Mark Ryan is restless. He looks around his office at corporate headquarters on this sunny autumn morning. This office was always a temporary place to drop his bags and meet with people when visiting corporate headquarters. The place still looks temporary. There are no pictures of his family on the desk, no photos on the wall. The office is a cubbyhole really, just down the hall from the office of Jack Baxter, the corporate president.

Mark is in a thoughtful mood and decides to buy a cup of coffee from the cafeteria. He reaches into his pocket to make sure he has his cafeteria card, in his mind a wonderful invention. About twice a month, he goes to an ATM-like machine, inserts the card and money, and the card is credited electronically. No need to worry about having cash every day.

Mark serves himself a cup of Starbucks dark roast and slides his cafeteria card through the slot at the pay stand. He decides to drink the cup of java in the cafeteria and looks for a table near the window, something his office does not have and essential for Mark to think well.

Today is a milestone in several ways. The implementations are complete in all eight divisions around the world. Today, Ross Peterson and Nolan Drake will present to Global Products a plaque to commemorate its operating sales and operations planning to best practices, or what Effective Management, Inc. calls a Class A level.

More important than receiving...