Читать книгу Make More Donuts! - Greg Bennett - Страница 4

My name is Sales Manager. Yes, it’s a strange name I know, but my parents had a sense of humor. And with the last name of Manager you can imagine what fun they had: I have a sister named Department (Deppy for short) and a brother named Assistant (uh...you can guess what we called him).

Anyway, when your last name is Manager you pretty much know what you’re going to end up doing for a living. You’re going to be managing something or someone. In my case it was donuts. I’m what’s called a production manager for a large donut factory. Yes, a donut factory.

I don't know if you've ever heard of something called a donut factory before, but it's where all those wonderfully round, deliciously sweet dough circles are made and shipped all over the world. Oh you may think your local baker is back there churning out dough, and putting them on trays, and dropping them into the oil... well, that's all for show. The actual donuts are made in factories like the one I work at in a little ski town called Steamboat Springs, Colorado (real donuts have to be made at elevations over 6,000 ft).

Inside a donut factory there are giant silos, about 10 of them, that hang from the ceiling. There are people who sit up near the top of each silo and all they do all day is load the ingredients to make the donuts into the silos...their official title is "donut maker"...but we call 'em cute names like "Little dough boys"...or "Flower Children". Anyway, they crawl up the ladders everyday to the top of the silos where they sit in their own little cubicle surrounded by the ingredients that go into making the donuts. Everyday when I blow my whistle, those crazy "Dough-doughs" (another pet name), get busy shoveling the stuff into the top of the silos.

My job as production manager is pretty basic...I collect whatever donuts come out the bottom of those silos. Then I take them and drop them in the office of the big boss, our regional manager. Her job is to then take them to our factory owner. It's that simple. But it's not always easy. The donuts don’t always flow smoothly, sometimes the donut makers get lazy, or cut corners. And sometimes there are clogs in the pipeline and things get backed up. All in all, what comes out of those silos is a crap shoot, and I’m responsible for making it all happen.

And then there are extraordinary situations that come along, like the one that happened a few months ago when my regional manager walked into my office and dropped a bomb in my lap. Here’s what happened:

“Hey Sales…guess what? I just heard from the owners that we have to increase production…we need to make more donuts. A LOT more donuts.”

“Oh? What do you mean by a LOT more?” I asked.

“I mean like twice as much as what the donut makers have been making!”

“What? Double production? Where did this order come from?”

“From on high,” my regional manager said.

“Well…someone had to be high to want that….I’m assuming we can add a few new donut makers?”

“Uh…no. No new people…no new anything. You got a find a way to make it happen with what you got,” she said with a smile.

“But…double? How are we going to do that? We’re already working hard…no one is slacking off…how can we possibly…”

“Look Sales…I don’t make the rules…I was given a number, and now I’m giving that number to you. It’s your job to make it happen. Now…before you freak out…while I can’t allow you to hire anyone new, I can get you some help.”

“What kind of help?” I couldn’t imagine where she was going with this.

“I’m going to send you one of the top donut making consultants in the world who will work with you and your team. His name is Fran Chise…ever heard of him?”

“Fran Chise? No…who is he?”

“He’s a very interesting fellow. Very subtle, non-assuming…kind of quiet, but he’s going to have you making more donuts than you ever thought possible. He’ll be here tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes…so I’d suggest you gather your donut makers and let them know what is going on…okay? Great.” With that my regional manager smiled curtly, spun on her heels and left.

Double production? And the only help I was going to get was from a consultant? Really? Most of the consultants I’d met didn’t do much more than point out your obvious mistakes and make a motivational speech or two.

Nonetheless, I was stuck with this and I knew I had to let my donut makers know what was coming. So I called a meeting and oh what a meeting it would turn out to be!