I was lying in bed on the morning of my 27,395th  day on earth (don’t forget leap year) just ruminating about life and what is valued.  It occurred to me that the people who are celebrated are not the ones who come in under budget.  All that gets you is a smaller budget next year.  It is the ones who generate new levels of value. 

Consider who gets the big money in sports: home run hitters, quarterbacks, leading scorers, not good defenders, blockers or dribblers.  In business who do we laud: Ray Kroc, Walt Disney, Herb Kelleher, Jeff Bezos, Howard Schulz, the people who changed an industry, not their accountants. 

No one ever revitalized an industry by cutting costs. 

What do you want on your tombstone: “Here lies (_____) who saved the company money?” or “Here is (_____) who showed us a better way to build value?”

Strive to be that value creator. 

Jac