Morris

"When I say Noyce had business vision, in fact he not only had vision—he was also a very shrewd businessman. In 1973, memory was in short supply (just like twenty years later), and at that time Intel was the largest memory supplier. The computer division of TI urgently needed memory, and the vice president of the computer division called me: “I hear you and Noyce are old acquaintances. Could you ask him to allocate us a bit more?” I called Noyce. He seemed very troubled and poured out to me for several minutes about the hardships suppliers face during shortages, but in the end he still agreed to consider it. I hung up thinking the chances were small—maybe there wouldn’t even be a reply. Unexpectedly, he called me the next day, sounding very relaxed: “Ah, Morris, no problem with what you said yesterday; we can do it. Of course, old friends should help each other.” Before I could thank him, he immediately continued: “But silicon raw material is also in short supply. We really need silicon raw material. I know the silicon raw materials department is also under your control. Could you ask them to allocate us a bit more?” Clearly, overnight he had already worked out with his staff how to turn this “favor” into a trade that would also benefit him."

"take a decision that the advantages of moving quickly were often lost. There would be no such problem with McCain Foods. Decisions were quickly made and it was also acceptable to make mistakes, provided one learned from them. Morris explained, “If you were wrong, you got a heck of an education and you probably didn’t make that mistake again. If you were right, you were so far ahead of everybody else and it was a major coup for the company.”24 The McCain brothers and Morris hired staff that were of like mind."