Margins > vanity metrics. Always.
GM shifting from volume to profitability is Business 101, yet people act shocked. "Sad for the industry" — spare me. Your job as a company isn't to prop up national pride or chase market share for ego points. It's to make money and survive.
I've seen too many operators chase top-line growth while bleeding cash because "being the biggest" felt good. Then reality hits: you're overleveraged, underwater, and wondering why the market doesn't care about your revenue if you can't keep any of it.
Selling fewer units at higher margins isn't retreat — it's discipline. Focus, profitability, and capital efficiency beat bloated empires every time. The companies that survive recessions and market shifts aren't the ones playing for headlines. They're the ones who figured out their unit economics and stuck to them.
Vanity is expensive. Margins compound.
GM shifting from volume to profitability is Business 101, yet people act shocked. "Sad for the industry" — spare me. Your job as a company isn't to prop up national pride or chase market share for ego points. It's to make money and survive.
I've seen too many operators chase top-line growth while bleeding cash because "being the biggest" felt good. Then reality hits: you're overleveraged, underwater, and wondering why the market doesn't care about your revenue if you can't keep any of it.
Selling fewer units at higher margins isn't retreat — it's discipline. Focus, profitability, and capital efficiency beat bloated empires every time. The companies that survive recessions and market shifts aren't the ones playing for headlines. They're the ones who figured out their unit economics and stuck to them.
Vanity is expensive. Margins compound.