Murphy's Unconventional Business Strategy
Founders
What I learned from reading The Outsiders: Eight Unc...
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Nov 22 2023 42m
Chapter 1 3 mins
Tom Murphy] gave me one of the best pieces of advice I've ever received. He said, 'Warren, you can always tell someone to go to hell tomorrow'...You haven't missed the opportunity. Just forget about if for a day. If you feel the same way tomorrow, tell them then-but don't spout off in a moment of anger." All I Want To Know Is Where I'm Going To Die So I'll Never Go There: Buffett & Munger A Study in Simplicity and Uncommon, Common Sense by Peter Bevelin. (Founders Thirty years ago Tom Murphy, then CEO of Cap Cities, drove this point home to me with a hypothetical tale about an employee who asked his boss for permission to hire an assistantChapter 2 59 sec
The goal is not to have the longest train, but to arrive at the station first, using the least fuelChapter 3 2 mins
Tom Murphy’s simple formulaChapter 4 2 mins
The business of business is a lot of little decisions every day, mixed up with a few big decisionsChapter 5 59 sec
He quickly indoctrinated Burke into the company's lean, decentralized operating philosophyChapter 6 2 mins
I had an appetite for and a willingness to do things that Murphy was not interested in doing. Burke believed his job was to create the free cashflow and Murphy's job was to spend itChapter 7 1 min
Stay in the game long enough to get lucky. The most important thing that he does happens 30 years into his careerChapter 8 1 min
Chapter 9 29 sec
Decentralization is the cornerstone of our philosophy. Our goal is to hire the best people we can and give them the responsibility and authority. They need to perform their jobs. We expect our managers to be forever cost consciousChapter 10 59 sec
An extreme decentralized approach keeps both costs and rancor downChapter 11 59 sec
Murphy delegates to the point of anarchyChapter 12 3 mins
The best defense against the revenue lumpiness inherent in advertising supported businesses was a constant vigilance on costsChapter 13 4 mins
Why Capital Cities had low turnover: The system in place corrupts you with so much autonomy and authority that you can't imagine leavingChapter 14 7 mins
To learn more about a Capital Cities like company listen to The 50X Podcast