Cudahy's 10 rules for building a company

Michael J. Cudahy, no slouch at management philosophy, calls these his
"10 Golden Rules", or "How Not to Screw Up an Organization":

1. Stay financially independent.  Don't panic about your
debt-to-equity ratio [and rush out in search of more capital.]  It's
just a number.  Don't bring in outside investors.  Don't go public
until you're all grown up.

2. Don't hire professional managers or consultants.  Chemists,
OK. Engineers, sure.  Even accountants.  But no business managers or
management consultants.  They'll change things for the sake of
change, put down your old, trusted employees and try to make heroes of
themselves at your expense.

3. Never make an organizational chart.  The last one I made was 16
years ago and everyone had their nose bent out of shape for six
months.  You can't represent human interaction in such a simple-minded
way.

4. Don't allow meetings.  Meetings are the curse of American business.
Communicate and decide things in the hall, parking lot or over lunch.
That way, no one shows off or gets bent out of shape if they weren't
there.

5. Have a love affair with your employees.  I mean all of them.  Trust
them, embrace them, tell them all your secrets and treat them like one
of the family.  This is a good idea for customers, too.

6. Give away the store.  I've optioned, granted, given and otherwise
distributed about on-third of my entire company and it's paid me back
a million times over.  Even the floor sweeper has stock.

7.  Let people do their thing.  If they want their office pink, so be
it.  Ugly tapestry on the walls, hang plants, decorate the factory -
fine.  All this makes the place an extension of their home.

8.  Don't play big shot.  Don't put in a mahogany row with thick
carpets and reserved parking places with the first brush of success.
As a matter of fact, save the fancy stuff for your personal life.

9.  Ignore the competition.  More people waste more time worrying
about, spying on, copying and trying to undercut competition than
almost anything else.  Just go forward and do your best.  Elbow grease
is a good substitute for paranoia.

10.  Preserve your sense of humor.  At all costs.  I know it's hard to
laugh when you lose a million dollars, but if you don't have a laugh
or two each day, you might as well drive a cab.