In the mid-80s, when Jack Welch launched GE x10 he said: I would love to have a management team that really understood the cvsx10=bvs equation. Its the value-added role in the management process.
At that time GE was a USD35 billion manufacturer of everything from locomotives to light bulbs. By the time Jack left in 2001 GE market value had maximised to USD484 billion making it the most valuable company in the world.
Today, the most valuable company in the world is Google. In February 2013, WIRED Magazines Steven Levy interviewed Larry Page of Google and wrote:
Larry Page lives by the gospel of 10x. Most companies would be happy to improve a product by 10 percent. Not the CEO and cofounder of Google. The way Page sees it, a 10 percent improvement means that youre basically doing the same thing as everybody else. Thats why Page expects his employees to create products and services that are 10 times better than the competition.
MICHAEL HEWITT-GLEESON designed GE x10 for Jack Welch and is acknowledged as the father of x10 thinking. He is the author of The x10 Memeplex: Multiply Your Business By Ten! (Prentice Hall, 2000). Michael talks about x10 thinking here …
The hardest part is to be aware of your own current viewpoint. Once we recognise that we hold a certain view and that view is not the only one, then we can take the next step of looking for other views. It is that constant remind to look for BVS that will make the task easier. An example that I have over the weekend is this. It is report week for school children and my son whos has been receiving A reports across all subjects, got his piano report. His teacher gave him 4 As and 2 Bs, and I had thought he would do better than this. So I said to him casually that night whilst practising piano that he should be aiming for straight As. He then replied “I don’t look at things like that, Mummy. I actually thought wow to get As across the more important sections were very good”. Needless to say, I was silenced not because of the differing opinions but the fact that my 9yrs old has just shown me that there are more than 1 way to look at things.
The greater the awareness the greater the result – To escape from a tunnel of thinking and to search without prejudice does indeed expand possibilities x10!
Glass looks full to me – half with air half with water
Nature teaches through repetition and evolution – it needs no words and is fully integrated with harmonious living
Thank you Michael.
cvs x 10 = bvs
cvs x 10 = bvs
cvs x 10 = bvs
cvs x 10 = bvs
cvs x 10 = bvs
cvs x 10 = bvs
cvs x 10 = bvs
cvs x 10 = bvs
cvs x 10 = bvs
Makes perfect sense to me. I hope the next lesson defines the process of being able to call upon this thought pattern at any time….
The hardest part is to be aware of your own current viewpoint. Once we recognise that we hold a certain view and that view is not the only one, then we can take the next step of looking for other views. It is that constant remind to look for BVS that will make the task easier. An example that I have over the weekend is this. It is report week for school children and my son whos has been receiving A reports across all subjects, got his piano report. His teacher gave him 4 As and 2 Bs, and I had thought he would do better than this. So I said to him casually that night whilst practising piano that he should be aiming for straight As. He then replied “I don’t look at things like that, Mummy. I actually thought wow to get As across the more important sections were very good”. Needless to say, I was silenced not because of the differing opinions but the fact that my 9yrs old has just shown me that there are more than 1 way to look at things.
The greater the awareness the greater the result – To escape from a tunnel of thinking and to search without prejudice does indeed expand possibilities x10!
Don’t knock the different way until you have tried it. It just might be better.