INTRODUCTION
The Killer of Scale
“Does a ship sail to its destination no better than a log drifts nowhither? . . . And there you have our difference: to be in hell is to drift: to be in heaven is to steer.”
—GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, MAN AND SUPERMAN, ACT III
“This is what killed our scale!” said the head of strategy, pointing to one of our charts.
We were sitting in a conference room, located on the ground floor of the company’s headquarters. One entire wall was glass, providing a cheery view of the bright skies and corporate campus grounds. Outside there were still traces of a recent snowfall, streaks of white on the landscaped lawn.
It was a familiar scene, the two of us gathered in a boardroom with the head of strategy, the leader of product ...
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