Don't Leave Change to Chance ... Gain the Edge and Beat the Odds

A quick story about Gaining the Caterpillar’s Edge from CHINA. Here is an email from an old Chinese student and his interaction with his investor father. I thought it might be an interesting read – here is the email: Dear Professor Sid, A few days ago, I finished reading your book. As soon as I finished it, I got together with my father immediately. We discussed the key points and were reminded that: “ The best time to induce change is when things are good. ” As you know my father invested and established the largest lantern group co. in China. The traditional lantern business has been around for hundreds of years. They have been trying to evolve in the last ten years, but they couldn’t manage to do so. My father saw the reasons as: 1) the board members of the company are afraid of the unknown outcome of making changes -The traditional way has worked for hundreds of years and the industry has been doing just fine, 2) board members were limited by their vision, resources and back...

The following letter was sent to a board member (Steve D.) of a manufacturing company in India who kindly shared it with me. I have masked / replaced the name of the company and individuals to ensure privacy. Additionally, the LATEST PROGRESS based on a Sept. 26 email also follows.   ___________________________________________    Dear Steve,   I wish to thank you for gifting me the book "Caterpillar's Edge". This book may transform our company into a success.   Initially, when I started reading the book, I felt that it was indeed for big companies and my interest was more from intellectual view point.  However, as I got into the thick of it, I realized that I could relate this book to the story or lack of it at MASKED CO. I started having intense discussion with Vikram as well as Avinash as what is truly wrong with MASKED CO. and what is missing. Since Vikram is also reading this book, he could also relate to the same.   We realized that ...