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24 The PCB Magazine • March 2016 The Turnaround of the Century In 11 months, Brian took GRMC from a $9 million loss to a $1.1 million profit with no lay- offs. It appears this type of turnaround is un- precedented in the history of modern business and almost certainly in healthcare. Brian jokes that the use of my name has been reinstated at the hospital. Brian was made permanent CEO. He brought back some key people who left the company during the dark days of the previ- ous regime and continues to expand upon the results created during the turnaround. End of story. Critical Factors: The Profit Possibility for You Profitability is a function of many factors, but only three key factors make up the founda- tion of profitability for all types of businesses, including the high-technology and PCB space. These three factors may surprise you. We have been conditioned to believe that factors such as margins, costs, overhead and other financial measures drive profitability. While these mea- sures are key components of the calculation of profitability, they are not the drivers. The driv- ers of profitability are the systems in which people work, the tools used for system optimization and the consciousness (thinking) of leadership and manage- ment. I will start with a discussion of the con- sciousness/thinking of leadership. The Three Keys to Profitability 1. Leadership Consciousness and Thinking Albert Einstein reminds us that we can't solve problems with the same level of thinking (consciousness) used to create them. Still, many business leaders seem put off by the discussion of consciousness. This topic is seen by some to be "woo woo" and is not acceptable in many boardrooms or C-suites. Possibly this is because discussions of consciousness elicit images of meditating yogis or chanting gurus. Conscious- ness is none of these things. These things are simply practices that some use to quiet their minds or expand their consciousness. For busi- ness purposes, I will define consciousness as thinking. It is well known that we identify with our thinking. We use phrases like, I think this or I think that. We don't say, my mind thinks this or my mind thinks that. We know that our thinking and the accompanying emotional energy that is part of every thought is what defines human reality. Life is good or life is bad. Profitability is good or lack of profitability is bad. We become what we think about and anything we put our attention on expands. We pull realities to ourselves based upon our thinking, including business realities. As a leader of a business, your thinking has pulled to you and your business whatever profitability you are currently experiencing. If you want to increase profitability, you cannot do it with the same thinking used to create the status quo. Instead of actually expanding conscious- ness/thinking when profitability problems arise, most leaders fall into the trap of more-better-dif- ferent. Leaders try to do more of what's no lon- ger working, try to do what's no longer working better, or try to do what's no longer working dif- ferently—all based upon the old thinking. In a rapidly changing business environment, more- better-different often makes things worse rather than better. 2. Systems and Systems Thinking Data are clear that in excess of 90% of the results we experience in the workplace is a func- tion of the systems in which people work, not Figure 4: Albert Einstein on the power of the mind (thinking). the four new agreements to explode profitability