{"id":42153,"date":"2014-06-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/experts-discuss-worst-business-decision-ever\/"},"modified":"2014-06-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-16T00:00:00","slug":"experts-discuss-worst-business-decision-ever","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/experts-discuss-worst-business-decision-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts Discuss the Worst Business Decision Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t\t\t<em class=\"citation\">The Atlantic<\/em> magazine asked a number of experts to weigh in on the following question: &quot;What was the worst business decision ever made?&quot; Listen to what some of the experts said:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\t<li>&quot;In the mid-1970s, a young engineer named Steve Sasson invented the world&#39;s first digital camera. He secured a patent for it on behalf of his employer, then pitched his bosses on a new business model based on the invention. They passed. Today, digital cameras are ubiquitous&mdash;and Sasson&#39;s company, Kodak, is emerging from bankruptcy.&quot; (Daniel Pink).<\/li>\n\n\t<li>&quot;In 1983, Coca-Cola launched New Coke, a weapon in its losing market-share battle with Pepsi. But consumers boycotted, and just three months later, Coke brought back Coca-Cola Classic. By 1986, Coke was back on top, and some alleged it was all a marketing scheme!&quot; (Melissa Lee)<\/li>\n\n\t<li>&quot;McDonald&#39;s decision to sell Chipotle in 2006. What were they thinking? We know what they weren&#39;t thinking: that Americans are losing faith in the food chain that McDonald&#39;s exploits and instead want healthy fare.&quot; (Jim Cramer).<\/li>\n\n\t<li>&quot;Apple&#39;s firing of Steve Jobs in 1985 set the company back for a dozen years and drove it to near-bankruptcy. Apple only saved itself by rehiring him in 1997, at which point he went on to make Apple the most financially valuable&mdash;and influential&mdash;tech company in the world.&quot; (Walt Mossberg).<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Possible Preaching Angles: <strong>(1) Folly; Foolishness; Fools; Wisdom<\/strong>&mdash;At times we display just as much foolishness in our spiritual lives. That&#39;s why we need to pray for God&#39;s wisdom. <strong>(2) Failure; Mistakes<\/strong>&mdash;Even excellent companies and smart people make big mistakes. We will too. <strong>(3) Receiving Christ<\/strong>&mdash;These decisions pale in comparison to the worst decision anyone can make&mdash;rejecting Christ.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3746,3747,3790,3931,3999,4002,4227,4351,4352,4482,4775,5279],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-42153","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-decision","tax_ctp_tags-decision-making","tax_ctp_tags-discernment","tax_ctp_tags-failure","tax_ctp_tags-folly","tax_ctp_tags-foolishness","tax_ctp_tags-imperfection","tax_ctp_tags-leadership","tax_ctp_tags-leadership-development","tax_ctp_tags-mistakes","tax_ctp_tags-receiving-christ","tax_ctp_tags-wisdom"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Experts Discuss the Worst Business Decision Ever - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/experts-discuss-worst-business-decision-ever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Experts Discuss the Worst Business Decision Ever - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Atlantic magazine asked a number of experts to weigh in on the following question: &quot;What was the worst business decision ever made?&quot; Listen to what some of the experts said: Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Folly; Foolishness; Fools; Wisdom&mdash;At times we display just as much foolishness in our spiritual lives. 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