"We want to put our organization on a process of ongoing improvement; we cannot do that while allowing common nonsense to govern people."

"When I do an analysis of a company, I am satisfied only when I clearly see how it is possible to bring the company to have, in less than four years, net profit equal to its current total sales."

I know of just one person in the world who would not only make such an arrogant statement but also mean it, and he was sitting in my hotel room in New York City. Dr. Eli Goldratt, ^[*] an innovative thinker who is known to have invented breakthrough solutions to industry problems, is someone I deeply respect. But even smart, respected people sometimes make totally outrageous statements.

Eli and I spent the entire week in New York to discuss how to move companies much more quickly towards exponential improvement using a powerful concept that he termed "Viable Vision." During the week, my emotions bounced between skepticism and excitement. My excitement took over when I realized that even if I could not bring every organization to have net profit equal to sales within four years, the premise was sound. Viable Vision, with its unique approach to customers and markets, would move any organization towards an improvement level that was beyond anything I had ever thought possible before. It reminded me of what the quality movement had done for Japanese...