Knowledge Project

Intro

Sixteen lessons learned from Bernie Marcus, the outlier:
- Bad money is worse than no money.
- Outcome over ego.
- Every customer is on loan.
- Bureaucracy is a fungus.
- Pitchers need Catchers.
- Promotions are an addiction; low prices are a discipline.
- It’s not a value until it costs you money.
- Win-Win or walk away.
- Hire people better than you.
- The best information isn’t in a spreadsheet; it’s in the customer walking out empty-handed.
- Invisible benefits often outweigh visible costs.
- The one-man show doesn’t scale.
- Instincts beat spreadsheets.
- The money is the scorecard, not the motivator.
- You’re never as smart as you think you are.
- Sometimes the company outgrows the people.
Home Depot’s “Customer Bill of Rights” – the six things a customer wants to pay for:
- 1. The right assortment
- 2. The right quantities
- 3. The right price
- 4. Associates on the sales floor who want to take care of customers
- 5. Associates who have been properly trained in product knowledge
Culture isn’t what you say, it’s what you repeatedly do

Bernie Marcus is the co-founder and former CEO of Home Depot.

This is how he built a culture of ownership, kept going when everyone turned him down, nearly lost it all, and created one of the most successful retailers in history.

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Approximate Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:00) Part 1: An Accidental Miracle

(09:29) Part 2: A Golden Horseshoe Kick

(25:49) Part 3: Building From Nothing

(38:53) Part 4: Orange Everywhere

(49:40) Part 5: The Legacy

(54:17) Lessons

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Sources:

Marcus, Bernie, and Arthur Blank. Built from Scratch: How a Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion. New York: Crown Business, 1999.

Best Practice Institute. "Bernie Marcus Interview." YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNP0YYDi1FY.

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Bernie Marcus: The Home Depot Story [Outliers]

Podcast Notes Playlist: Startup