Very Short But Amazing Speech by Coca Cola CEO Bryan Dyson
startupceo.co.za
startupceo.co.za
Some quick Googling credits a 1996 Commencement Address at Georgia Tech. However, another source says it's from the book, Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas.
Does anyone have a source at Georgia Tech that can confirm/deny 1996's commencement address?
“Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas" is a 2001 novel by James Patterson, so I don't think that can be the origin of the story.
Also, note that Brian Dyson was CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises (NYSE: CCE) not CEO of The Coca Cola Company (NYSE: KO). (When people say "Coke" or "Coca Cola" they almost always mean the latter, not the former.) http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=5949&fuse...
You'd have to be a pretty shitty human being to exploit this, but it is true. The transactional nature of business means it's the least amenable to long-term relationships, and requires the most aggressive maintenance if you want to optimize it. Most people naturally behave in a way that counteracts this: they could abuse the trust of their loved ones, but they don't.
So perhaps he should have said something like "business is a glass ball. The others are all hamster-balls, with little hamsters in them. If you drop the hamster-ball, it's not going to kill the hamster; it might not even seriously hurt it. But don't be an asshole; if you're going to drop something, drop something that won't be hurt."
I would sum it up as in "your job is not the most important thing in your life". When you're juggling with your 5 balls and you reach a point where you can't handle it anymore and need to drop a ball, dropping the work part is not as big of a deal as the rest. E.g. if you do something just to keep your job but that hurts other people or your health, don't do it, it's not worth it: don't stay late every night, when it's forbidding you to kiss your kids to bed; don't accept to be dropped off in a war zone just to keep your job, etc.
The opposite hypothesis seems pretty absurd. You wouldn't argue that, e.g., if you have to disappoint your boss or your spouse, your boss is more likely to remain unconditionally faithful to you.
People don't exploit this, and that's a good thing. But if I were trying to avoid harm in both my professional and personal life, I'd know that personal connections are more loyal, and thus I can more afford to let them suffer in the short term.
I guess health is an exception there. I'm not sure what "spirit" means, but it seems hard to change.
Edit: after some Googling, Dyson was President & CEO of Coca-Cola North America in 1983. Then became CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises in 1986. BTW, there is a HUGE difference between The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola Enterprises, and they are often confused with each other. They are two separate, publicly traded companies. CCC produces the Coke syrup. CCE actually takes the syrup, mixes it with water and CO2, bottles it, then distributes it to stores.
Odd person to imagine as an advocate of health.
The circumstantial evidence for the health-damaging effects of high-fructose corn syrup in particular are still fuzzy but the correlation of sodas and obesity is pretty established. Where is Coke on that question?
-- I wouldn't advocate imagining your health as a glass ball. There's something to the point that your body responds to the imagines of yourself that you give it. I'm a rubber ball but not one whose going to put Coke into my system.
More importantly though, I am currently drinking an amazing Odwalla juice which is a distributed by minute maid which is owned by coke. Though they have a highly successful, and not so healthy product, they also have a diverse number of companies which focus on health.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
It also asserts that pretty much any juice is not a good idea because you're losing the fiber that helps your body deal with the fructose. I need to learn more about it though.
I just checked out the juice/smoothies I have, and was VERY surprised to see that you are correct, they have 0 fiber. Just goes to show that their really is no substitute for the real thing.
But somehow I wouldn't think of them if I was organizing a healthy lifestyles conference.
Suppose a famous scientist is exposed as having faked a well-know result. Does that make you go back and look at his or her other results? Well, yes.
Someone tells you to put health first while selling a product widely disparaged as destroying people health? Relevant, I'd believe so.
Spunk?
Whatever you call the thing that fights back psychological depression?
I highly doubt he's talking about spirit(uality).