There is enormous power in the word “no.”
On the face of that, you might think that is obvious, but the shipping business has always held as sacred the idea of scale. Scale should create efficiencies. Tome was the CFO at Home Depot before becoming the head of UPS, and she is a classic number cruncher, according to the WSJ article by Paul Ziobro. Her logic is brilliantly simple. She is focusing on profit in an effort to create a “better, not bigger” company.
Tome is a powerful, smart CEO, and she will excel. She says, “the current environment, with too much demand for limited capacity, means UPS needs to be paid adequately for its services.” That concept should not strike you as revolutionary, yet learning how to say “no,” in many ways runs counter to our natural behavior and desire to be liked. That is why my granddaughter sits on my lap during lunch and then asks if I can lend her $50. She is 2 1/2. They learn quickly. Darling, not a chance.