Historians and businesspeople generally look back on certain business decisions as some of the all-time greats … or all-time blunders.
The best:
* Ford and the $5 day. In 1914, Henry Ford decided to start paying his workers $5 per day (double what some of them previously made) and implement a 40-hour work week, a move that Forbes argues was the smartest business decision of all time. Ford suddenly had no trouble attracting and retaining talent, and Ford's workers could afford (and proudly drove) the cars they built themselves.
* George Lucas and Star Wars. After Fox offered George Lucas $500,000 to make the first Star Wars films, he countered with an offer of his own — just $150,000 in salary, but Lucas would retain the rights to merchandising and any sequels. According to International Accounting Bulletin, that $350,000 pay cut turned into Lucas's current $5.4 billion fortune.
* Alcoa and workplace safety. In his book The Power of Habits, Charles Duhigg recalls when Alcoa hired Paul O'Neill to lead the ailing aluminum giant — and in his first speech as CEO, O'Neill focused not on profits and revenues, but workplace safety. O'Neill bet big on a safer workplace with fewer days missed due to injury, and his bet paid off. Better safety habits led to better processes across the entire company, and by the time O'Neill retired, Alcoa's annual net income was five times higher than at the start of his tenure.
And the crown for worst business decision of all time:
* The Louisiana Purchase. It was a phenomenal deal for the fledgling United States of America, but a world-historic miscalculation for France. According to the National Archives, in 1803 the U.S. paid just $15 million — or about 4 cents per acre — and gained about 828,000 square miles of resource-rich territory that included most of the Great Plains, the Midwest, and chunks of the West. That $15 million is long gone from France's coffers, but the territory that helped create the U.S. still remains.