Years ago, my moving and storage company set up a highly successful continuous quality improvement program (QIP). It turns out that our ability to distinguish between the symptoms and the actual root cause of a problem was key to having an effective QIP. (Continue)
Management
How Anyone Can Identify Cause and Effect
Today you hear a lot about companies using “big data” to run their business more effectively and efficiently. After attending the school of hard knocks for a number of years, I discovered that having the right data is only half of the equation! (Continue)
Watson, The Secret to Quality is Elementary!
I have always been fascinated with Sherlock Holmes. When presented with a mystery, he seems to extract so much information with his strong sense of curiosity and observation. Then he pieces together the details into a convincing explanation – just in time to solve the case! One such mystery occurred in my own life. Not only did I solve the “case”, I learned a principle that can help you build (Continue)
3 Simple Principles To Help You DO Quality- Not Just TALK It
A couple of months after our first Operation QIC® (pronounced “quick” for Quality Is Contagious) company-wide workshop, I had an interesting conversation. I was on the same flight, from Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) to Chicago, as a friend, who was a plant manager of about 1,000 employees in the aerospace industry. (Continue)
8 Simple Questions That Will Dramatically Grow Your Business!
In 1999, a friend told me about a seminar that he had attended. Each seminar participant received a cap with the word ON on the front of the cap and the word IN on the back of the cap. (Continue)
If You’re Tired of Fighting Alligators, Drain the Swamp! (How to Work ON the Business, Not Just IN the Business)
My father’s unexpected death in 1973 occurred when I was 20-years-old and a recent university graduate. Consequently, I unexpectedly inherited the leadership position of the small family business of five employees along with a shocking revelation! (Continue)
What’s More Important – Managing or Leading?
I have written several blog posts about the differences between leading people and managing things. This post is a summary of the series where we highlight our conclusion that BOTH leadership AND management are necessary to produce healthy and thriving organizations. (Continue)
Do You Focus on Efficiency or Effectiveness?
Boy, did I “open a can of worms”! At a recent family dinner, I posed a question for some fun discussion. I challenged everyone to come up with word pairs that are almost always said together, and they have the word “and” between the two words. (Continue)
Participative Management Yields Powerful Results
Have you ever noticed when you read or hear something, you may learn some interesting information or knowledge, but when you experience something, you gain understanding? (Continue)
What Type of Manager are You?
Throughout my entire life, I have always been asked to lead. You are probably thinking, “so what?” Here is the interesting part - I never sought out a leadership role in anything. And I think I understand why. (Continue)
