Thereareobviousreasonsforwatching“BreakingBad”:foroncetheHollywoodhypesurroundingthetelevisionseries is justified.Butthere is also a lessobviousreason: it is one of the best studiesavailable of thedynamics of modernbusiness.
“BreakingBad”takesplace in a recession-ravagedAmericawheremostpeoplearestruggling to get by on stagnantincomesbut a handful of entrepreneurslivelikekings.Thehero,WalterWhite, is a high-schoolchemistryteacherwith a secondjob in a carwash.When he is diagnosedwithcancer he is alsoshakenout of hislethargy: he decides to go intothehighlylucrativemethamphetaminebusiness to payforhiscancertreatmentandleavehisfamily a nest-egg.
Thefirstlessonfrom“BreakingBad” is thathigh-growthbusinessescomefromunexpectedplaces.Mr.Whiteuseshisskills as a chemist to revolutionisetheslapdashmethindustry. He is notalone.WilliamThorndike of HarvardBusinessSchool(HBS)studiedeightbosseswhosefirms outperformed theS&P500indexmorethan20-foldovertheirbusinesscareers. He foundthattheywereall outsiders whobroughtfreshperspectives on theirindustries.
Threethingshelpourchemistryteacherturn an insightinto a flourishingbusiness.Thefirst is hugeambition. He is not in the“methbusiness” or the“moneybusiness”, he says. He is in the“empirebusiness”.Thesecond is productobsession. Otherdealersmightpeddle“Mexicanshoe-scrapings” on thegroundthataddictscarelittleaboutquality. He producestheking of meth, so purethat it turnsblue,andwouldratherdestroy an entirebatchthanlet an inferiorproduct be tradedunderhisbrand.Thethird is partnershipsandalliances. He spotstalent in a formerpupilturneddrug-dealer,JessePinkman,andforms a strongworkingrelationshipwithhim. He alsocontractsdistribution to a succession of localgangs so that he canconcentrate on thehigher-value-addedpart of thebusiness:cookingandqualitycontrol.