A few days ago, the European Commission slapped Intel with $1.45 billion for strong-arming AMD and other competitors. As I was browsed, the most interesting thing I read wasn’t about Intel.
From chip analyst Linley Gwennap :
“[Intel’s largest competitor] A.M.D. is basically operating on a shoestring…If you have a slip-up, that can kill your revenue for the next couple of years.”
Many people I know work for or own organizations that are operating on a shoestring. They’re praying the string won’t snap because unlike AMD, they don’t have a couple of years to give.
As budget numbers tighten, so do our collars. Pretty soon we feel like that shoestring isn’t just holding up the company, it’s holding onto our job, our career, our future.
And in those moments when the air is taunt with fear, we often make poor decisions—like AMD just did.
Maybe it’s because they’re bitter. Maybe it’s because they’re petty. Either way, they decided to hoist the EU flag, proclaiming its success against Intel.
I’m not sure what the PR people at Intel are thinking. Their plan right now seems to shed as much negative light on Intel as possible, perhaps to make the weary consumer think “I shouldn’t buy from Intel, they’re a big, bad corporation.” But this plan won’t work. Remember what happened when Microsoft lost their anti-trust case?
But when we’re on a shoestring, we’re tempted to make moves of quiet desperation, too. Tempted to slash prices, to cut margins so thin we can see through them. Tempted to pester and beg. Tempted to outright lie. Tempted smear our competitors.
When we’re on a shoestring we should really ask ourselves, “What am I going to do to make sure we don’t have a slip-up? What sacrifices am I willing to make?”
You don’t have to be a C-level executive to answer those questions. When livelihood is on the line, it’s imperative that we find new, creative, honest, and ethical solutions to current challenges, no matter how limited your clout or authority.
My favorite example is of one of the press operators at our company. He discovered a problem with our thermostat that saved us a significant amount of money we were wasting overnight. There are creative answers to our problems. We just have to put in the time to find them.
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