It's Time For Some New Rules

It seems the old rules of business are no longer as effective as they used to be. The current issue of Fortune magazine says good-bye to the corporate rules of Jack Welch and hello to the new rules of success.

Old Rules:
1. Big dogs own the street.
2. Be No. 1 or No. 2 in your market.
3. Shareholders rule.
4. Be lean and mean.
5. Rank your players; go with the A's.
6. Hire a charismatic CEO.
7. Admire my might.

New Rules:
1. Agile is best; being big can bite you.
2. Find a niche, create something new.
3. The customer is king.
4. Look out, not in.
5. Hire passionate people.
6. Hire a courageous CEO.
7. Admire my soul.

The article says that the rock star of business is no longer the guy atop the FORTUNE 500 (today Rex Tillerson at ExxonMobil), but the very guy those FORTUNE 500 types used to love to ridicule: Steve Jobs at Apple.

Is there any correlation here to the difference between MEN and GUYS? I'm referring to Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys (which I didn't realize he'd even turned into a movie. Wow.). If you don't know what I'm talking about in this comparison, maybe it will help if I just give you the title of the first chapter of Dave's book: "The Role of Guys in History. Men Went to the Moon, but Guys Invented Mooning." Could it be that Jack Welch = man? Steve Jobs = guy? Old rules = Men; New rules = guys? (Women - don't get too upset. Dave Barry considers Katie Couric a "guy.")

OK, maybe that's a stretch, but I'm very encouraged and excited about the possibilities for our world of work with the new rules. What do you think?