Dr. Watson Says: |
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| ...If it is required reading for Amazon executives, I will keep in my class... |
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What Do You Say?
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 I’ve been using the book The Goal (originally published in 1984) in my graduate Operations Excellence class at Northwestern for many years. I’ve often worry that the book will become outdated—this was before email and voicemail and when it was presumably OK to light up a cigar in the middle of meeting.
I was delighted when I ran across an article stating that Jeff Bezos of Amazon listed this book as one of three critical books his executive managers should read. If it is required reading for Amazon executives, I will keep in my class.
The feedback from my class is overwhelmingly positive—the students really like the book. Most of the students in this class are also working full time, and many of them say that the book relates directly to the what they do in their jobs.
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Dr. Watson |
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Throughout the years, I’ve also ran into various business leaders who have shared their views of how the book helped them.
For example, a CEO of a $1.4B CPG manufacturing company said that the book made him realize that many small changes could have significant benefit.
A CIO of a $500M CPG company said that he used the book to help teach his team about variaibility and its negative impact.
A student in a recent class who worked at a privately held manufacturig company mentioned that the book showed him the importance of thinking like the owner of the company when making a decision—and not just thinking about your department.
All three of these lessons are valuable lessons for a supply chain manager. And, you will likely find your own lessons you can apply from the book. The book is an easy read and written in the form of a novel—you will find it well worth your time.
Final Thoughts
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