Imagine you're fired from your job, then rehired to run the company fresh. Intel used this exercise to cut underperforming divisions and improve performance. It's a way to see your business clearly, without the weight of legacy decisions holding you back.
Try firing yourself. There's a wonderful story about Intel and the, the principals there going through an exercise in which they tried firing themselves and saying, if we were fired and then we came back, we were running the shop, what would we do differently? What's the big change that we would make if we were just suddenly coming in fresh to our company? And that caused them to look at their company as a set of assets instead of being a storied history. By doing that, they were able to make a big difference and cut away from an old line of business that just wasn't serving them anymore. Given Intel's performance last year, I kind of wonder if they would benefit from this exercise in 2025. But I think people who are running businesses would do well to go through this mental exercise for themselves, especially here at the beginning of the year. Fresh slate. What would you do if what you— if you were just coming in to run this particular company? What changes would you make there about the future and not tied to the past? What are the big exceptional transformations you can make that will unlock the potential of your business in the coming year?
