Michael Gerber Quotes

That Fatal Assumption is: if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does that technical work.

Where the business is the product, how the business interacts with the consumer is more important than what it sells.

manera visual de transmitir información a sus clientes, a sus empleados, a sus proveedores y a las entidades de crédito, la información que cada uno de ellos cree necesitar y en la modalidad visual más convincente que sea posible. Una asesoría pequeña cubre las paredes de la recepción con «informes de impacto» (cartas de sus clientes), que cuentan al mundo cómo mejora la empresa. Una tienda de mascotas coloca tarjetas informativas junto a cada jaula, en las que describen los rasgos de las mascotas que contienen, de dónde proceden, si son buenas con los niños y la clase de cuidados que necesitan. Y un taller de automóviles cuenta con una gran ventana que da a la zona de trabajo y por la que los clientes pueden ver a los empleados mientras llevan a cabo sus trabajos especializados con uniformes y material codificado por colores en función de la tarea, mientras los altavoces reproducen un CD que describe lo que se ve. Por supuesto, hay opciones. Tanto si se trata de una carnicería, de una tienda de comestibles, de un concesionario de automóviles, de una planta de semiconductores, de una iglesia o de una tienda Apple, la visualización de la empresa puede reducirse a lo meramente pragmático o llevarse hasta el ideal. Puede ser ordinaria o sublime.

The Entrepreneur has to do is find out what those wants are and what they will be in the future. As a result, the world is a continuing surprise, a treasure hunt to The Entrepreneur. To The Technician, however, the world is a place that never seems to let him do what he wants to do; it rarely applauds his efforts; it rarely appreciates his work; it rarely, if ever, appreciates him. To The Technician, the world always wants something he doesn’t know how to give it.

With no clear picture of how you wish your life to be, how on earth are you going to live it? What is your Primary Aim? Where is the script to make your dreams come true? what is the first step to take and how do you measure your progress? How far have you gone and how close are you to getting to your goals?

In short, you would see how The Entrepreneur in you dreams and schemes, The Manager in you is constantly attempting to keep things as they are, and The Technician in you drives the other two crazy. You would see that it not only matters that your personalities are not in a balanced relationship with each other but that your life depends on gaining that balance. That until you do, it’s a war! And it’s a war no one can win.

Orden. El orden es un elemento crucial en la composición visual de la empresa y nunca dejo de sorprenderme al ver que la mayoría de las empresas parecen ignorar completamente el precio que pagan día tras día por pasarlo por alto. El orden es justo lo que dice: cada cosa en su sitio; limpieza; aspecto impecable; una sensación profunda y completa de control, de que hay una lógica, una sensibilidad y un compromiso para mantener la selva fuera del recinto; la creencia en la cualidad especial de la vida humana; la atención meticulosa en el mantenimiento, en la superficie, en la novedad, en la frescura, en la esencia de las cosas tal y como se concibieron cuando eran nuevas. El orden es preparar el terreno como si el mismo Dios viniera a visitarnos.

The Entrepreneurial Perspective asks the question: “How must the business work?” The Technician’s Perspective asks: “What work has to be done?

You should know now that a man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting, not by thinking about what he will think when he has finished acting. A man of knowledge chooses a path with heart and follows it. Carlos Castaneda

En resumen, para alzarse sobre lo ordinario, la empresa ha de convertirse en una afirmación visual de una creencia, de un significado; en un medio de comunicación para que las personas transmitan lo que creen, qué les preocupa y qué les importa. Llevada a ese nivel, la visualización de una empresa adquiere visos artísticos. Y, al igual que con las obras de arte, al menos hay seis elementos tangibles en la matriz visual que hay que tener en cuenta a la hora de construir una empresa.

In other words, pretend that you are going to franchise your business. (Note: I said pretend. I’m not saying that you should. That isn’t the point here — unless, of course, you want it to be.)

To The Entrepreneur, however, the customer is always an opportunity. Because The Entrepreneur knows that within the customer is a continuing parade of changing wants begging to be satisfied. All The Entrepreneur has to do is find out what those wants are and what they will be in the future. As a result, the world is a continuing surprise, a treasure hunt to The Entrepreneur.

I believe it’s true that the difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing. The difference between the two is living intentionally and living by accident.

It happens to all of us, time and time again. Because we’ve been deluded into thinking we’re really one person.

Your Income Statement tells you (1) how much money you’re spending and where; and(2) how much money you’re receiving and from where. Flow gives you the same information as the Income Statement, plus it tells you when you’re spending and receiving money — that is, Flow is an Income Statement moving through time.