bounced checks so not only are you cutting the cost of that entire department you're also delivering a value to your customer through the basic simple innovation of not letting them write paper checks - it prevents them from over drafting.

To listen to the complete unedited interview, click here.