Bob and Bruce
CHAPTER 1 Part 5 for Epiphanized©
A book by Bob Sproull and Bruce Nelson
– JOE’S FIRST DAY
“Yes,” Joe replied. “Just tell me where and when, and I’ll be there.”
Ten minutes before Joe was to meet the VP of Ops, Judy got a call from the VP asking if Joe could meet him for breakfast instead in his office. Joe actually liked this idea better because he could also get to see the production layout firsthand.
“Tell him yes, Judy,” said Joe, and then told Judy that he was leaving for lunch. He said he would be back in a couple of hours.
It was clear to Joe that one of the things he had to do was to get everyone on the same page and that page was different than the one they were on. He decided to skip lunch because he had something more pressing that he needed to do today.
Joe brought up his search engine to find the nearest bookstore and dialed the number. “Well, how many copies do you have?” asked Joe. “Twenty-one? I’ll take all of them . . . hold them for me . . . I’ll be there in about twenty minutes,”
And so off Joe went to the bookstore to pick up twenty-one copies of The Goal. He decided that since reading The Goal together had worked so well when he was appointed general manager of a turnaround, why reinvent the wheel? Joe picked up his books and then decided that he was hungry after all and needed to grab a quick bite to eat. Joe really didn’t know where to go in this new city for lunch, so he just drove around until he spotted a small, out-of-the-way bar. He decided to take a copy of the book in with him and brush up on some of the key concepts. He sat at the bar, laid down his copy of The Goal and put on his reading glasses.
It didn’t take long for the bartender to ask Joe what he wanted to drink. Joe told him he was working and that he’d better just have a soft drink. Joe asked the bartender what kind of food they served for lunch, and he told Joe that all they had were sandwiches and chips. Joe ordered a ham sandwich and settled down to read his book. His sandwich appeared shortly thereafter, and the bartender asked Joe what he was reading. Joe held up the book and to his surprise the bartender said, “Great book—one of my favorites.”
“You’ve read The Goal?” Joe was stunned.
“I sure have,” the bartender replied.
“I’m Joe Pecci, the new continuous improvement manager at Barton,” said Joe as he shook the bartender’s hand.
“Nice to meet you, Joe, I’m Connor Jackson.”.
“So how do you know about The Goal, Connor?” Joe asked. “I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever met a bartender who knew anything about the Theory of Constraints.”
Connor replied, “It’s a long story . . . so sometime when you have more time, come back in and I’ll tell you.”
“I’ll just do that Connor . . . and by the way, this is the best ham sandwich I’ve ever tasted.”
Joe finished his lunch and drove back to the office, only to find it empty. “Where is my team?” Joe thought. Then he realized that it was almost five o’clock. Joe had gotten lost in his book and read about 200 pages while he was at the bar. “Oh well,” Joe thought to himself,” I guess I might as well go back to my hotel and call my wife to let her know how my first day on the job went.”
Bruce and I hope you have enjoyed this first chapter of our book, Epiphanized. We both wish you luck in your quest to improve your processes, systems and your company and we believe that if you apply the principle and use the tools we present in this book, your improvement results will not only improve, they will accelerate more than you ever imagined.
Happy Holidays from both of us....
Bob and Bruce
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