Goal

The Goal

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the word

“goal” to me is a soccer game. I was born in San Salvador, El Salvador and the

National sport there is soccer or as we say in Spanish is “Futbol. The point of

the game is to score a goal or more goals than your opponent. The interesting

thing about this is that as I can see the game has a purpose, because is not

just to kick the ball around and have fun, but to score goals and win the game.

It is the same concept when managing a successful business, the business

needs to have a clear goal to succeed.

The first thing I learned from reading the Goal, is that many

companies don’t have the proper business analytics that helps them get

results. Starting from chapter one Alex’s plant was disorganized, they really

had things confused by believing some robots that manufacture items faster

would help them produce more, first by being more efficient and second by

maximizing throughput. This is what happens with many of us even in the

smallest of assignments, we focus on things that are not really the goal, and

this in consequence makes the finish product delayed to the point it feels like

it never comes. For example, I am going to school to finish my bachelor’s

degree, along the way there are many classes I must take. My goal is not

really to pass every class with an A letter grade, even though this is a great

accomplishment.

My goal is to graduate but if I focus on getting a A letter grade on each

class I would probably feel unaccomplished if this didn’t happen or maybe I

would take the class again to make sure I get the grade I want. All in all, this

would make obtaining my bachelor’s degree a longer process. Now going

back to the plant, the reason I say Alex’s plant did not have the proper

business analytics is because Alex had a lot of inventories, a lot of expenses

and low sales. The Plant was very efficient in a sense that people and

machine were producing a certain part to the component and not the whole

product. That is why efficiency can’t be measured by the number of parts that

are produced but by the sale of the whole component meaning throughput.

The second thing I learned from reading the goal was the insight that

Jonah provides to Alex, which shows how educated Jonah is in dealing with

this type of plant. Jonah had a set of measurements that would let him know

right of the bat the issue without even actually physically being at the plant.

The insight I am talking about are the dependent events and statistical

fluctuations. When Alex was at the hike with the boys he found the

dependent events and statistical fluctuations on the line. I personally found

this very interesting because as a General Manager or a CEO I would have to

have critical thinking to find these issues in my operations.

It made me realize that this is something I must possess to be a

successful leader one day, because being a Boss is not only about bossing

people around but to have the responsibility of your employee’s success and

the success of the whole operation. In the goal the plant was running,

employees where working staying busy, because anyone with idle time was

called to attention because according to Alex, employees always had to be

doing something or other wise they were wasting their time. The issue is that

when manufacturing something a process needs to happen, or a part needs to

be made for the next process to happen. Almost right after high school, I

joined the United states Air force and when I was in the military we had a

way to fold our cloth, beds, everything had to be in order. I remember my

Commanding officer would often tell us to pay attention to detail, because is

better to pay attention to detail the first time and do it once, than mess up

and start all over again.

If this happens in a plant that needs to produce products by the end of

day, a delay can cost you hundreds and even thousands of dollars, because

now we go to the second phenomena called statistical fluctuations. Statistical

fluctuations are things that can’t be controlled. We deal with these every day,

for example I live in Homestead it usually takes an hour and a half to make it

to Miami in the morning traffic. The things I can’t account for are how many

accidents there will be along my route, or any street closures I am not aware

of that can possible happen because of the accident. These are things that

change from day to day, more the one about accidents on the road than road

closures. Statistical fluctuations as these are almost unpredictable to a

precise time, they can happen anywhere without notice. This phenomenon

combined with dependent events creates a disaster in any type of situation,

whether personal or like in the case of the goal for a plant. A plant trying to

stay afloat cannot afford these types of problems when maximizing

throughput.

The third thing that I learned about reading the goal, was as simple as

it can be; to always have a goal when doing something. When I first glanced

at the title of this book I had made up my mind I thought it was another

boring book I had to read for class. I tried reading the first chapter in the

physical copy and I wasn’t feeling it. I started getting interested in the book,

when I got the book in audible. Then since my commute was long I started

listening to the chapters on my way to work and it started to make sense.

It seems I prefer to listen to books rather than read them. After a few

chapters it clicked, the goal is about having a goal to succeed and to find out

what that goal is. As a future entrepreneur I constantly have ideas, but I find

it hard to bring those ideas to life. I think its important to not act out of

emotions because emotions die quick. Many prospective entrepreneurs have

opened businesses out of emotion, out of spur of the moment, to find out they

didn’t do the appropriate research to sustain the operations.

They only had a vision for what they wanted to do but did they really

didn’t have a goal in mind. Many say I want to be a millionaire and then

what? because a million dollars without a goal can run out real fast. The goal

made me think about my goals in life. Do I even have a goal or I’m I just doing

what I’m supposed to be doing? It’s interesting how Alex in the book is

having issues with his wife in their marriage and he starts to wonder do they

even have a goal in their marriage, and it made me realize, do I even have a

goal for my marriage? I think when a book makes you start thinking about

these things it has suddenly activated the part of your brain that needs to be

activated as a CEO.

I want to graduate and obtain my bachelor’s degree because I feel like

I should have been done with it a long time ago. I have worked hard jobs, I

have been a waiter at a restaurant, I have been a cook, I have worked for

several warehouses, I have worked retail and I have found none of those jobs

can give me the fulfillment that I need nor the pay that I desire for the life I

want. Things start to change fast when now I have a family, a house to be

responsible for, step kids to keep in check and I’m not getting any younger.

As a personal goal I would like to make a six-figure salary doing

something I’m interested in and that makes me feel fulfilled. I am thirty-four

right now and I believe with the right salary, and the right investments, I can

retire before sixty-five. My goal is to work a few hours and make enough for

the whole week. I believe when we work it costs life, time, family and effort.

That’s why I feel wasting time figuring out the goal is not something I can

afford at this point in my life.

To conclude, the goal in my opinion was more interesting than I

expected. This book was my first audible book, and I really enjoyed driving

home listening to something interesting. It definitely made my drive a lot

smoother. Also, in the parts of insight it really made me concentrate to try to

learn something from it because maybe in a future I will be in a spot like Alex

was and be able to come up with a solution. I think many times the issue is

not really that we can’t critically think, the thing is sometimes that type of

thinking needs to be enticed to come out maybe even lured. I think as normal

working folk we don’t really try to exercise critical thinking on our daily

routines because simply it’s not required. I also believe that is why reading

complex business novels like the Goal helpes you exercise your mind and

start building muscle is those areas that as an employee we don’t usually

think about like CEO’s do on a daily basis.