Great By Choice Chapter 6: SMaC

Jacob FeltySabrea HebbAlexandra Hill

Shaady IbrahimCallie MyersColby Wulf

SMaC

Specific, Methodical, and Consistent As the uncertainty, fast-changing, and unforgiving

nature of your environment changes, the more SMaC is necessary

SMaC Recipe Set of durable operating

practices, create a replicable and consistent success formula

Clear and concrete, allows enterprise to unify and organize its efforts

Clear guidance for what to do and what not to do

Reflects empirical validation and insight

Adhering to the SMaC Recipe with Fanatic Discipline

Progressive Insurance SMaC Recipe

Contrast in the comparison cases117 elementsChanged their recipes to a

greater degree

Southwest Airlines Recall Chapter 4 Deregulation Identical recipes PSA vs. Southwest

Figuring out what works

Understanding why it works

Grasping when to change

Knowing when not to

Apple The value of a

recipe Chronic

inconsistency Positioning Apple vs. Microsoft Revolutionizing

Apple

UCLA

John Wooden UCLA Basketball coach “Pyramid of Success” Starts with how to tie your shoes

“The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change; the signature of mediocrity is chronic

inconsistency.”-- Jim Collins, Great By Choice

Amending the SMaC Recipe 1985 - Intel realized their DRAMS business was untenable

Japanese competitors drove prices down 80% Spent 16 years of ‘bullets’, building momentum into

microprocessors Executives ‘zoomed out’ and realized they had to get out of

DRAMS Changed just one aspect of their recipe; kept the rest

unchanged Upheld Moore’s Law, R&D, etc

Good 10X company

How Not to Amend a SMaC Recipe

AMD supplied chips for military Jerry Sanders decided an entire new recipe based on “Asparagus” High-cost R&D, high prices

Changed their SMaC Recipe 3 more times after that Went to old strategy and

‘some’ asparagus Then to “P3 Strategy”

(platforms, process, production)

Ended with “customer-centric innovation”

Never

How to Amend a SMaC Recipe Microsoft used both empirical

creativity and productive paranoia Started with stand-alone personal

computer business James J. Allard “sounded an

alarm” over the rise of the Inernet Bill Gates already had annual

‘Think Week’ Used it to reflect on the

Internet, sent memo Made 180-degree change

overnight But did not abandon normal

business focus on software, applications, etc.

Microsoft made a dramatic change but still was a 10Xer

Consistency and Change Amendment mechanism: allowed for the

Constitution to evolve as America evolved

High hurdles for change, making it stable

Constitution only amended 17 times between 1791 and 2011

All human enterprises require a specific recipe for consistency and change

Consistency and Change

It is important to BE the change and not just react to it

Move forward while figuring out what works

Coca Cola SMaC = Specific, Methodical, and Consistent

Coca Cola Strategy

SMaC recipe = durable operating practices (consistent success formula) implement their “think local, act local”

philosophy

Coca Cola Three Required Behaviors for

10X Success (Amending): Empirical creativity

(internally driven; develop/evolve)

fanatic discipline (sticking to the plan)

productive paranoia (external focus)

WWII: Sole sponsor of beverages for US troops

1990’s: Introduced non-carbonated beverages

1996: Hosted the 96’ Summer Olympics

Discussion Questions

Does Coca Cola in your opinion adhere to the SMaC concept, why or why not?

What are some companies that have not effectively used SMaC?