These are some personal lessons from my professional time that I want to share with you and myself in the spirit of learning. 

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Build Companies Where The Talent Is 

Deciding on the location of a business on cost can look sexy on paper, however, the hidden cost of cheaper labour can be surprising. Early in my career, I was part of a factory move that looked good on paper, but in reality ended up costing much more than anticipated due to the skills we lost in the move. 

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Build A Factory Smaller And Lighter 

It is tempting to build a magnificent structure and think that good fortune and hard-work will fill the order books, but it is much safer to build one around exciting capacity and making it more efficient. The ancillary running costs add up. The smaller space forces more discipline. Ideally creating a phased approach with options for expansion is a good idea. 

Create Ownership of Initiatives 

Rather than delivering an order from above, explore ways to create the possibility of that outcome through management of incentive structures and overall targets. Cultivating a sense of ownership through teams executing an idea is key. 

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Interview with Stipends

Before hiring someone, give the final candidates a project to work on to assess their working ability and initiative. This will shed light on their working style and provide one more data point before committing to someone full time. 

Fundamental IT instead of Futuristic IT 

Before investing in the cloud-based, AI enabled, hyperconnected, augmented reality, Swiss army knife, point of sale analytics, electric toothbrush, embark on a deep training and programs that looks at maximizing existing systems. Resourcing IT implementations with time and effort are very important. 

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