Legendary coach Vince Lombardi admonishes us, \u201cWinning isn\u2019t the most important thing.\u00a0 It\u2019s the only thing.\u201d\u00a0 Now George Cloutier, CEO of American Management Services, has taken a page from Lombardi\u2019s playbook with his own book titled, \u201cProfits Aren\u2019t Everything, They\u2019re the Only Thing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 As hard-headed business\u00a0 people, it\u2019s pretty difficult for us to argue with his point of view, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Well, maybe not . . . at least from my point of view, there is some room to disagree.\u00a0 For more on profits and profitability, please read below.<\/p>\n
“Profits Aren’t Everything.\u00a0 They’re the Only Thing.”<\/strong><\/p>\n Cloutier\u2019s company specializes in turning around troubled or failing companies, so you can see why he\u2019d feel that way.\u00a0 His clients have to get profitable real quick or they simply go away.\u00a0 And after all, as business people, even if our businesses are healthy, we\u2019re all about making profits, aren\u2019t we?\u00a0 So why do I find the title of Cloutier\u2019s book disturbing?\u00a0 Furthermore, it disturbs me that I\u2019m disturbed.\u00a0 Does that make sense?\u00a0 I mean, I think I\u2019m as capitalistic as the next guy.\u00a0 For cryin\u2019 out loud, the tagline on my business card even says, \u201cHelping small business owners to grow profitably.\u201d\u00a0 So why does Cloutier\u2019s premise bum me out?<\/p>\n I guess what troubles me about Cloutier\u2019s title is the word \u201conly.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, if you simply drop out that word, the title doesn\u2019t make much sense, but still the word bothers me.\u00a0 Not that profits aren\u2019t important, clearly they are.\u00a0 Without them, we can\u2019t stay in business.\u00a0 Still, when you say profits are \u201cthe only thing,\u201d you give our profession a certain Scrooge-like image . . . like we\u2019d probably sell our mothers and our first born for a few more bucks on the bottom line.\u00a0 It says we could be in any kind of shady business using unscrupulous and unethical practices, but as long as we\u2019re turning a profit, it\u2019s OK.\u00a0 I know lots of business people (and you do too) who fervently believe that their product or service provides a positive benefit to society.\u00a0 Sure, they recognize that they have to be profitable if they want to continue to deliver that benefit, but the profit motive isn\u2019t what propels them out of bed every morning.<\/p>\n The other aspect I don\u2019t like about profits being \u201cthe only thing\u201d is that it necessarily points us toward short-term thinking.\u00a0 This is most evident in the wonderful world of publicly held companies where if we miss our earnings target by just a few pennies, our stock gets hammered by the Wall Street analysts.\u00a0 So if I\u2019m the CEO of one of those companies and I want to avoid the Wall Street hammer, what do I do?\u00a0 Well, I put off needed upgrades to our plant and equipment, or I scale back spending on R&D, or I freeze all training expenses . . . all of which will make my company less competitive in the long term, but hey!\u00a0 We\u2019ll make our numbers this quarter and that\u2019s all that counts.\u00a0 Pretty dumb, huh?\u00a0 But if we focus on profits to the exclusion of everything else, that\u2019s what can happen.<\/p>\n Again, profits are vital to the health of our business and our profitability needs to be a key focus, but not the \u201conly\u201d focus.\u00a0 To focus solely on profits can lead to inappropriate business practices and endanger our long-term future.\u00a0 In my view, that\u2019s not a path any of us should want to walk.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Legendary coach Vince Lombardi admonishes us, \u201cWinning isn\u2019t the most important thing.\u00a0 It\u2019s the only thing.\u201d\u00a0 Now George Cloutier, CEO of American Management Services, has taken a page from Lombardi\u2019s playbook with his own book titled, \u201cProfits Aren\u2019t Everything, They\u2019re the Only Thing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 As hard-headed business\u00a0 people, it\u2019s pretty difficult for us to argue with<\/p>\n