ng man from Houston, Michael Dell, was over in Austin kicking our butts with his build to order strategy. The senior VP of Op's, my boss, launched several ‘BTO’ projects to calm the CEO down. This one proved nothing more than a scud missile like Saddam used to use. It ended with actual computer reports that showed we were building to order when in fact we weren’t, nothing had We sat in staff meeting awaiting the report out of yet another attempt by Houston's other Rocket to catch its nemesis over in Austin in the race to build computers to order. Dell was so far out front in this race that the dust was settled by the time our horse reached the fourth turn. Everyone on my staff clearly understood our manufacturing didn’t have the capability to be a contender in the ‘build to order’ race.

My guy walked in, sly smile on his face, placed his slides on the table and began.

"It appears we'll start with BTO (build to order, it was a world of acronyms), but, we'll do it in three levels. That will take us from where we are today, which we all know is NRBTO) (not really build to order) to where we want to go. Then, we’ll go on to CTO (configure to order). We will end up with RBTO (really build to order). I'll be handing out decoder rings at the end of this presentation."

The sad thing about this story is that the actual plan really did include BTO, CTO and RTBO. The only one my guy made up was NRBTO, or not really build to order. Our charade with building our computers to order, like Dell, had gone on for two years. It was a series of false starts that had driven hope out the back door. Everyone knew we were so far from that reality we couldn’t even dream it. Everyone that is, but our illustrious leaders.

You see here was a change project that was launched after the three before it were scrapped because nothing happened. The CEO was irate that the young man from Houston, Michael Dell, was over in Austin kicking our butts with his build to order strategy. The senior VP of Op's, my boss, launched several ‘BTO’ projects to calm the CEO down. This one proved nothing more than a scud missile like Saddam used to use. It ended with actual computer reports that showed we were building to order when in fact we weren’t, nothing had c

contender in the ‘build to order’ race.

My guy walked in, sly smile on his face, placed his slides on the table and began.

"It appears we'll start with BTO (build to order, it was a world of acronyms), but, we'll do it in three levels. That will take us from where we are today, which we all know is NRBTO) (not really build to order) to where we want to go. Then, we’ll go on to CTO (configure to order). We will end up with RBTO (really build to order). I'll be handing out decoder rings at the end of this presentation."

The sad thing about this story is that the actual plan really did include BTO, CTO and RTBO. The only one my guy made up was NRBTO, or not really build to order. Our charade with building our computers to order, like Dell, had gone on for two years. It was a series of false starts that had driven hope out the back door. Everyone knew we were so far from that reality we couldn’t even dream it. Everyone that is, but our illustrious leaders.

You see here was a change project that was launched after the three before it were scrapped because nothing happened. The CEO was irate that the young man from Houston, Michael Dell, was over in Austin kicking our butts with his build to order strategy. The senior VP of Op's, my boss, launched several ‘BTO’ projects to calm the CEO down. This one proved nothing more than a scud missile like Saddam used to use. It ended with actual computer reports that showed we were building to order when in fact we weren’t, nothing had

ll go on to CTO (configure to order). We will end up with RBTO (really build to order). I'll be handing out decoder rings at the end of this presentation."

The sad thing about this story is that the actual plan really did include BTO, CTO and RTBO. The only one my guy made up was NRBTO, or not really build to order. Our charade with building our computers to order, like Dell, had gone on for two years. It was a series of false starts that had driven hope out the back door. Everyone knew we were so far from that reality we couldn’t even dream it. Everyone that is, but our illustrious leaders.

You see here was a change project that was launched after the three before it were scrapped because nothing happened. The CEO was irate that the young man from Houston, Michael Dell, was over in Austin kicking our butts with his build to order strategy. The senior VP of Op's, my boss, launched several ‘BTO’ projects to calm the CEO down. This one proved nothing more than a scud missile like Saddam used to use. It ended with actual computer reports that showed we were building to order when in fact we weren’t, nothing had

Dell, had gone on for two years. It was a series of false starts that had driven hope out the back door. Everyone knew we were so far from that reality we couldn’t even dream it. Everyone that is, but our illustrious leaders.

You see here was a change project that was launched after the three before it were scrapped because nothing happened. The CEO was irate that the young man from Houston, Michael Dell, was over in Austin kicking our butts with his build to order strategy. The senior VP of Op's, my boss, launched several ‘BTO’ projects to calm the CEO down. This one proved nothing more than a scud missile like Saddam used to use. It ended with actual computer reports that showed we were building to order when in fact we weren’t, nothing had

ng man from Houston, Michael Dell, was over in Austin kicking our butts with his build to order strategy. The senior VP of Op's, my boss, launched several ‘BTO’ projects to calm the CEO down. This one proved nothing more than a scud missile like Saddam used to use. It ended with actual computer reports that showed we were building to order when in fact we weren’t, nothing had changed.

When you’re managing change you can't pretend. There is a true saying that goes … to change, you gotta' change. That simply means at the end of the day, something is different. The people in your organization know the difference. The case above was a complete farce and it was being managed by the vaunted boys from McKinsey. It was a travesty. And it drove all hope from the building.

As the leader of change you have to make sure that the project you’re rolling out is real. You have to insure that it isn’t like Alfred E. Newman, yep, the one from Mad Magazine described when he said, “Just because everything’s different doesn’t mean anything’s changed”. You cannot permit the organization you represent to play charades. It destroys morale, wastes money and is downright wrong. Sometimes the cost is even more than money.

When you're tempted to turn your head and think that it doesn’t matter, think about Enron. Think about how many lives were destroyed and dreams crushed because no one spoke up. Vow to never let it happen on your watch. Ever!

Ed Kugler