The Goal By Eliyahu M. Goldratt & Jeff Cox

Today we’ll be chatting about The Goal,

written by Eliyahu M. Goldratt & Jeff Cox.

I must confess, I never expected “The Goal” to be such a powerful book when I started reading it.  What makes it extra special, for me at least, is that it recognizes the relationship between one’s personal life and their professional life.

I don’t generally enjoy reading novels, but I found “The Goal” to be amazing, much more so because I could relate to the message of the book, and the events experienced by the characters.

Today I’ll cover the 3 most important lessons I picked up from reading The Goal – A Process of On-going Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox.

Earl Nightingale says that success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. There are 2 things to pay special attention to here:

• If you want to succeed, then you must have a goal to aim for.

• You must make continuous progress towards the goal. You can’t just talk about it, you must move towards it.

You cannot move towards you ideal objective

if you aren’t clear about what the objective is.

In order to deliver meaningful results without the need for excuses and justifications, in order to be productive and to make progress, you must clearly define the desired outcome.  “Productivity is meaningless unless you know what the goal is.  By the way, there is only one goal, no matter what the company.” Says Jonah, a very special character in the novel.

The goal of a business is to make money.  Nothing else matters if the company isn’t making money. The authors write, “An action that moves us toward making money is productive, and an action that takes us away from making money is non-productive.”

There are three basic measurements used in The Goal to measure whether a company is making money or not:

• Throughput – Money coming into the business.

• Inventory – Money still stuck in the system.

• Operational expenses – Money going out of the business.

For your company to make money, it needs to increase throughput while simultaneously reducing both inventory and operational expenses.

The goal is not to reduce expenses (costs) as most companies portray, the goal is to increase throughput, while simultaneously reducing both inventory and operational expenses.

In other words, The goal is to make money by increasing net profit, while simultaneously increasing return on investment, and simultaneously increasing cash flow.

Family is important! Most times, however, family time is sacrificed in the pursuit of riches and business success.  In The Goal, Eliyahu and Jeff show us the cost of neglect and the challenges that arise when you neglect your family.

In one dialogue between Alex Rogo and his wife, Julie, the wife tells her husband, “Ever since you got into management, your career has come first and everyone else takes whatever is left.”  She goes on to say, “I don’t need all your time, but I do need some of it, and so do the kids.”

This is one of the most important realizations you need to come to terms with.  What is the use of all the money if you have no one to spend it with?  Family can provide for much needed energy renewal and revitalization.

Never lose sight of the important people in your life.  When you ignore your spouse and children, it makes them feel insignificant, unimportant and taken for granted.  It’s the little things, done consistently, that makes a huge difference.  Time and attention is the greatest gift you can give anyone.

As much as you plan and prepare goals for your business, it helps to discuss and set goals for your marriage.  Why did you get married? What purpose is your marriage supposed to serve in your life? What purpose is your marriage supposed to serve in your partner's life? Review your progress on a monthly basis and make adjustments whenever necessary.

But then again, neglecting your business or work could lead to you feeling like a failure, and those feelings come at a cost.  So, it’s important to find the right balance between your business life and your family life.

Change is the one constant in business and in life.  If you want to beat the competition and move from the red ocean of cut-throat competition into the blue ocean, you have to continuously make progress.  You have to be productive.  Doing more of the same ineffective actions will not help you accomplish anything.

If money is the goal of business,

how do you know if you are moving towards the goal?

The answer consists of three measurements:

Eliyahu and Jeff suggest that questions help you manage change better.  And these are the 3 most important questions to ask:

One thing to note is that change doesn’t happen overnight. 

Change is a process.  It requires a sequence of steps to be followed.  The first step in the process is to identify the weakest link. 

What is the constraint preventing you from reaching your goal? 

Step 2 is to elevate the system’s constraints. 

How do you exploit, and capitalize on these resources

to improve performance?

And the most important thing is to take action.  Just do the deed.  Once you’ve identified the core problem and considered possible solutions, then you need to implement the solutions.