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Lesson #5: “Everyone can make mistakes. That’s why they put rubbers on pencils.”

Article Overview: All his life, Fox has been a big better. He is one of those who believe that there is no point in making a deal unless you are prepared to put your entire house on the line.

Lesson #5: “Everyone can make mistakes. That’s why they put rubbers on pencils.”

All his life, Fox has been a big better. He is one of those who believe that there is no point in making a deal unless you are prepared to put your entire house on the line. That is why LinFox has adopted a strategy of aggressive expansion in Asian markets. It already maintains a strong presence in Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, and Fox is now looking to make greater headway into China.

Fox is also focused on expanding beyond the trucking industry. Despite it being the basis of his personal experience, Fox is fearless and decided to branch out further within the transport sector by opening new markets. He moved systematically from trucks to freight to storage to logistics. He has even more recently gotten into aviation services and infrastructure assets.

But Fox is under no illusion that all of his grand schemes will work. Indeed, he says, "Everyone can make mistakes. That's why they put rubbers on pencils."

One such mistake was the decision to exploit stock market opportunities. Fox has the rare distinction of being one of only a handful of entrepreneurs who listed their companies, only to return to private ownership, and only to return to list it on the stock market again. Paying little regard to conventional management thinking, Fox follows his own rational. Despite the twists and turns life throws at him, Fox continues to play big and bet the house.

Today, decisions at LinFox are taken at lightning speed. For instance, the plan to build the company's new headquarters for its Logistics division - something which was to cost upwards of $20 million - was decided after a 15-minute discussion between Fox, two of his sons, and a colleague, as the four toured around New Zealand in a bus.

The fast pace of the work has left a few uneasy, with several executives leaving within even their first year at the company. But Fox stands by his practices. After all, it is his company, and those that do not like it, can simply leave.

There are, on the other hand, significant benefits to working for someone like Fox. He bets big, he takes rash decisions, and he suffers sometimes as a result. Still, employees who work for him say the company still maintains the passion of a small family business.

Fox calls people by their first names, and they do the same in return. People are treated as a part of the family rather than employees. Decisions are taken with the family's best interests at heart. Though they are taken fast, there are taken in good faith and Fox's workers know it.

That generates a loyalty that, among those who can tough out the harsher aspects of his management style, is hard to buy. And it gives Fox a significant leg up against his competitors, who do not know what to expect from him at times, and do not have the loyal people to help them react fast enough.

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Article Tags: fox, line lesson, pencils



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Re: Hotmail Scam! - Hi David, Many people will fall for that, because they are innocent and don't know how to recognize the spam in all their junk. Another thing is the English. I only noticed the mistakes because you bolded (is this a word?) them. When we read, our mind know how to automatically change the mistakes to words we are familiar with. The other reason is for people like me that English is not their first language, and may never notice these mistakes, unless someone points them out.
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