0:00 Who are [music] you? And where are you going? What [music] do you want? Hello and welcome to business lessons from the military. I'm your host Kevin Bemel and I'm here every Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time to talk about military history, doctrine, and leadership practices and then draw from them lessons that we can apply to our uh [snorts] businesses and professional
0:36 practices. So, this is episode 10, I think, of the 24-episode campaign. It's a compilation of ideas uh from military doctrine across all of the uh service branches and this is the uh second episode of the second part um on execution. We started out with strategy and talked about that for eight weeks and now uh like I said, we're in the second week of talking about execution. So, doctrine and execution. So, today
1:11 we're going to be talking about the crucial uh subject of logistics win wars and for that matter um business victories as well. And at at the moment uh there is uh a war going on um in Iran uh in in the Middle East, South Asia. And uh a aside from the tragedy that war always is, of course, um it is interesting to follow along and see some of the
1:47 logistical challenges and and also just to notice how the war is being reported. So, um I'm I'm doing this show just uh a few days after the rescue of the the dramatic rescue of the flight officer um whose who was one of uh two people whose FA uh who who uh um whose F-15, sorry. I'm from the Navy, so I always think of FA-18s, but he was they they were an Air Force uh it was an Air Force jet that was shot down, an
2:22 F-15. Uh and and you know, justifiably so, this was a drama- this was an astonishing operation. Um quite broad in scope, um successful, of course. And and it's fantastic that this uh this flight officer was was rescued. Uh having said that, um while it gets a lot of attention, um it doesn't really have an impact on the
2:57 broader war. Uh yes, it could have been uh a a propaganda victory for Iran if they had, as they hoped to do, captured him and paraded him in captivity the way um the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong did with American prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. But,
3:21 >> [clears throat]
3:21 >> uh you know, it it it would it would not have changed, I think, this the uh with any kind of significance the trajectory of the war itself. Uh however, what would change the trajectory of the war is the ability of the United States to continue to produce missiles and bombs, to deliver fuel and food and uh other types of ammunition, to to um the uh bases and ships on which
3:56 uh assets are located, um to provide maintenance uh on on the jets, maintenance on the ships, to provide medical support. There have been uh some US personnel wounded. There have, of course, been a few killed tragically. Uh but, the the sustainability and the ability to win this particular uh conflict really comes down to logistics. Um and that's because
4:31 although brilliance gets attention, l- logistics um they are what allow a military to sustain its strategy and continue operationally and tactically to pursue that strategy. Without proper logistical support, strategy is for all intents and purposes meaningless. Right? And so, while the the strategy and bold moves and all of that often, you know, capture
5:06 our attention, whether it's in war or in business, history has shown time and time again, it's execution uh that decides who wins and execution rests on a foundation of logistics. So, Oh, uh sorry, I'm moving my notes here to stay on track. Um so, there's a central question to any military action and that is, can the force continue to
5:41 operate at the required temple? Tempo. Sorry. Tempo. I I got the the the last two days of Passover coming up, so I've got religious things on my mind. Um let me let me state that question again because it is it is so central. So, can the force continue to operate at the required tempo so that victory can be achieved? That is the central question in any kind of military operation. And that question has to be applied
6:18 through all three levels, strategic, operational, tactical.
6:22 >> [snorts]
6:22 >> Okay? If the answer is no, then the the the only corollary question here is will the other side be able to last beyond the point at which logistics can no longer support operational tempo? If the answer is yes, going to lose. Okay?
6:48 >> [snorts]
6:48 >> So, when um when we talk about logistics and and and and the lack thereof, so without the support of ammunition, food, fuel, maintenance, medical support, without all of those without all that logistical support, the advance stalls, the force weakens, and the opportunity disappears. Okay? That's that's just the bottom line. So, sustained capability is is is what undergirds fighting power.
7:26 It's what undergirds resilience in business. Okay? So, as I always do, I'm looking at historical example. I I did mention the current war and and how
7:40 >> [clears throat]
7:41 >> quite obviously logistics are a central aspect of of victory there. But, we can go back to uh the the military period that I know best, World War II, and and look at the North Africa campaign where uh Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, who, you know, led the German forces in North Africa, was uh poised against um Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery for the British and uh Dwight Eisenhower, General Dwight Eisenhower, for the Americans. So,
8:18 uh Rommel, probably the most brilliant commander in World War II. Probably not mean it's it it maybe is a dead heat between Rommel and and Patton, although in the event uh Rommel defeat- I'm sorry, Patton defeated Rommel's forces in North Africa. Rommel was not there. Uh excuse [clears throat] me, but um but nonetheless, Patton did defeat him. But, was was was Rommel defeated because
8:54 uh Patton, you know, out-generaled him? Maybe, but there were but Rom- Rommel was faced with a lot of other problems. One was he could not get proper medical attention in that theater of the war, and so that's why he was not there for that for that, you know, concluding uh battle. He had been recalled to Germany because he was in such bad uh physical shape. And now, this was before
9:25 >> [clears throat]
9:25 >> he took part in the plot to assassinate Hitler, so he was still one of Hitler's uh favorite generals, and Hitler was not going to let this national hero uh you know, succumb to sickness in North Africa, so he recalled him. So,
9:42 >> [clears throat and cough]
9:43 >> but nonetheless, uh Rommel significantly out-maneuvered his opponents, including um Field Marshal Montgomery. Uh he he achieved rapid battlefield success almost always. And he was it particularly good at exploiting weaknesses with both speed and precision. And yet, despite all of those strategic advantages and even operational tactical advantages, uh Germany Nazi German forces eventually had to
10:19 evacuate North Africa. And that was because they first of all they had extended supply lines over desert terrain that
10:30 >> [clears throat]
10:30 >> they could not supply effectively. They were limited in terms of fuel. Uh they were they were vulnerable along transport routes and not just in the desert, but just getting across the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean had been known for at least a century before as being Great Britain's pond because up until World War II Great Britain was the most powerful naval power in the world. Um [snorts] and
11:05 >> [clears throat]
11:06 >> and they had to bring a lot of their supplies all the way from Germany. Now, Germany is on the north coast of Europe, right? So, they had to traverse Europe really north to south, get across the Mediterranean and into uh North Africa in order to supply the German forces there. Now, you would say, "Well, wait a minute. That was a lot shorter than than supplies having to come from the United States." And in terms of distance, absolutely that is true. However,
11:42 >> [clears throat]
11:42 >> the United States even at the start of World War II probably had the second most powerful navy in the world. And we had a tremendously effective merchant fleet as well. And the American America's ability uh to supply her forces in North Africa was pretty extraordinary. I mean, this was really one of the uh key ingredients of victory that the United States brought to the allies in World
12:19 War II was the kind of logistical support uh that that the United States uh brought brought to bear. And so, although the distances were longer, the ability of the United States to keep uh the Allied forces supplied was still greater than the ability of Germany to keep German forces supplied. And so,
12:45 >> [clears throat]
12:45 >> while Rommel could win battles, he couldn't sustain them. And so, in the in the end that is why you know, after months of fighting, uh Germany was effectively thrown out of North Africa resulting in the first major Allied victory of World War II. So,
13:08 >> [clears throat]
13:10 >> in terms of a core military lesson, well, modern logist modern doctrine, I should say, it treats logistics as the primary determinant of strategy. It's not a support function. Okay? It it it is embedded. Any strategy worth the name encompasses within it all all features of logistics so that they they are uh
13:45 they are let's again integrated part of the overall plan. So, um there there's a saying, "Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics." That is that is absolutely the case. Now, it is interesting because if you if like me you read military history and in particular World War II history, you read a lot about the battles, you read about uh you know, for example, at the Battle of the Bulge, the bold move that that General Patton made pivoting 90° north
14:21 to relieve the 82nd Airborne. Uh it it um and and you know, different thing and and they're very exciting to read. But you read very little about logistics in most of those books. Okay? And that's not to castigate the authors. It's just reading about logistics is not exciting. But when you do, whether it's books about how Liberty ships were built or how Higgins boats were built or how um uh you know, supplies were brought
14:58 across the huge huge distances in the Pacific to keep our forces supplied, there is a certain fascination there that that America could do these kinds of things. When you read about the history of the Navy Construction Battalions known as the Seabees, whose job it was after an island was taken to go in or even before an island was taken even under fire and build landing strips and docks so that so that supplies could be landed.
15:33 These are extraordinary achievements. They're fascinating stories in their own right. I just think there's there's a tendency to think, "You know, people don't really want to read about logistics." Well, from a business standpoint, I love to read about the logistics in in World War II because in the end that is what allowed the United States and her allies to achieve victory. So, uh going back then to the where I started, the the um operational tempo that a military can
16:10 sustain really depends on its supply capacity. And so, strategy and sustainment capability have to match. They have to mesh. They have to be, you know, gears working together. If if they are at odds, the strategy is is going to fail. Okay? So, in from a military standpoint, uh if if if a plan cannot be sustained, it is it is not a plan. Okay? So, so why do
16:48 businesses then understate logistics? So,
16:53 >> [snorts]
16:53 >> uh I think part of it is logistics tends to be dispersed in business. So, whereas in the military, like if you look at the way the Marine Corps is is is organized. So, um you have um an infantry division, you have an aviation unit, and you have a logistics unit. That's what makes up what's called a MAGTF, which is a Marine Air Ground Task Force. Those are the
17:28 three primary units. You notice that logistics has standing with ground and air forces, right? So, and and logistics are a unified part of of that team, so to speak, of that task force. So, I think in businesses um logistics gets dispersed kind of wherever they need to be. And so, the they they don't appear as important because
18:04 they're a small part of lots of different pieces. So, you have operations where logistics is a part of operations. You may have supply chain where, okay, logistics that is logistics. You may have fulfillment. Well, that doesn't look like logistics. That's just getting stuff out to the customers. But indeed, that's logistics as well. You have infrastructure. Okay? And again, now maintaining plant and equipment, um that doesn't sound like logistics, but it really is. And then you have systems. They may be computer systems. They may be other types of systems.
18:40 Well, that's just part of operations, isn't it? No, all of these are actually logistics functions in whole or in part. But because they go by a bunch of different names and oftentimes are separate departments, uh they they don't appear to be the kind of unified important whole that logistics are when when it's talking in a military context. So, uh leaders in a business oftentimes will
19:15 be pushing growth initiatives and and they're not sufficiently looking at what is the ability to deliver on those goals. What is the delivery capability? What are the supply What is going to be the stresses on supply chains, on fulfillment, on infrastructure, right? So, if we can grow, we want to grow. You know, everybody will have to keep up. Well, that's not going to work if if the capacity can't grow as quickly as the the sales can grow, right? It's it's
19:51 actually in some ways much easier to bring in more sales than it is to actually deliver the goods or deliver the services that those sales demands. Okay, talk to businesses and you maybe you see this in your own business. When I talk to people in business, oftentimes the the the problems that are most serious for them is the inability to meet their customers' expectations. And oftentimes, that's because there was insufficient logistical support or or a
20:28 lack of understanding about what that support needed to be. Okay, so leaders assume, "That's okay, you know, operations, fulfillment, they'll catch up. They'll they'll they'll do what they need to do." Well, that can work, you know, for a while, but when you when, you know, really scaling rapidly, the idea that they can keep up when the ability to do so is unlikely to rest solely with the people at the organization, meaning they've got to be able to reach back to other companies for supply, support, etc. Uh
21:06 they you know, the company's growth outstrips its ability to sustain it. And so, this creates a dangerous gap between what a company is promising and what it can deliver, and oftentimes, the strategy ends up failing. Okay? So, we're going to take a quick break, and then we're going to look at some specific aspects of that. When life brings unexpected changes, managing inherited property shouldn't add to your stress. Magnum Property
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22:21 to uh you know, translate this idea of logistics wins wars uh in into a business perspective. So, the first one, a direct outgrowth of what I was just saying a moment before, is growth has to align with operational capacity. Okay? So, rapid growth without infrastructure to support it is going to break down. And in fact, the fact that and in fact, that the growth can't be
22:58 supported may may mean the company actually ends up in a worse situation than it did before it attempted to grow. Okay? Because if it can't if it's not able to support the new customers coming in, oftentimes, that inability to support customers also disrupts the ability sorry, the the fact that it can't support new customers oftentimes also disrupts the ability to
23:36 support existing customers. And so, some of the existing customers may be lost because of all the chaos going on in the company because of the aborted growth attempt. And so, when a company is uh planning on uh a major growth initiative, they need to integrate with that uh to be able to ensure that fulfillment scales with demand and that
24:13 they can meet the operational needs of that growth. And so, they need to invest in systems before bottlenecks emerge. I've talked on a couple of occasions about what happened when Krispy Kreme mounted a major uh growth initiative and how logistically it just could not keep up with that growth. You know, it it's it's really a shame, and it but it illustrates that situation illustrates what I mentioned a moment
24:49 ago, which is not only was Krispy Kreme not able to take advantage of its its franchisee growth, but when it had to pull back, it it also took it took a hit in terms of its existing customers who you know, were were disappointed by problems that were caused, you know, throughout Krispy Kreme as a result of its attempt to grow too fast and then
25:24 having to retract. So, um operational capacity is not a a separate issue from a growth plan. It must be a central um a central part of any growth plan. So, sales the sales team or the sales department cannot plan a growth strategy in isolation. It needs to do so in
26:00 conjunction with all the other parts of a company that will be called upon to support that growth. Okay. So, that leads directly into number two, which is treat your supply chains as as strategic, not tactical. So, your supply chains are going to determine the resilience of your company. So, you may need to diversify suppliers. Okay? And you may you may have a primary supplier who's always done a great job. Okay? And and
26:36 you're thinking they'll be able, you know, be with, you know, meetings, conversations, whatever, you're reasonably confident that they're going to be able to continue to support you even during a big growth initiative. But what happens if they can't? What happens if they've misjudged their own business? Are you going are you now going to allow your growth initiative to fail because one of your suppliers miscalculated? Or are you going to have um other suppliers, you know, so to speak,
27:12 in your back pocket to whom you can reach out so that if you need to be able to pull additional supplies, you can do so much more quickly than having to start, you know, at at at square zero when you find out that your primary supplier has has is not able to to do what needs to be done. So, that's just one area where redundancy needs to be built in. Right? So, whether it's in computer systems, accounting systems,
27:47 whether it's in fulfillment operations. Okay? I just in the news this morning, uh it was announced that the US Postal Service ended up retaining um a large parsha a large portion of its delivery contract uh with uh Amazon. So, it's retaining, I believe, the 80% of it, right? And you know, so and and just I think um a couple of few weeks ago, um it was being reported that uh the US Postal
28:23 Service was going to lose the or might lose the contract in its entirety. So, why why in the end, uh you know, is is Amazon keeping 80% of its uh uh delivery capacity with the US Postal Service? I suspect that I don't have any inside information on Amazon, but I suspect it may be partly due to the fact that they their own delivery system is not robust enough for them to gamble the future of
29:00 to for for to gamble on the future of the company with that only delivery service, right? So, better off to maintain the US Postal Service as a second delivery option rather than to not have a redundancy in that part of their operation. Right? Now, of course, we're talking on Amazon, an an enormous company, but even for our companies that are much smaller, where can we fit in redundancies? This
29:35 is perhaps more crucial for solo solopreneurs, as as we're called, you know, people like me, where I'm the business, right? I'm the guy. So, what happens if if if I'm down, okay? I remember it was about 2 years ago, I think. Yes, a not quite 2 years ago, um I had to be hospitalized. And on top of having to be hospitalized, I was freaking out because I had just recently started with a new client, very complex matter, and here I was in the
30:10 hospital not able to do anything. And fortunately, um a close friend and business associate with whom I was working on that matter already, he literally came to the hospital, right? And we talked. He said, "Don't worry, I've got it covered. I you've been keeping me, uh you know, up-to-date on what's going on here. You got to, you know, concentrate on on getting better, and and don't worry about this. I'll take care of it." And he did, right? And
30:45 you know, fortunately for me, while it was not a formal, you know, uh redundancy, if you will, this is the kind of uh systems that no matter how small our business is, or maybe because we're so small, uh we need to make sure we have people who can back us up. So, fragile supply chains, fragile logistics in a business, they create hidden strategic risks, just like they do in the military. Okay. So, next, we need to protect uh the
31:24 ability to deliver, the reliability of delivery, whether that's products, whether that's services, okay? So, customers, in the end, they really don't care about our intent. "Well, my intent was to make sure that, you know, blah blah blah blah happened." Uh but it didn't. Uh very few customers are going to care about that. Okay? Especially if it happens more than once. Some really fantastic customers, if it happens once, okay, they may say,
32:00 "Look, I understand. Going to stick with you. You know, don't worry. We'll work through it." But if it happens twice or more, they really are going to have to rethink doing business, right? And so, we we really need to prioritize consistency of performance over peak performance, okay? And this this is where sometimes business is so hard, right? The reality of business is
32:35 it's an everyday showing up, making sure the basics happen. That's a successful business, right? [snorts] People hear what what we hear about business in the business press are exciting things going on. I was listening to a podcast a couple of days ago. They were talking to the CEO of a smaller pharmaceutical company who was coming up with a new drug to uh sustain or promote hair growth. There hasn't been anything new, evidently, in that area for decades. And what he's
33:10 doing, I mean, it sounded very exciting, right? Um and it's interesting to hear about new stuff. Okay? But the success of that company is not going to come from the fact that it's talking about this new drug. It's going to come from the fact that it's able to demonstrate to the uh FDA that the drug is effective, that it can be produced at at the scale demanded, and those are the everyday workaday factors
33:47 that mean the difference between success or failure of a business. It's That's always the case. That consistency of performance is the most important thing. So, if we're planning a timeline, we need to build some buffers into it, okay? And if we end up beating our timeline, great. And if we don't, we're not going crazy and breaking stuff because we're running out of time, okay? So, excuse me. When we look at performance,
34:24 we really should be measuring the accuracy and speed and consistency of delivery, okay? On a sustained basis, okay? That's what's most important in determining whether our business is working or not. Okay? So, reliability drives trust much faster than innovation does, okay? You look at computers, cell phones, any kind of technology. The reliability of the technology is far more important than adding new bells and
35:00 whistles to it. Cuz who cares about new bells and whistles if I can't get what I already have to work properly on a consistent basis. Okay. Number four. Invest in systems before scaling complexity, okay? So, manual processes break under growth, right? That that is the the the nature of of of working with human beings. So, the more we can automate repetitive
35:35 operations, the more resilient our our business will be, right? This is one of the areas where AI, large language models, automation, and such, this is where they really are going to have an impact on our businesses. Okay? So, I know for myself, I I think I'm I've mentioned this previously, I use an LLM, I use ChatGPT to help me do a lot of the planning and
36:10 um promotions for my shows, okay? They allow me to be much more uh efficient. And while they're not literally automation, um because uh ChatGPT has been helping me write social media posts for, gosh, I think over a year now, it knows my voice, it it knows how I want things uh presented. Uh it it it, you know, I I I've I know how to prompt it to get what I want,
36:45 right? And so, it's so much faster than it used to be. And so, if I, you know, want to add another show on, for example, I'd be able to do so, uh and and I'd be able to scale it very effectively because so much of the support aspects of my shows have been routinized using AI, right? So, that's one aspect of it. The other thing is, we want to standardize workflows to the extent that we can. That's what allows us to automate them. And that's That's
37:21 another area where AI has helped me in figuring out, how can I standardize how things are done, not what's done, okay? I have different posts for different social media platforms. I have different ways of uh organizing the things that I want to say, okay? All of that, so the material itself is not standard, but the way I compile it, the way I promote it, that is standard, which is which allows
37:57 me to focus on the content itself, which is the most important part of my shows. Okay? And so then, the the, you know, the next step for me would be either to, you know, lateral this off to an assistant, or maybe figure out a way somehow to to automate it. I'm I'm been I've been thinking about that. I haven't drawn any conclusions, but the idea is to implement the standardization, the automation prior to embarking on a large growth
38:33 growth initiative. That way, the underlying foundation, the underlying infrastructure is there to support the growth, and so the growth is likely to be much more likely to be sustainable. Okay? So, in the end, systems really determine how far a company can grow, okay? Now, uh this is, you know, this is one of the areas where historically larger companies have had advantages over smaller ones, because larger companies can invest more in developing systems,
39:10 in developing infrastructure, et cetera. But now, with things like the internet, with things like AI, smaller companies have much more powerful tools at their disposal in order to work on creating systems. And so, this is something that we all need to be thinking about, figuring out, how do we take advantage of this new technology to not only keep us competitive, but maybe gain some competitive ground, especially on our
39:45 larger our larger competitors. Okay, number five. Uh recognize that operations define reputation. So, as I mentioned earlier, a company's reputation is built on its ability to deliver. So, missed deadlines erode credibility, inconsistent service weakens brands, okay? And operational uh failures, they send market signals that say this company is not at the top of their game.
40:22 So, let me give you an example. So, uh little over a year ago, uh I I reviewed my internet service and my cell phone service, decided they were too expensive. At the time, I was with I think T-Mobile, if memory serves. And and so I said, well, I got to I need to reduce these costs. So, I called up T-Mobile and I said to them, "I need to reduce my costs. What can you do for me to retain me as a customer?"
40:57 And after spending about 30 minutes on the phone with the representative, the answer was nothing. Inexplicably, right? And so, I went and found another carrier, Spectrum. Okay? And Spectrum reduced my cost by I think it was more than 50% by about 60%. For those services. And I knew it was only going to be for about a year. Sure enough, just a month or two ago, I saw my bill
41:33 to Spectrum um not double, go up by about 60-70% I think something like that. So, I made a note to myself to, you know, work on that. And just a a couple of days ago, I called up Spectrum and I said, "Here's what's happened." I said, "What do you what you know, what are you willing to do to retain me as a customer?" Now, here's the interesting thing. Before I did that, I shopped for services among other carriers to see what I could get if I changed, right?
42:12 If what I was paying for to to uh Spectrum was about as low as I was going to get anyway, so then I could save myself the brain damage. But, there was uh another another carrier
42:26 >> [clears throat] [laughter]
42:27 >> um the one I had before, uh T-Mobile, that would have gotten me the same service for about a third less than I'm than I was currently paying. Okay? So, like I said, I called up Spectrum. I said, "What will you do to retain me for a customer?" And the woman I spoke to says, "Oh, okay. Tell Tell me what services you had." I told her and she said, "Okay." She said, "If you'll give me a moment, I'll connect you with the person who can best help you in our They have a name for it. I think customer solutions. It used to be customer retention. So, she put me on the the line with a very nice uh
43:04 young man, young to me anyway. I He turned out he was in his early 30s. Um and I told him, you know, what I was looking to do and he said, "Okay, well, if you'll if if you'll, you know, hang on for a few minutes, let me see what I've got here, you know, in my kit, so to speak." And he came back once and he said, "Well, I can do X, Y, and Z if you get this other service." And I said, "No, I'm not interested in streaming services. I said I I only want the services I currently have and I I need to reduce my cost uh by at least I you know, I told him 50% just to see what he, you know, could
43:39 do." Right? He said, "Okay." He said, "Can you hang in me hang in with me for a little while longer?" I said, "Sure, take your time. I'm doing some other work, you know, I'm on my computer, whatever." So, he came back after, I don't know, 5-6 minutes and he said, "Okay, here's what I've got for you." Okay? And he ended up giving me a package that was less than I could have gotten at T-Mobile. Okay? And he's going to send me another phone. I don't know what I'm going to do with it. I'm just going to set it aside in case, I guess for some reason, my current phone doesn't work. Right? So, my point in bringing this up is
44:16 Spectrum has their customer retention service set up frankly far better than T-Mobile does. Because he he knew he knew exactly what I was after. I I mean, I told him, but he but he got it. And he was going to find a way to do it cuz that's what his job is, right? So, this is, you know, look, I'm very pleased with Spectrum because I I talked to a T-Mobile rep after I first switched to Spectrum about a year ago cuz I had to go get my T-Mobile service turned off. I had to actually I ended up having to go
44:51 to a store to do it. And she said, "Well, why didn't you come and ask what we could do for you?" I said, "I did. I got nothing." And she said, "Oh, well, she said, you know, Spectrum's just going to raise your prices in a year." I said, "Yeah, I figured it out. Every year I'm going to have to go through this." And here's the interesting thing. The fellow that I spoke to from Spectrum, this is how good he was. He said He said to me after we'd set the new arrangement up, he said He said, "You need to call us in 10 months to do this again."
45:26 Okay? Little bit of silence there. How honest was he? How dedicated to customer service and customer retention was he? He was saying, "We're going to raise your" He said, "In about 10-11 months, you're going to see we're going to start raising prices again. You need to call us up and see what deals are available then." Okay. Look, I'm willing to play the game. Just let me know what the rules are, right? So, it's this it's the way I guess, at least for now, Spectrum has its operations set up. They
46:01 want to be competitive. So, they're going to deliver and they did. And so, they kept my business and T-Mobile lost out for another year, right? So, this is And this is what I think most of us care about. We care about execution, not intention. You can have all the fancy commercials you want. They can be clever. They can have celebrities in them. If my cellular service is bad, if I have to pay too much for it, I don't care how slick your ads are. And
46:36 I think that's true for any product or service that we buy. Right? So, recognize that operations define reputation, right? Okay. So, uh logistics is a competitive advantage in business. So, a well-run operation, it's it's speedy, it's reliable, it's cost-efficient, it has resilience under stress, okay? All of these are result of a company that has mastered its logistical challenges. So, it outperforms
47:13 competitors in downturns, it recovers faster from disruptions, it can scale more predictably because it has built that logistical foundation on which the company rests. Okay? So, operations in essence quietly compound over time, right? In the same way that interest in a savings account does. You have compound interest is the most powerful investment concept that that is around there. The ability of logistics to compound advantage is equally as
47:51 powerful. Okay? So, in the end, this comes down to disciplined leadership, right? So, when leaders are are are looking at growth initiatives, when they're looking at plans for their business, they need to respect operational constraints and they need to invest in the unglamorous infrastructure so that their promises will align with their capabilities or their the promises their company makes will align with their
48:26 company's capability. So, and then they need to monitor the execution logistically of a strategy as closely as they monitor the sales growth. Okay? Those two again, they go hand in glove. Okay? So, when while it's it's fantastic for a company to have a vision, that vision needs to be grounded in logistics. So, Rommel, going back to my military example, Rommel did not lose because he
49:01 lacked brilliance. Quite to the contrary. It's that his brilliance could not overcome the logistical fragility faced by German forces in North Africa. And in business, the same truth applies. So, strategy makes a big bang at meetings, but execution, it's what's going to drive a company's success. So, I thank you very much for joining me today. And let's see, uh schedule of shows every week, Monday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific
49:37 time, Trusts and Estates weekly, Tuesday, like today, 10:00 a.m. Pacific time, Business Lessons from the Military, Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time, People Making Money, and every other Thursday at 10:00 a.m. Sorry, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time, is my show Jigger's Place, where we have a cocktail and a schmooze about things not related to finances. And you can watch my shows on YouTube, my YouTube channel, Spotify and Apple Podcast. Love to have you as a subscriber.
50:13 And so, you know, you can you can subscribe on any of those platforms. And if you have questions, comments, criticisms, links to social media and my email address are in the show notes, always glad to hear from you. So, thanks again for watching, wishing you a wonderful rest of the day, and signing off as I always do. Marie Darling, you are my bell. Courage,