You're right. What does a businessman know about his business? What does he know about finding new markets? What does he know increasing sales and expanding markets for his products? What does he know about meeting a payroll? What does he know about plant expansion? What does he know about getting a loan? Those 60-80 hours a week he puts in are just for show.
Instead, we should ask Joe the line worker, because Joe knows so much better. After all, Joe knows how to work the lathe. Let's ask him.
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Hey, guy, after 20 years, I've seen one "brilliant" plan after another blow up in their faces. Things the guy who worked the lathe would have told him was a horrible idea.
Like the last company I worked for, decided that their three year contract was really going to be "have the business forever", even though this customer was notorious for changing vendors every three years when contracts ran out. They bought a new big expensive facility and hired a bunch of people they didn't need to work on other projects, and they were all caught flat footed when us "lathe-workers" (actually, the CSR's and Buyers who worked with the vendor directly) told them tney needed to pay more attention to the customer's concerns. You know, like we were overcharging them to pay for bullshit.
Yup, yup, they insisted. They can't get another vendor to do what we do. No problem. They were still claiming that about a year after they dropped us. Then they finally let a bunch of people go. Not the people who had been hired. They worked cheaper. They fired the folks who were there from the beginning. They actually earned raises the bastard.
The only place a "businessman" looks good is at the end of meathook.