Global CIO: Remembering My Dad, The Greatest Guy I've Ever KnownGlobal CIO: Remembering My Dad, The Greatest Guy I've Ever Known

He saw the railroad shunt that moved the coal from the ships to huge machines that transferred it to a massive web of railroad cars that linked up with rail lines heading south and thence all over the country.

I suspect at some level he always knew this is what went on, but he had to see it; he had to really know; he had to be able to tangibly put into place that last piece of the puzzle that ran across thousands of miles of water and rail lines and touched hundreds of industries.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently because companies of all sorts seem to be striving for the same kind of complete, end-to-end view of their businesses, from their farthest-flung suppliers through their partners to their customers and even out to their customers' customers. The need to know--to really know and to have end-to-end vision--is becoming increasingly vital in this business world that moves and changes so rapidly.

Thanks for indulging me in this mostly personal tale of end-to-end vision. I'd like to close by adding that several weeks after our plane ride, my dad died quite unexpectedly. But before he left us, he got to see where the coal went.

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