goblog: January 2011

Thursday, January 13, 2011

The strength of any weakness

The strength of any weakness within us is the degree to which it is feared.

~ Guy Finley

Sunday, January 09, 2011

How The Best-Performing Businesses Differ From The Rest

How The Best-Performing Businesses Differ From The Rest

Findlay, Ohio (PRESS RELEASE – June 21, 2010) — A survey conducted by Six Disciplines, a leader in strategy execution coaching, reveals what top-performing organizations do differently, and provides insights for business leaders who want to know where they should focus their efforts going forward.

The original survey, conducted several years ago with over 300 C-level executives from small and mid-sized businesses, has now been re-published by Six Disciplines, in an effort to share the insightful results, and to validate the original research findings.

In conducting the original research, focus groups consistently aggregated their feedback around the following general best-practice themes:

* The ability to attract/retain quality people
* The strength of the senior leadership team
* The strategic use of technology
* A disciplined approach to business
* A quality-oriented culture
* Effective use of trusted relationships
* A culture of teamwork and commitment

“In times like these, business leaders need to understand what differentiates the best from the rest, so they can focus on what best-practices to adhere to, and which ones to avoid,” says Gary Harpst, CEO and founder of Six Disciplines. “Armed with this information, leaders can confidently focus on a small number of best-practices, and build them into their strategic planning process,” added Harpst.

What The Top Performers Do Right

Based on the research, the top performers are very good at the following set of 10 best-practices. The numbers behind each best-practice are the

What The Top Performers Do Right

Rank Best Practices of Top-Performers Average scores of top quartile of CEOs surveyed (1-to-5 scale 5 =highest)

1. Expect/Demand Quality 4.78
2.. Technology Is Seen As An Investment Not Expense 4.62
3. Leaders Are Involved In Strategic Change 4.57
4. A Teamwork Approach To Challenges 4.51
5. Employees Are Engaged and Fulfilled 4.44
6. People Help One Another Succeed 4.40
7. Leaders Set Clear Vision 4.39
8. Technology Is A Competitive Advantage 4.32
9. Technology and Training Are Up-To-Date 4.32
10. Seek/Listen To Advice 4.29

Where The Lowest Performers Go Wrong

The following is a list of the top 10 “best-practices” that the lowest performers adhere to – the least. (One might refer to these as being “worst-practices”.) The numbers behind each “worst-practice” are the average scores for the bottom quartile on a scale of 1-to-5, with 5 being the highest score.

Where The Lowest Performers Go Wrong

Rank Worst-Practices of Bottom-Performers Average scores of top quartile of CEOs surveyed (1-to-5 scale 1 =lowest)

1. There Are Written Project Plans 1.92
2. Planning Is Seen As Critical 2.20
3. Leaders Set Clear Vision 2.21
4. They Prepare And Plan For Change 2.25
5. Ability To Attract/Retain Quality People 2.30
6. Technology Is A Competitive Advantage 2.37
7. Technology And Training Is Up-To-Date 2.49
8. A Teamwork Approach To Challenges 2.79
9. Leaders Are Involved In Strategic Change 2.82
10. Technology Is Seen As An Investment Not Expense 2.95

Best-Practice Adherence Correlates Strongly With Financial Performance

Those businesses in the top quartile of best-practice adherence rated their financial strength (strong cash position and consistent profitability) as 47% stronger compared to the bottom quadrant. In addition, top-performer’s growth rates over the past three years were reported to be 61% higher (12.1% versus 7.5%). In addition, the strongest financial performance difference was that top-performing business leader expressed their growth expectations over the next three years to be 83% higher than bottom-performing businesses.

Where You Should Put Your Focus

So where should you focus to change your business for the better? Should you start trying to be like the best, or should you start doing what the worst are not doing?

The list below sorts the top 10 best-practices based on the difference in the rankings between the top performers and the bottom performers. Think of this as an approximate ranking of what contributes the most to explaining the difference in performance between top-performing and bottom-performing businesses.

Where You Should Put Your Focus

Rank The Difference in Best-Practices Between Top-Performing And Bottom-Performing Organizations How The Best Differ From The Rest

1. Leaders Set Clear Vision 99%
2. They Have Written Project Plans 92%
3 Planning Is Seen As Critical 86%
4 Technology Is A Competitive Advantage 82%
5. They Prepare And Plan For Change 81%
6. Ability To Attract/Retain Quality People 78%
7. Technology And Training Is Up-To-Date 73%
8. Leaders Involved In Strategic Change 62%
9. Teamwork Approach To Challenges 62%
10. Technology Seen As An Investment Not Expense 57%

Take the “How The Best Differ From The Rest” survey(http://www.sixdisciplines.com/surveys/best_rest_v3) yourself and receive a personalized summary of your responses benchmarked against the results from over 300 CEO respondents.

For a limited time, you can download the 11-page “How The Best Differ From The Rest” research whitepaper (http://www.sixdisciplines.com/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=59800), which includes a review of the 14 best-practices evaluated, where the lowest performers go wrong, what the top-performers do right, and where to put your focus.

The research findings are also presented with additional statistical validation in Chapter One, “How The Best Differ From The Rest”, from the award-winning business improvement handbook, Six Disciplines for Excellence, which is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and from the Six Disciplines store.

About Six Disciplines

Six Disciplines, a leader in strategy execution coaching, helps transform stalled organizations into high-performing organizations. Six Disciplines combines a proven business-building methodology, business coaching, innovative software, and an online community for accelerated learning. The Six Disciplines program is delivered by a growing network of licensed business coaches.

Six Disciplines regularly conducts research on topics related to strategy, planning, execution, process management, change management, business coaching, leadership development, measurement, team building, and innovation. To learn more, visit www.SixDisciplines.com.

Results of the survey results in this release may be used in print or broadcast media, provided credit is given to Six Disciplines.Company: Six Disciplines
Company URL: http://www.sixdisciplines.com/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=59800

http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/06/how-the-best-performing-businesses-differ-from-the-rest.html

http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/06/how-the-best-performing-businesses-differ-from-the-rest.html

Strategic Speed Shows How to Execute Business Strategy Fast and Well

Strategic Speed Shows How to Execute Business Strategy Fast and Well

January 8, 2011 By Pierre DeBois

A wonderful quality of superheroes is that they act fast. Superman can fly faster than a speeding bullet. The Flash can run fast. And while Batman relies on stealth and detective insights, he does act fast on each ability when the moment calls for it.

Now, in real business life, acting fast is more than a coveted quality. It is essential for extracting value from an activity to deliver a service or product to a customer. But why do some businesses that act fast still not succeed? The answer lies in the researched results of Strategic Speed: Mobilize People, Accelerate Execution by Jocelyn Davis, Henry Frechette, Jr., and Edwin H. Boswell.

All three are chief officers of The Forum, an innovation consultancy. Jocelyn R. Davis is Executive Vice President, Research and Development. Edwin H. Boswell is President and CEO, specializing in consulting with senior leadership teams on executing strategic change. Henry M. Frechette, Jr., is Vice President, Research.

Strategic Speed offers the right guide for small teams that need to learn how to measure value through the speed in which value is delivered.

Highlights: How you conduct tacit actions with people affects speed

The key, asserts the authors, is people, not processes. Businesses approach speed as “doing many activities quickly,” but, the authors state, “leaders can actually increase speed of execution by adopting some practices that don’t appear to focus on speed.” The authors have researched why speed alone is not effective, and offer a number of cases to support their point, such as the following contrast of interaction types within a job framework:

“Jobs that require ‘tacit’ interactions (a high level of judgment and applied knowledge) as opposed to ‘transactional’ interactions, now make up 25 to 50 percent of jobs in developed nations…In medicine, for example, speed depends largely on the ability of physicians, nurses and administrators to build trusting relationships with patients and colleagues to access better information, to learn from every case, and a host of intangibles.”

Further highlights include:
The people factors that drive speed are clarity (shared understanding of your situation and direction), unity (agreement on working together in the shared direction), and agility (willingness to adapt quickly).
Successful leaders practice four qualities: They affirm strategies, drive initiatives, manage the working environment, and cultivate team experience to drive results. A table summarizes how these qualities impact the people factors.

The last few chapters delve into the aforementioned leadership qualities.

What I Liked

At 204 pages, Strategic Speed is the right length for mobile business leaders seeking to reframe how to keep up with global competition and urgency. While the book’s context is geared more for large enterprises, smaller business teams will easily see how to mobilize their team players. The test guide is straightforward, with a handy chart that summarizes what to do if a specific quality in one’s own leadership style needs improvement.

The ideas are actionable, which small business owners will appreciate. Check out the topic of conscious practice as a means to develop experience:

“Capturing and harnessing experience is difficult. It requires continuous objective analysis of one’s behaviors, thinking and emotions in relation to the results obtained. We call this conscious practice for a reason; individuals must bring experience to the forefront of their minds during daily activities….It is not about finding the time to ‘go away and practice.’ It’s about intentionally integrating practice into everyday work.”

The quick assessments at the end of several chapters provide a way to diagnose how well your business executes on strategic speed. Each assessment is on a five-point scale, with an interpretation at the end for convenience. Strategic Speed will most benefit business owners who understand their business model – how your business delivers its service and product. The examples may not be a fit for all businesses, but if you have half an imagination, you’ll figure how to take the author’s points to heart.

The authors have achieved a solid guide for implementing strategy. It’s a complement to execution-themed books such as Rework and Smarter, Faster, Cheaper , but takes the further step of elaborating on key execution drivers. Its size makes the insights accessible, but it contains the right research to teach readers what truly matters in getting things done. If there is one thing you should do fast, it’s to get a hold of your own copy of Strategic Speed, and become a hero for your own organization.

You can follow more on the topic as well as the authors via The Form Twitter stream.
About the Author
Pierre DeBois is the founder of Zimana, a consultancy providing strategic analysis to small and medium sized businesses that rely on web analytics data. A Gary, Indiana native, Pierre is currently based in Brooklyn. He blogs about marketing, finance, social media, and analytics at Zimana blog.

http://smallbiztrends.com/2011/01/strategic-speed-execute-business-strategy-fast-well.html

Tom Peters Speaks Out about Toyota Recalls

Podcast episode 057: Tom Peters Speaks Out about Toyota Recalls
March 28, 2010
By Ron Holohan, MBA PMP

I was recently joined by best selling author and Management guru Tom Peters to discuss his perspective on the Toyota recalls. Tom and I also talked about where other major companies such as Dell, Starbucks, Nike, Apple, Google, GM, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, and Honda fall on that elusive spectra known as “Excellence”.

If somehow you have not heard of Tom Peters, then I suggest that you crawl out from under the rock from whenst you came and quickly pick up some books from Tom Peters, Peter Drucker, and W. Edwards Deming to better understand modern management and how to become an effective and excellent business leader.

Simply put, Tom Peters is the last of the still living and truly great 20th Century management thought leaders and, incidentally, is more relevant in today’s business environment than ever before.
Ron Holohan, Show Host: Thank you, Tom, for being on pm411, today. As one of the world’s top management gurus and authors, I’m very interested in getting your perspective on the recent Toyota recalls. And, let me start by simply asking, what is your perspective and do you think that Toyota handled the crisis well or not?

Tom Peters, Author/Management Expert: My perspective, which I suspect was true of the large majority of people, at least the large majority who are not intimately involved with the automobile industry, was… “shock.” You may be so kind as to call me “leading management guru” or something like that, but I swallowed the entire bucket of Kool-Aid on the “Toyota does everything better than the rest of us” kind of routine. So, I was just shocked, flabbergasted - choose your word.

On the other hand, and let me make it entirely clear to your audience that I am in no way shape or form an expert, I’ve got some strong views based on my management perspectives, but I have zero insider knowledge.

On the other hand, what it suggests to me, and I don’t mean this in a bad way at all, is that the Japanese are just like the rest of us.

Undoubtedly, people remember “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap1 from years ago, and I am certainly not comparing Toyota to that. But the reality is, and particularly during a recession like this, that cost cutting is a necessity (A) and (B) it can go too far.

Dell had some problems that sort of started showing up a few years ago, or 3 or 4 years ago, and a lot of that was because they had lived for cost cutting and cost cutting alone and lost the customer service edge and lost some of the innovative edge and so on.2 And so, the fact that it is necessary, which of course it is, does not mean that quality has to be sacrificed.

Yesterday, as we speak, Howard Schultz sat at his annual meeting at Starbucks.3 And you know, Starbucks hit a wall, and it hit a wall primarily because they went for growth, growth, growth. Instead of being brilliant at shop location, they sort of started just grabbing a map of a city, putting a blindfold on, and hitting it with a pin and putting a Starbucks in. And in the process they lost an awful lot of ground.

So, alas, whether it is the United States, or apparently Japan, companies get conned by growth for growth-sake and cost-cutting for cost-cutting sake, and you want to do a little of both, but, boy can they go too far!

RH: Well, obviously there have been plenty of other recalls in recent months from both American and foreign car manufacturers. Just since the beginning of 2010, 400,000 vehicles with brake issues4 and another 370,000 vehicles for airbag issues5 were recalled by Honda. And Consumer Reports had published a report back in December finding that every car manufacturer including Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, GM, Honda, and Nissan had 15,000 unintended acceleration complaints over the past [10 years].6 And if you go back and look at NHTSA [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] data, as Edmunds.com did, you would find that, Toyota is actually ranked number 17th out of 20 in complaints for their cars behind car manufactures like [the Detroit big three], [Land Rover], [Jaguar], Honda, Subaru, Hyundai, Nissan, Isuzu, Suzuki, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Volvo, Volkswagen, and BMW.7

So, Based on these statistics… and I know we have all have looked to Toyota as the masters of quality and production… but do you think that the media has kind of overhyped this and looked a little closer at Toyota than some of these other manufacturers?

TP: Again, I’m nervous about my analogies like “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap, but there’s a little “Tiger Woods” in this (laughing). And I think speaking as the “man on the street,” which I am in this regard, we had come to believe that when you look, the Honda’s in particular and the other Japanese cars, maybe a little bit more than our own, despite our advances, were the “gods of quality” and Toyota in particular.

And so, I think the media has jumped on it, but I think it’s unsurprising. You know, Tiger Woods probably hasn’t misbehaved, sorry to say, all that much more than a lot of his peers, but he made a couple of a billion bucks by telling us that he was “Mr. Clean,” and as a result, we have slapped him around pretty badly, which I believe he deserves, incidentally.

Remember, when Nike got clobbered, must have been 10 years ago now, for something that everybody did, and that is they had some worker problems, bad health issues, and so on, in some of their Southeast Asian factories.8 And, they were part of a very large crowd, but Nike had sold their brand on the notion of clean and sweet and lovely and fantastic.

To state the obvious, we live in an age of branding. And to state the obvious a second time, you live by the sword, you die by the sword. If you build your brand up to a degree that is absolutely unreasonable to imagine, then you can expect to get really, really wacked.

One thing, incidentally, that is not part of this interview, (laughing) but it is, as you probably know, you are talking to an old guy… I’m 67 now… and I’ve got to tell you, as a kid that bought his first car at the age of 16, which means a half-century ago, the crappiest car that we are making today, whatever it happens to be, is so many millions of times better. And so, I’m totally in favor of beating up Toyota and anybody else, but oh my god have we made advances!

RH: One of the things that struck me as interesting is how president and CEO Akio Toyoda handled the situation initially and he’s been criticized by many in the American media for not apologizing earlier for the recalls.9 Tom, you are familiar with the Japanese culture. Do you see this as a result of just a difference in the American versus Japanese culture or the Western versus the Japanese culture, or do you see this as really a misstep on Toyoda’s part and he should have apologized earlier?

TP: Well, I’m going to once again try to reduce expectations… I have spent a fair amount of time studying Japanese management and visited Japan on numerous times, but there are a ton of people who are more expert than I am. Again, I would have to use the word “stunned,” because it is my impression that the Japanese are a hundred times better at apologizing than we are.

There was some company, some big company years ago, who did something awful and I remember that the CEO literally went to the home of the person that had been offended and, in a fashion that we don’t do in the United States, kind of laid down on the ground on the guy’s driveway. So, I think of the Japanese thing about losing face, and you still see the occasional suicide, for heaven’s sake, by a Japanese executive who has misbehaved, and therefore I’m really surprised, was very surprised, that they made missteps.

On the other hand, just like ourselves, everybody tends to screw up in other people’s cultures. You know, the Japanese may have a Japanese instinct for being more accountable and apologetic, but they didn’t handle it right with us. Who knows why? The Japanese know we are a very litigious society and just like our doctors don’t apologize for mistakes, maybe the legal department told the bosses of Toyota, “for god sakes, clam up, don’t admit anything.” But, again, I must admit that I was really surprised on that dimension because they have a pretty amazing track record of over doing it, in the best sense of the word, on the other side.

RH: Back in 1982 you co-wrote with Bob Waterman the bestseller, In Search of Excellence, which has been called “the greatest business book of all time.” And in the book you profile 43 companies that had 8 basic attributes that made them all excellent at that particular time in history. Tom, Do you feel that the Toyota of today is still representative of those 8 basic characteristics or are there particular characteristics that they have lost touch with?

TP: Well, I think that they may end up being lucky that they still have, which is a little true with Billy Ford,10 but they still have a strong family leadership culture. And that would lead me to predict that they may make a reasonably rapid comeback from this in a way that a publicly-traded American or British company wouldn’t.

One thing I haven’t said, and I think is terribly important… It’s incredibly hard for giant companies getting more and more giant to maintain those basic virtues. We see it particularly after the giant mergers. And so “big” is a millstone around your neck, period, all stop, new communications, tools, and so on and so forth. So, there is that issue, which is damned hard to overcome. But I would say that they clearly got caught up in the “growth thing,” that you think of us getting caught up in far more than them.

They clearly got caught up in the “cost-cutting-at-all-cost thing” to a degree, that as you read the details, is pretty horrifying. So, no, I think they let their basic values slip. I don’t think that if I were evaluating them by the criteria of twenty-odd years ago, that I would give them very high marks at the moment.

But on the other hand, they’ve got (A) an awful lot of bedrock that is pretty good and (B) as we have seen, with companies like IBM in the US who went from being gods to tripping all over their feet, also make significant comebacks.

And, the other thing is, obviously, the industry is a little bit faster moving than we imagined, and holy smoke, you look at what Hyundai has done in the last few years, that is a “Holy Smoke!” with an exclamation mark. So, you know, new people move to the fore, not just in biotech and Silicon Valley.

RH: Well, maybe to follow up on that question, when you look at companies like Google or Apple – obviously they are not going to have the safety concerns and the media jumping on them for that – although Google is facing their own battles right now with China – but do you see them handling their growth differently than the way Toyota handled theirs?

TP: Well, just like Honda, when Mr. Honda was alive, I think that Apple is some kind of a wierd special case, because I think that Steve Jobs is so wierd. I’ve said in many of my speeches, you can’t learn a whole lot from Steve Jobs because, you know, in 6 billion people we have one Nelson Mandela, and had one Mother Theresa, and we’ve got one Steve Jobs (laughing). So, he has a winning streak that makes the University of Connecticut women [basketball team] look small by comparison.

Google, on the other hand, and I certainly admire what they’ve done, if their growth continues at pace, I think they will go the same way as Microsoft, which of course continues to be a very big player, but surely isn’t “setting the table” the way they did for years and years. My family was one of those “Chevrolet families,” and whatever Chevrolet did the rest of the world followed in pretty short order, 30 or 40 years ago. So, I think you can really lose the edge.

The thing that, incidentally, makes me nervous about Apple is that now that they are playing in this “I am going to win by making you lose” space, I have a sneaking suspicion that their legal department is probably growing faster than their R&D department. That too could come back and bite them, because it could end up putting them in that Toyota space of growth for growth sake.

I mean, remember that all of these wonderful things until the iPod or the iPhone came along that Apple did, they did with about a 4% market share. Now, with the new sales, apparently, they are way, way up 15% or 20%, so they are living in a very different world. I mean, the one example, there weren’t many viruses in Macs, because who gave a damn? And, you know, Microsoft has been attacked by viruses jillions a day, basically. And suddenly, the virus implanters are going after Apple with a vengeance. So, there is a bit of a “let’s wait and see” before we anoint them the “gods of all time.”

RH: Looking at Toyota, back in 2001, Toyota adopted the highly regarded “expression of values,” known as the “14 Principles of the Toyota Way.”11 And this was developed to help Toyota transition to truly global development and production, which it sounds like it has kind of caught them up. And, these principles include:
Principle 1: “Base your management decisions on long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals.”
Principle 5: “Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.”
Principle 9: “Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others.”
Principle 12: “Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation.”

Obviously, it appears that Toyota’s overlooked several of these principles. How do you “stick to the knitting,” as you refer to it In Search of Excellence?

TP: I hate to fall back on old favorites, you know, as we watch companies trip and stumble, among the giant companies, I would give very high marks to Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson has a famous credo and the Johnson & Johnson people say that it guides them in their daily decison making.12 And of course the famous example, which is now twenty-odd years old, is the Tylenol crisis where they were continually ahead of the curve in acknowledging problems and so on.13 But, I think the Credo at J&J is alive and well, and indeed they have made many acquisitions over the years, so it is not a matter of standing still. I don’t know if I would give anybody that big an A+, but I sure would give them an A or an A- or something like that.

So, I think there are at least some examples where you can be a pretty enormous institution and hang in there.

And I think in the automobile industry, and they aren’t the same in terms of size, in terms of long lasters, I would give pretty darn high marks to BMW. And we all know, which I think again it kind of hangs right in there with the Toyota business in terms of shocking us, the degree to which Mercedes quality went down during a 10 or 12 year period is another one of those “Holy Smokes!” types of moments.

The irony of the Toyota thing is they instill those wonderful values at exactly the same moment on the same pretext of global growth that they go hell-bent for growth and look as silly as some of the American companies who have gone for growth at all costs. It’s a real contradiction in terms, and again, speaking as a non-expert, it certainly sounds like that they had a guy at the helm who was closer to “Chainsaw” Al than he was to the great the members of the Toyota or the Honda family.

RH: In your book, Thriving on Chaos, you state that “The winners of tomorrow will deal proactively with Chaos, will look at chaos per se as the source of market advantage, not as a problem to be got around. Chaos and uncertainty are market opportunities.” Can Toyota somehow turn this into a positive opportunity?

TP: Well, we’ll see. The new Ford and the new GM seem to be making some non-trivial comebacks. Honda, continues, problems notwithstanding, to hang in year after year. Hyundai is coming to the fore. So, Toyota is going to have a long road back.

I think the one thing that they can’t come back from, is the business of standing alone at the head of the pack. I think if they do everything right, they will be a full scale member of the best of the bunch team. But, they kind of stood away from the crowd, the way an IBM did in, say, in the 1960′s and the early 1970′s and the way that GM did from the immediate post-World War II period, from say 1951 or ’52 when their production was domestic again, until probably 1970. I think that kind of leadership – league of their own – I think that’s gone. I think that if they did everything right, they are not going to get that kind of a mystique back.

RH: Tom, I’m currently reading your latest book, The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue EXCELLENCE, and that is “EXCELLENCE” all in capital letters. And, in the section on Excellence, you quote James B. Stewart in the Wall Street Journal as describing the demise of General Motors as “this slow death of what was once the greatest and biggest corporation in the world. The myriad causes of its demise have been thoroughly chronicled, but to my mind one stands out: The custodians of GM simply gave up trying to build the best cars in the world. To accommodate a host of competing interests, from shareholders to bondholders to labor, they repeatedly compromised on excellence. Once sacrificed, that reputation has proved impossible to recapture.”

I guess my question to you, Tom, is do you see this as a possible slow death, or as you mentioned, it is going to keep them from leading the pack, it is going to bring them back more into one of the front runners rather than the leader?

TP: Well, I think that it is partially again that family influence. I would be surprised if they followed the slow death route. I know the CEO said at one point recently that we are in the process of dying. I think the recent moves by the family, I think the strength of the family… I still stick with what I said before, I don’t think they can go back to the position of being alone at the head of the parade. But, the notion of a slow death and the notion of turning their back on excellence…

See, I don’t think, which is kind of unfortunate, I don’t think Toyota has gotten slapped in the face the way GM did. I think they still have got a chance, I think that GM just watched something erode over a long period of time, and I think that Stewart was right in his analysis. So, I would have to say that I am a lot more optimistic about Toyota returning to excellence, with the caveat that it won’t be excellence that’s head and shoulders ahead of the pack.

RH: So, Tom, what lessons learned should managers and project managers, like myself, take away from this crisis?

TP: Well, Let’s start with the other 99% of us who are not CEOs of Toyota and GM and with your definition of the project manager (laughing). You were kind enough to refer to my new book, and one of the things I wrote in the new book was a list of 46 ideas for surviving and thriving in the Great Recession.

One of the ones, and you referred to it again in a slightly different fashion, was that this is the best time and not the worst time to focus on excellence. For many reasons, and of course, again, I would look at it from the perspective of a 67 year old who is clearly in the last half of his life, regardless of what the biotech people do, and you are a lot more aware you are going to have to look in the mirror and be accountable, whether you’re religious or not a religious person.

And so, I think excellence is a way of life that you can share with your children, and share with your spouse, and so on and so forth. I think you’re really a fool and not so good a person if you don’t realize that.

And, I think that excellence over the mid to long-term does pay. None of us believed that quality was free back in 1977. And we learned that it wasn’t free, which is to say, it could save us a hell of a lot of money (laughing). And, I think that excellence is free. Which like quality, doesn’t mean you don’t have to work 27 hours a day, 8 days a week.

I know that we are probably on the good side of the Great Recession now, but to look at these last couple of years, this is professionally the number one test of character for every manager. I mean all of us can be incredibly smart when a market goes up 10 years in a row. And the question is, how do you behave toward each other, how do you behave toward your employees, how do you behave toward your communities and your competitors when the times are tough.

I went on and on in the book that this is the time to be decent to your competitors. I hate the kind of language that says “this is the time to really go in and nail and fight for competitor’s customers away!” I mean, give me a break (laughing)! Because, you and I are as good… you and I as individuals, and our friends who are project managers of 10 person project teams – we’re as good as our reputation. And I remember you being a decent guy and bad at times for the next 20 years! And a little hand up, and a little decency, and a little thoughtfulness, I think is the best way to get your competitors customers, incidentally, over the long haul.

RH: Absolutely! Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And to me, it’s all about looking at the long term rather than the short term. Even the fourteen principles that Toyota laid out, that was part of their credo. And, I think that is something that all of us in this Great Recession need to keep our eye on as well.

TP: Yeah, I totally agree. All I would say to that is “absolutely, Amen!”

RH: Yes… Well, Tom it has been great hearing your perspective on this and congratulations on your new book, The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue EXCELLENCE. And, like I said I’m reading it, and I highly encourage everyone to pick it up and thank you again for your time, Tom.

TP: Well, thank you for your kind words about the new book and the old book, In Search of Excellence, and thanks for some great questions. I will say something that I don’t say anywhere near 100% of the time, and that is… “This was fun!”
So, I can tell you that you will definitely want to go out and buy a bunch of Tom’s books. I have read many of his books and I would highly recommend them all. You will want to also go right now and check out Tom’s blog page. You can find it on the World Wide Interwebs at tompeters.com. And if you so care to know what Tom is doing every moment of his day, you can follow Tom on Twitter at tom_peters. And while you are there, why not also follow us on twitter at pm411. And finally if you enjoyed this podcast, tell your friends and you can download all the episodes by simply searching for pm411 in iTunes and clicking the subscribe button. You’ll be glad you did.
Albert John Dunlap (born July 26, 1937) is a retired corporate executive. He was best known as a turnaround specialist and downsizer. The ruthless methods he employed to streamline ailing companies, most notably Scott Paper, won him the nicknames “Chainsaw Al” and “Rambo in Pinstripes”. However, his reputation was ruined after he engineered a massive accounting scandal at Sunbeam-Oster. [↩]
According to an article in BusinessWeek in 2005 entitled “Hanging Up on Dell?” “Complaints to the Better Business Bureau [concerning Dell] rose 23% in 2004 from the year before, and they’re up another 5% this year [2005]. And Dell’s customer-satisfaction rating fell 6.3%, to a score of 74.” [↩]
Starbucks Outlines Strategy for Accelerating Profitable Global Growth MarketWatch, March 24th, 2010 [↩]
Honda to recall 410,000 vehicles for brake problem. Yahoo News! March 16th, 2010 [↩]
News Wrap: Airbag Issues Prompt Honda Recall. PBS Newshour. February 10, 2010. [↩]
Analysis shows over 40 percent of sudden-acceleration complaints involve Toyotas.

ConsumerReports.org. December 7th, 2009 [↩]
Toyota Recalls Put into Context by Edmunds.com. Edmunds.com. February 10, 2010. [↩]
Taking A Look Inside Nike’s Factories. Time.com. March 30, 1998. [↩]
Toyota President Avoids Media Amid Burgeoning Vehicle Recall. BusinessWeek. February 3rd, 2010. [↩]
William Clay “Bill” Ford Jr. (born May 3, 1957 in Detroit, Michigan), is the great-grandson of Henry Ford, and serves as the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ford Motor Company. [↩]
The 14 Principles of the Toyota Way: An Executive Summary of the Culture Behind TPS. University of Michigan School of Information. Download. October 23rd, 2003. [↩]
Our Credo Values – Johnson & Johnson. [↩]
Tylenol made a hero of Johnson & Johnson : The recall that started them all. The New York Times. March 23rd, 2002. [↩]

Tags: al dunlap, apple, authors, auto manufacturers, chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, GM, google, Honda, ibm, in search of excellence, johnson&johnson, nike, Nissan, quality, recall, safety, starbucks, the little big things, thriving on chaos, tiger woods, tom peters, toyota

http://pm411.org/2010/03/28/podcast-episode-057-tom-peters-speaks-out-about-toyota-recalls/

163 Ways To Be More Awesome At Your Business

163 Ways To Be More Awesome At Your Business

By Tom Peters

1)Make an insane public effort
Making a huge public effort to do something that seems relatively small is a great substantive and psychological tactic. It can break logjams and solve problems instantly.

Peters presents the example of traveling a long way for a 5-minute in-person meeting.

"When an issue is of utmost important and at a standstill...[you should] proactively look for an opportunity to 'make a statement' through a gesture that unmistakably indicates great pain and engagement and urgency on your part," writes Peters.

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-to-be-awesome-in-business-2010-3#make-an-insane-public-effort-1

2) There's nothing better than an angry customer
An angry customer is a chance for you to go above and beyond to solve their problem and turn them into loyal fans.

"Are you on the active prowl for customers to fix?" asks Peters. "Make 'over'reacting to problems a keystone in the corporate culture... 'We respond to customer concerns with passion and rapidity and resources in ways that stun-amaze-overwhelm those customers 100 percent of the time.'"

You can't prevent all problems. Look at the ones that arise as an opportunity to earn loyalty... and publicity.

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-to-be-awesome-in-business-2010-3#theres-nothing-better-than-an-angry-customer-2

3) Work on your presentation skills -- they could change your life

Barack Obama was launched down the path towards becoming America's first African-American president after one 17-minute speech at the 2004 DNC.

"Seventeen minutes! My God: Seventeen minutes! Seventeen good minutes -- and you, too, can move... into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!" Peters exclaims.

From Barack Obama to Steve Jobs, we've all seen how a presentation can change things.

Peters argues that less-than sparkling presentation skills hold back many talented people. Don't be one of them -- launch an all-out effort to master the art of presenting.

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-to-be-awesome-in-business-2010-3#work-on-your-presentation-skills-they-could-change-your-life-3

4)Commit "Acts of Deliberate Relationships Enhancement"

How many times a day do you ask someone this question?

That number might be a reflection of whether or not you're a good leader.

This phrase "screams: You are an invaluable person. I respect you. I respect your knowledge. I respect your judgment. I need your help," and "This is a... team effort. We rise or fall together."

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-to-be-awesome-in-business-2010-3#commit-acts-of-deliberate-relationships-enhancement-4

5)Ask, "What do you think?"

How many times a day do you ask someone this question?

That number might be a reflection of whether or not you're a good leader.

This phrase "screams: You are an invaluable person. I respect you. I respect your knowledge. I respect your judgment. I need your help," and "This is a... team effort. We rise or fall together."

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-to-be-awesome-in-business-2010-3#ask-what-do-you-think-5

6)One tiny change: the shortest distance between "critic" and "champion"

Imagine you have a software project, which you present to someone in marketing (Peters calls him "Erik".) Erik likes it, but he has a few concerns. You go home, make an adjustment in one line of code to deal with one of his issues, and voila!

"In 4.2 out of 5 cases, Erik flips from thorn in your side to fellow champion!"

Even though you didn't address his other nine concerns, the one alteration you did make gives Erik ownership. All this takes is giving people the chance to engage at the beginning stage, then implementing a small change to reflect that you value their input.

"'Go consultative' with [your] users," advises Peters, and "convert foe to friend."

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-to-be-awesome-in-business-2010-3#one-tiny-change-the-shortest-distance-between-critic-and-champion-6

7)Make big change -- in a short time

There are countless stories of leaders who have made big changes overnight. Don't be intimidated by the scope of your endeavor: Peters argues that big changes are much easier to make than small changes.

Plus: "Change will take precisely as long as you think it will," he writes.

Set yourself lofty goals. If you give yourself a short deadline when faced with a big problem, you're likely to find that you've accomplished most or all of the challenge in when the buzzer rings.

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-to-be-awesome-in-business-2010-3#make-big-change-in-a-short-time-7

8)Master the art of "milestoning"

Breaking down huge tasks into manageable goals is a powerful tool that can be used in everything you do.

From running a marathon (celebrating the halfway point, the three-quarter mark, and finally the finish) to finishing a project, being able to check off points as you complete them works on a psychological level to keep you going, keep you positive, and keep you focused.

The "art of milestoning" makes any job easier and the process of getting there more rewarding.

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-to-be-awesome-in-business-2010-3#master-the-art-of-milestoning-8

9)Is your product "lickable"?

Is the design of your product so awe-inspiring, so magnetic, so gorgeous, that it makes people want to lick it?

It should be.

Peters argues that great design is an underrated yet crucial element of getting people to love your product.

And building a product that's "lickable" can make people want it -- badly -- whether they need it or not.

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-to-be-awesome-in-business-2010-3#is-your-product-lickable-9

10)Forget "longevity" -- think "dramatic frenzy"

Martin Luther King, Jr. "changed the world -- and died at 39," writes Peters.

The point? Don't strive for longevity. Don't try to build something that will keep going after you're gone.

Focus on doing everything in your power to make a huge impact -- right now.

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-to-be-awesome-in-business-2010-3#forget-longevity-think-dramatic-frenzy-10

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
11)Don't miss...

15 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read >

We asked a few small business leaders and VCs for their recommendations of books that every entrepreneur should read.

The suggestions ranged from straightforward business books with common-sense startup advice to works of fiction of a more philosophical nature, but they all offer lessons on life and business that are important for everyone even thinking about starting a startup.
Click here to see the reading list >

1)"The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand
Charlie O'Donnell: "I don't know any book that sums up the entrepreneurial passion and spirit better than The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand: 'The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.'"

Charlie is an EIR at First Round Capital.

2)"Out of the Crisis" by W. Edwards Deming

Roger Ehrenberg: "Big or small, this book focuses the entrepreneur/manager on respecting employees, focusing on process, and insisting on the collection and analysis of data. The development of metrics to manage the business is critical for the start-up founder."

Roger is Managing Partner of IA Capital Partners, LLC.

3)"Extreme Programming Explained" by Kent Beck

Babak Nivi: "Revelatory. Develop your product like this book tells you to, unless you know better (e.g. you have experience building operating systems, space shuttles, Googles.) Buy the first edition."

Nivi is a founder of Venture Hacks.

4)"The Four Steps to the Epiphany" by Steven Gary Blank

Babak Nivi: "The closest thing to a manual for building a startup. Marc Andreessen calls it 'a roadmap for how to get to Product/Market Fit.'"

5)"The 4-Hour Workweek" by Timothy Ferriss

Paul Jozefak: "... great insights into saving time."

Paul is a Managing Partner at Neuhaus Partners.

6)"Getting Things Done" by David Allen

Paul Jozefak: "... best book on executing."

7)"Venture Capital Investing" by David & Laura Gladstone

Paul Jozefak: "... one of the best books on the basics of VC."

8)"Piloting Palm" by Andrea Butter & David Pogue

Dan Frommer: "Inside story of the good and bad times while Palm was growing into the dominant player in mobile computing. Must-read for anyone getting into the gadget or hardware businesses."

Dan is Deputy Editor of The Business Insider.

9)"Founders At Work" by Jessica Livingston

Dan Frommer: "Clear, interesting, informative interviews with top Internet entrepreneurs. A great way to learn how to do it right (or wrong) from people who have done it already."

10)"Structural Holes" by Ronald Burt

Nate Westheimer: "More a 'sociology of business' book, but I love this one!"

Nate is the EVP Product & Technology and Co-founder of AnyClip.

11)"Reality Check" by Guy Kawasaki

Penelope Trunk: "I love flipping through the chapters. Each one is like a blog post, so you learn something on every page. And each chapter reminds me to be a little bit better at something I'm doing already."

Penelope is CEO of Brazen Careerist.

12)"Peak" by Chip Conley

Fred Destin: "Maslow's hierarchy of needs adapted to the business world. Not that well written (sorry Chip) but sound advice on achieving 'sustainable outperformance' and leveraging crises for the better."

Fred is a Partner in the technology group at Atlas Venture.

13)"The Happiness Hypothesis" by Jonathan Haidt

Fred Destin: "Not a business book, but if you assume self-awareness and knowing what you are really good at are key to success in business (and life in general), this is the best attempt I have read at deriving 'meaning' from the joyous mess of life."

14)"The Prince" by Machiavelli

Fred Wilson: "...there is way more insight to be gained from stories than from business books."

Fred is the Managing Partner of Union Square Ventures.

15)"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig

Fred Wilson: "And these are some amazing stories."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

12 Powerful Motivational Tools That Guarantee Success By Peter Murphy

12 Powerful Motivational Tools That Guarantee Success
By Peter Murphy

No matter how many years you spend in a classroom or from
what social class or lifestyle, motivation is the common
factor among those who are high achievers.

Finding the tools to put meaning and purpose in your life,
developing a vision, and becoming highly motivated can lead
you towards a successful and exciting life.

Here are 12 motivational tools that can bring you success:

1. Recognizing obstacles and learning to remove them can
make your vision a reality. The individual who is
extremely motivated and successful has been motivated by a
vision.

2. The quest for freedom is the basis for motivation.
Total freedom is not necessarily desirable or possible, but
the pursuit of that ideal is what motivates us to succeed.

3. People who develop a vision control their own life and
destiny. With no vision, your life and destiny are
controlled by outside forces.

You must change your thinking habits in order to change
your life, and you change your habits by keeping the
desired results in sight.

4. Develop a major goal, but take a specified path to get
there. You'll have many smaller goals to reach before you
get to the final result.

By learning to accomplish these smaller goals, you'll be
motivated to take on the larger challenges.

5. Get into the habit of finishing what you start. An
unfinished project is of no value. Leaving things
unfinished is a habit that must be changed.

6. Find support through friends, acquaintances, and
co-workers. If you surround yourself with motivated,
visionary people you will naturally develop the attributes
that helped them get that way.

Mutual interests and like-minded associates can be
excellent motivational tools.

7. Another motivational tool is failure. Failure teaches us
to keep trying until we get it right. No one ever became
successful without prior failures.

Failure is a by-product of imagination and creativity. It
challenges you to take risks and teaches you to keep trying
until you get it right.

8. The fear of failure is a common factor among those who
procrastinate. If you want to succeed in reaching your
goals, you must be willing to take a risk and lose.

Many people trade joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment for a
job that is considered conventional and safe.

9. The unfulfilling job is not the failure; not pursuing
your dreams is the real failure. Developing a vision
requires conquering your fears and finding motivation from
within.

10. The power of your dreams is the primary factor in
becoming motivated. Productivity will be the result of
developing habits and attitudes that keep you on the right
track.

11. By changing bad habits and focusing on your specific
goals, motivation will come to you even when you wish you
could quit and times are tough.

12. By identifying the behaviors that you need to change,
developing a vision of what you would like to achieve, and
striving to attain that goal, you will become a naturally
motivated, highly efficient, productive person.

Do not let fear of failure stop you from having the freedom
to choose the lifestyle and destiny you desire.

True motivation is not only a learned skill; it is
developed due to a need or desire to make our dreams a
reality.

If you want to find inner motivation, you must identify
your goals and set out on an unwavering path to achieve
them.

Overcoming procrastination is perhaps one of the most
important steps you can take to improve your life and
become the motivated, successful person you are capable of
being.

You have to let go of your old personality and ways of
doing things to change, quit procrastinating and get
motivated!
Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report that reveals how to crush procrastination and sustain lasting motivation. Apply now because it is available for a limited time only at: http://www.getmotivatedstaymotivated.com/special.htm

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Murphy

http://ezinearticles.com/?12-Powerful-Motivational-Tools-That-Guarantee-Success&id=35382

Top 35 Goal Quotations By Vernon Myers

Top 35 Goal Quotations
By Vernon Myers

What are your goals? Use these quotes from famous people to think about and to refine your goals.

1. "A goal is a dream with a deadline." - Leo B. Helzel

2. "A problem is what you see when you take your eyes off of your goals." - Henry Ford

3. "When people say to me: "How do you do so many things?" I often answer them, without meaning to be cruel: "How do you do so little?" It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don't. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever." - Philip Adams

4. "Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals." - Aristotle

5. "Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner." - Les Brown

6. "This one step - choosing a goal and sticking to it - changes everything." - Scott Reed

7. "We are built to conquer environment, solve problems, achieve goals, and we find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve." - Maxwell Maltz

8. "A goal is created three times. First as a mental picture. Second, when written down to add clarity and dimension. And third, when you take action towards its achievement." - Gary Ryan Blair

9. "When a goal matters enough to a person, that person will find a way to accomplish what at first seemed impossible." - Nido Qubein

10. "When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal." - Napoleon Hill

11. "Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan." Tom Landry

12. "Success is the progressive realization of predetermined, worthwhile goals." - Paul J. Meyer

13. "The achievement of your goal is assured the moment you commit yourself to it." - Mack R. Douglas

14. "The most important key to achieving great success is to decide upon your goal and launch, get started, take action, move." - Brian Tracy

15. "If you shoot for the stars and hit the moon, it's ok. But you've got to shoot for something. A lot of people don't even shoot." - Confucius

16. "Knowing your destination is half the journey." - Unknown

17. "Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity." - Louis Pasteur

18. "Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal." - Elbert Hubbard

19. "There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others." - George Shinn

20. "What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." - Zig Ziglar

21. "When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing -- then we truly live life." - Greg Anderson

22. "When you are in the valley, keep your goal firmly in view and you will get the renewed energy to continue the climb." - Denis Waitley

23. "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." - Les Brown

24. "You control your future, your destiny. What you think about comes about. By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be." - Mark Victor Hansen

25. "Goals help you overcome short-term problems." - Hannah More

26. "First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do." - Epictetus

27. "A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. A goal is what specifically you intend to make happen. Dreams and goals should be just out of your present reach but not out of sight. Dreams and goals are coming attractions in your life." - Joseph Campbell

28. "Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive." - Robert Schuller

29. "One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it." - Sidney Howard

30. "Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible." - Doug Larson

31. "God gives us dreams a size too big so that we can grow in them." - Author Unknown

32. "The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do." - Sarah Ban Breathnach

33. "Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another." - John Dewey

34. "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time." - Author Unknown

35. "Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be." - Karen Ravn
Vernon Myers is the founder of Student of Ideas.com - A website dedicated to exploring ideas and creativity. Visit this site to receive the Idea Tips newsletter - a weekly email that helps you to become a better idea generator.

Need help clarifying your goals, dreams, or desires? Sign up for The Idea Journal Workshop E-Course…at no costs to you. Click Here> I Want My E-Course.

Copyright (c) 2007 all rights reserved.

You may copy, forward or distribute this article if this copyright notice and full information for contacting Vernon Myers are included. Contact him at: http://www.ideamerge.net or email: info@ideamerge.net

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vernon_Myers

http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-35-Goal-Quotations&id=418152

Based on your responses you are predominantly: Right - Brained.

Left brain or right brain?
RESULTS

Thank you, sam, for completing the Left Brain Right Brain assessment. Left Brain Right Brain
You scored: 22% 78%

Based on your responses you are predominantly: Right - Brained.

The notes below describe your typical preferences.
Right Hemisphere Style

Intuitive
Responds to demonstrated instructions
Problem solves with hunches, looking for patterns and configurations
Looks at similarities
Is fluid and spontaneous
Prefers elusive, uncertain information
Prefers drawing and manipulating objects
Prefers open ended questions
Free with feelings
Prefers informal authority structures

Simultaneous
Is a lumper: connectedness is important
Is analogical, sees correspondences, resemblances

Draws on unbounded qualitative patterns that are not organised into sequences, but that cluster around images

=======================================================================
Left brain or right brain?
Instructions

Please complete all of the questions. Try to answer as quickly as possible and choose the answer that instantly appeals to you.

1. When you walk into a theatre, classroom, or auditorium (and assuming that there are no other influential factors), which side do you prefer?
a) Right
b) Left

2. When taking a test, which style of questions do you prefer?
a) Objective (true/false, multiple choice, matching)
b) Subjective (discussion)

3. Do you often have hunches?
a) Yes
b) No

4. When you have hunches, do you follow them?
a) Yes
b) No
5.
Do you have a place for everything and keep everything in its place?

a) Yes
b) No

6. When you are learning a dance step, is it easier for you to?
a) Learn by imitating the teacher and getting the feel of the music
b) Learn the sequence of movements and talk your way through the steps

7. Do you like to move your furniture several times a year, or do you prefer to keep the same arrangement?
a) Keep
b) Move

8. Can you tell approximately how much time has passed without a watch?
a) Yes
b) No

9. Speaking in strictly relative terms, is it easier for you to understand?
a) Algebra
b) Geometry

10. Is it easier for you to remember people's names or people's faces?
a) Names
b) Faces

11. When given the topic "school," would you prefer to express your feelings through drawings or writing?
a) Drawing
b) Writing

12. When someone is talking to you, do you respond to the word meaning, or do you respond to the person's word pitch and feelings?
a) Word meaning (what is said)
b) Word pitch and feeling (how it is said)

13. When speaking, do you use few gestures, or do you use many gestures (that is, do you use your hands when you talk)?
a) Few gestures ( very seldom use hands when you talk)
b) Many gestures (often use hands when you talk)

14. Your desk or where you work is?
a) Neat and organised
b) Cluttered with stuff that you might need

15. Is it easier for you to read for main ideas or to read for specific details?
a) Main ideas
b) Specific details

16. Do you do your best thinking sitting erect or lying down?
a) Sitting erect
b) Lying down

17. Do you feel more comfortable saying/doing humorous things or saying/doing well-reasoned things?
a) Humorous things
b) Well-reasoned things

18. In maths?
a) You can explain how you got the answer
b) You can get the answer but cannot explain how

http://www.topsalesworld.com/assessments/LeftBrainRightBrain.php

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

D.I.AL.O.G. For World Class Quality

D.I.AL.O.G. For World Class Quality
Based on 7 Baldrige Criteria

"Know where to find the information and how to use it—That's the secret of success."
—Albert Einstein
If you could quickly (within 10 days) find the gaps in your department or organization, what would that mean to your performance, productivity and profitability?
WANTED
Quick, affordable way to find gaps in a my department or organization to the business results of performance, productivity and profitability to achieve business excellence

Scenario: Small business owner has annual revenue of $500,000 and 6 employees. She realizes that everyone is working hard, but is unsure if everyone is working in the same direction. Realizing that one employee potentially affects 16% of all revenue (total revenue divided by 6) or $80,000, she requires a way to ensure that everyone is rowing in the same direction and towards exactly the same target given that everyone has a separate boat. Investing in an affordable, organizational Baldrige style survey such as D.I.AL.O.G. becomes almost like an insurance rider for that $80,000.

Today's global marketplace requires that small business owners to Fortune 1000 organizations be in a state of continual improvement or total quality management (TQM) if they wish to be competitive in their ongoing efforts to secure the desired results. However, finding those gaps between good and excellent is an ongoing challenge. Answering the question of "Do we know if our resources are being utilized both efficiently and effectively?" becomes central to determining how the resources of the organization are being allocated especially when looking at process improvement, change and knowledge management.
Baldrige Criteria One of the Best Predictors of Organizational Success

Executives understand the importance of keeping everyone focused on the same desire end results. Yet, consistent quality management alludes the best efforts of management. Assessing organizational performance through a multi-dimensional approach is required to capture each contributor's "picture of the organization" and this process management approach should be aligned to specific proven criteria for consistency and quality.

Research continues to suggest that the Baldrige criteria are one of the best predictors for organizational success. Visit the national sites to learn more: quality.nist.gov or baldrige.nist.gov.
D.I.AL.O.G. Improves Results

If you are seeking small business help or undertaking a significant change management project, then take a few moments to ask 10% of your top leadership, middle management and front line customer service workers the following question: What are the top three goals for this organization as you perceive the to be? If you receive exactly the same 3 answers from ALL of your staff, Congratulations! However, if you receive more than 3 answers, this may indicate the following symptoms:
Less than stellar profitability
Loss of market share
Defection of customers
High turnover of employees
Turf wars mentality—Us. Vs. Them
Poor Communication

To avoid further decline, discovering where the real problems are is critical to staying in business. Even if you received exactly the same 3 answers, are you confident that you don't have any "small drips" within your organization's faucet?
D.I.AL.O.G. Tool
Easy, Quick, Insightful and Quality Assessment

The D.I.AL.O.G. Evaluation instrument is an easy and quick fact finding tool for anyone seeking an organizational assessment survey. Since the tool is both cross organizational and cross functional, the leadership receives data specific to the disconnects that affect results. The Executive Team discovers their strengths and weaknesses so that strategic planning actions are directed to the exact areas that require improvement. Within just 7 to 14 days, the organization's profile in the 7 Baldrige criterion is identified:
Leadership
Strategic Planning
Customer & Market Focus
Measured Analysis & Knowledge Management
Human Resource Development & Management
Process Management
Business Results
Springboard for Future Actions

D.I.AL.O.G. Evaluation helps organizations who are considering total quality initiatives such as Baldridge, Lean Thinking, or Six Sigma. Also, this tool provides a quick quality assessment of where the organization stands right now without spending extensive time and dollars to construct a customized assessment and then going through the process.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does D.I.AL.O.G. mean?
Diagnostic Data Indicating the ALignment of Organizational Goals
How is this evaluation administered?
This tool is Internet based and respondents receive a website and password allowing them to respond to the survey within a predetermined time frame.NOTE: A paper based assessment is also available, but does take longer to process for scoring.
Who takes the survey?
This depends if it is a department or an organization. The goal is to select respondents across the organization so that a clear picture of how the contributors view the organization's efforts.
What is the structure of this instrument?
There are a total of 70 questions with 10 questions for each of the 7 Baldrige criteria. Answers options range from Strongly Agree to I Don't Know.
What industries does this tool serve?
This survey has two formats. One is for Health Care and the other one is for all other industries. Currently, one is being developed for education.
What size of department or organization benefits from this evaluation?
Small businesses or departments of 5 individuals to large corporations of thousands can utilize this tool. NOTE: One person out of alignment in a small business from 5 to 10 employees has a far more dramatic affect than one person in an organization of 20 employees.
How long does the analysis take?
Depending upon the size of the department or organization, the time frame ranges from 7 to 21 days.
How does the evaluation process identify anomalies?
Potential inconsistencies are discovered in 2 ways. First, within the tool there are "false positive" statements. Secondly, one on one confidential interviews are conducted to confirm the data.
How is the summary report structured?
The report presents the collected data in several ways: color graphs, summary of all respondents for each of the criterion, summary of each of the criterion by responses delineated for the organization and summary of all 70 questions.
What happens after the survey or So What?
The executive or executive team is provided with a customized and comprehensive report including a D.I.AL.O.G. and Interview Analysis Worksheet that identifies major areas of opportunities. ADVANCED SYSTEMS can then work with the organization provided that is the desire of the executive to close the gaps and further operationalize the strategic plan.

P.S. IF YOU ARE WILLING TO TAKE THE RISK, UNHEARD OF RESULTS ARE POSSIBLE.

http://www.processspecialist.com/baldrige.htm

Loyal Customers Are Worth Their Weight in Gold

Why Are You In Business?

"True voyage of discovery is not seeking new landscapes, but seeing with new eyes."
—Marcel Proust

Small Business Owners, Sales Professionals to C Level Executives
Why Are You In Business?

Peter Drucker states that the purpose of business is to attract and maintain customers. For without customers, no business would survive. Now is the time to change your perspective on how to increase sales and thrive in the 21st century if you truly want to become world class.
Are Struggling with These Challenges?
Poor sales?
Poor behaviors?
Poor results?
High turnover of customers?
Excessive frustration?
Too many sleepless nights?
Unacceptable results?

If you want to improve your business results and you accept that business is all about your ability to attract and maintain customers, then logic suggests your first course of action should be building customer loyalty and that can begin with Triage Business Planning, a proven quick solution that starts you on the path to developing customer loyalty while stopping much of the bleeding from bad attitudes, poor work ethics, unhappy customers and sales that have gone south.

What this looks like is different for each company, but the results are the same.
Loyal Customers Are Worth Their Weight in Gold

Did you know that:
Highest customer loyalty companies grow at twice the rate of their competition? (Reichheld, 2006)
Satisfying Customers without creating an emotional connection with them has no real value? (Gallup Organization 2003)
Raising customer retention rates just by 5% could increase the value of an average customer by 25% to 100%?
5% Improvement in Customer retention translates into a doubling of margins (increase profits)?
Loyal customers always return & become a dependable lifetime sales stream?
Loyal customers brag about your service/product creating Word of Mouth advertising, the most effective advertising?
You can sell your products for more dollars?
Loyal customers are more forgiving when a mistake is made?
Customer Loyalty is the strategic competitive advantage?
Where Not to Start?

If you begin with the traditional customer service training, this will not give you the results that customer loyalty research has shown to deliver. Why, because the standard and common customer service training is labor intensified focused and not thinking intensive focused. (Receive your Free Customer Loyalty Audit)
Where to Start?

To develop loyal customers begins with the C Level Executive leadership team and then cascades down through the organization regardless of size. For it is the human capital, your employees or your internal customers within your business that will either make external loyal customers or break them. Our solution unites business training coaching services through our exclusive Executive Management Team Service Walk.
What is Keeping You from Loyal Customers?
Unresolved problems
Poor internal customers'(employees') attitudes
Lack of alignment between systems, strategies and people processes
Never realized the bottom line impact of customer loyalty
Instant Survey: What is keeping you from developing Loyal Customers where a 5% retention can increase profits 25% to 100%?

"Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them."
Albert Einstein

The answer to that question is simply "That depends." Each business is different, but the process is usually the same and that begins with a telephone call or an appointment. During this time, ADVANCED SYSTEMS would like to learn a little more about you, your business, your challenges, your needs and where you want to take the business and how you fit into this picture. Our goal is to help you build raving loyal customers and repeat business leading to increased productivity and profitability for your business or even yourself. Good to great business building is all about building sustainable change.
The Added Value We Bring To Our Loyal Customers

Customer loyalty begins by respecting the diversity of individuals and organizations. Through our strategic relationships with others allow us to provide not only customer loyalty, but a plethora of continuous business process improvement solutions such as executive coaching, small business coaching, corporate coaching and training, membership coaching programs, , leadership training, management training, sales training, self leadership development, success coaching, supervision training, time management training and goal setting training that are performance-based in all 50 states. Finally, the processes, techniques and tools that we share with our clients work because we live them!

Signed Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. Chief People Officer of ADVANCED SYSTEMS

http://www.processspecialist.com/

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Assessing Today's Performance

"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it's the same problem you had last year."
—John Foster Dulles
There Are Only 2 Measurements in Business

Before you can assess any organiation or any individual in the business world to get you closer to business success, you need to know the bottom line measurements otherwise why would you be investing your time, energy and those precious dollars?

Most businesses usually only have one of the 2 measurements correct and that is PROFITS. And yet these very same and astute business owners fail to calculate the second critical measurement.
RELATIONSHIPS

The majority of your current problems are really symptoms in dsguise. Be them:
Declining to dismal sales
Education and training not delivering sustainable behavior change
Ineffective customer service
Increasing production costs
Poor productivity

Reflect your inability to understand the the purpose of business
Attract and Maintain Customers

Customer loyalty or rather the lack of customer loyalty is your REAL issue. All assessments need to be directly connected to how well your organization is doing to attract and maintain relationships. If you agree with this, then check your most recent Profit and Loss Statement or other such financial reports and look for anything that specifically measures relationships. Now you may understand why you are still facing serious challenges to achieve business success.

Would You Like to Assess By Working Smarter and Not Harder?"

The first question to be asked is: What is keeping me from having Loyal Customers?

When this question is correctly answered, then all actions can be directed to the same goal and thus begins to reduce wasted resources of time, energy, money and emotions. HINT: Your executive team needs to look at your business or organization from your customers' perspectives (both external and internal) if you truly want to have a culture of high performance. We call this walking in your customers' shoes.

The second question that needs to be answered: Is everyone moving directionally correct within the business or organization to exactly the same desired end results that being loyal customers?

When this question is correctly answered, you will be able to ask anyone within your organization to answer this question and receive exactly the same answer from each and every individual: What are the top 3 goals for this organization as you perceive them to be? Try this question of a random sampling of your employees and see how many answers you receive. HINT: Remember, people's focus is their reality.

The final question that needs to be answered is: Are the solutions aligned with operating systems, leadership systems and strategies?

When this question is correctly answered, your business will avoid creating silo solutions that may fix one problem, but result in additional problems downstream. Continous improvement is for everyone in your culture and cannot be just relegated to production while management's behaviors are potentially causing some critical performance gaps. HINT: Ever hear of the old adage: People do not leave companies, they leave managers?

Assessing any organization is not easy, but it is fairly simple when done correctly. After the organizational assessment is completed, then and only then can you determine what solutions need to take place.
Assessing Relationships

Are your people great relationship builders with each other and with your customers?

To help you answer that question, ADVANCED SYSTEMS has created several assessments. Whether you are trying to build Fail-Safe Leadership in your organization or to improve individuals skill sets from sales to time management, we are pleased to help you start on that path to master success for your business or yourself.
Leadership Skills: If your cannot lead yourself, how can you lead others?
Selling Skills: To secure profits, begins with building necessary relationships and then and only then can you make a sale.
Real Estate Selling: Realtors, Mortgage Brokers and Title Representatives to successfully sail the seas of this turburlent market begins my knowing if you have any selling skills gaps.
Top Car Salesman or Saleswoman: Car sales is easy in that most people have a need, but difficult because of other challenges from historical within the industry to poor credit.

These assessment have been provided to create some insight into the performance symptoms facing both organizations and individuals. The secret to sustainable performance is to identify the core problem and treat the problem, not the symptom.
An important question to consider:

If our solutions could help you conquer these symptoms, what would that mean to you in terms of money, leadership, relationships and future growth or innovation?

Please call us today at 219.759.5601 or drop an email if the assessment that you are seeking is not on this page. We look forward to partnering with you to achieve dramatic results! And if you are not just sure that we can help you, sign up for our monthly newsletter - Power Choices.

Loyal Customers Are Worth Their Weight in Gold

Sunday, January 02, 2011

31 Innovation Questions (and Answers) To Kick Off the New Year

31 Innovation Questions (and Answers) To Kick Off the New Year

Scott Anthony
On: Disruptive innovation, Technology, Competition

9:45 AM Monday December 27, 2010 |

One of the simple ways that I try to make experimentation an everyday activity is to always try at least one new thing each time I give a presentation. One such recent experiment I called "choose your own presentation." I looked back at the 20 or so talks that I'd given this past year, and I tried to group material into the questions that I most commonly get asked. I ended up with 31 questions. My colleagues circulated the list before my presentation, and I went through the eight questions that garnered the most interest.

I thought it would be helpful to provide the list of 31 questions, and my one sentence perspective on each question, as it dovetails with my current book project (tentatively titled, The Little Black Book of Innovation.) Consider it a summary of what's on my mind as 2010 comes to a close.
How do you define innovation? Something different that has impact.
What are different types of innovation? Innovation is more than whiz-bang technology; consider different strategic intents (e.g., create a new category, extend current business) or innovation mechanisms (e.g., new product, distribution channel, marketing approach).
How do I spot opportunities for innovation? Go to the source: the customer you hope to target.
Which customers should I target? Look beyond your best customers to those who face a constraint that inhibits their ability to solve the problems they face in their life.
What should I look for? As Drucker said, "the customer rarely buys what the business thinks it sells him;" look for a job-to-be-done, an important problem that is not adequately solved by current solutions.
How should I look? Start with deep ethnographic research; avoid focus groups!
How do I come up with an idea? Remember the Picasso line "good artists copy, great artists steal;" seek to borrow ideas from other industries or geographies.
What is disruptive innovation? An innovation that transforms a market or creates a new one through simplicity, convenience, affordability or accessibility.
What is the best way to disrupt a market? Embrace the power of trade offs. Seek to be just "good enough" along historical performance dimensions but introduce new benefits related to simplicity or affordability.
What does "good enough" mean? Performance above a minimum threshold to adequately solve a customer's job to be done; sacrificing performance along traditional dimensions can open up new avenues to innovate.
What is a business model (and how do I innovate one)? How a company creates, captures, and delivers value; codifying the current business model is the critical first step of business model innovation.
How can I "love the low end"? Build a business model designed around the low-end customer's job-to-be-done.
How do I know if my idea is good? Let patterns guide and actions decide; remember Scott Cook's advice that "for every failure we had we had spreadsheets that looked awesome."
How can I learn more about my idea? Design and execute "high return on investment" experiments to address critical unknowns.
How can I get other people behind my idea? Bring the idea to life through visuals and customer testimonials.
How long does it take new businesses to scale? Almost always longer than initial projections; be patient for growth and impatient for profits.
Why is innovation so important? The "new normal" of constant change requires mastering perpetual transformation.
Why is innovation so hard? Most organizations are designed to execute, not to innovate.
Who are your influences? Academics like Clayton Christensen and Vijay Govindarajan, leading-edge innovative companies like Procter & Gamble and Cisco Systems, and thoughtful writers like Michael Mauboussin and Bill James.
How do I encourage innovation in my organization? Stop punishing anything that smells like failure, recognizing that failure is often a critical part of the innovation process.
What is "the sucking sound of the core?" The pull of the core business and business model that subtly influences new ideas so they resemble what the organization has done before.
What is an innovation "safe space"? An organizational mechanism that protects innovators from the sucking sounds of the core.
How should I form and manage innovation teams? Keep deadlines tight and decision makers focused.
What is in a good innovation strategy? Overall goals, a target portfolio for innovation efforts, a mechanism to allocate resources to achieve that portfolio, and clearly defined goals and boundaries for innovation.
What is the best way to manage an innovation portfolio? Make sure you correctly capture current activities and measure and manage different kinds of innovations in different ways.
What does 'prudent pruning' mean? Recognizing that destruction is often a critical component of creation.
What role should senior executives play in innovation? A big one.
How can I personally become a better innovator? Practice - innovation is a skill that can be mastered.
How can I find more resources for innovation? Shut down "zombie projects" that are a drain on corporate resources.
How can I more quickly turn good ideas into good businesses? Remember what Edison said - genius is "1% inspiration and 99% perspiration;" get ready to sweat.
Has anyone built the ability to innovate at scale? An increasing number of companies, such as Google, Apple, Procter & Gamble, Amazon.com, Cisco Systems, Godrej & Boyce and General Electric.

I would love to hear any other questions that are on your minds as I work with my colleagues to think about our research agenda for 2011 and beyond.

http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=307422170&gid=102813&type=member&item=38977176&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs%2Ehbr%2Eorg%2Fanthony%2F2010%2F12%2F31_innovation_questions%2Ehtml%3Futm_source%3Dtwitterfeed%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter&urlhash=H0nV&goback=%2Egde_102813_member_38977176

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COMMENTS

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Kamal Hassan 5 days ago

Great list. If I make add: 32. Where do I start in my organization?
33. What is my innovation culture should look like?
34. How do I convince the people in my organization (at all levels) about innovation (the change management question)?
35. How to innovate with my customers, suppliers and my entire ecosystem?

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Voniss Johnston 2 days ago in reply to Kamal Hassan

For your last question, visit http://www.openinnovation.net/ for some ideas. Also http://www.codevpd.org/

This is space that I am also very interested in exploring. Good Luck.

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Patrick Stähler 4 days ago

Scott, thx for sharing your thoughts. I particularly like the jobs-to-be-done approach to innovation. That fresh view helps to see a lot of uncontested markets. Jobs-to-be-done is a great way of market segmentation, leaving all the strange criteria like demographics, regions and segmentation like Lohas aside and focusing on the needs.

One question is missing: What is the purpose of your business? Just by focusing on your purpose (and that is not to earn money) you get better. You formulate your purpose in the value proposition of your business model: http://blog.business-model-inn.../ In the value proposition you translate the job into something valuable for your customer.

Best regards

Patrick

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Purushottaman D 5 days ago

Great set of questions on innovation, concise and task oriented for business of any size.

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Chris Bayes 5 days ago

Great questions Scott. Prudent pruning, understanding the reality of deconstructing something to create something of greater value can rapidly further an organizations innovative thought process.

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Glenn 5 days ago

Scott!
This is a fantastic list of questions any business owner or entrepreneur should be asking! Many of these are applicable to any size business. As a follower of Treacy & Wiersma's work and their writings - where they propose your business model leads with Customer Intimacy, Operational Excellence or Innovation. Treacy & Wiersma identify you must be competent in all areas yet lead with one! Your list is a great tool to help raise competrency quickly in the Innovation sector!

Thanks

Glenn
http://www.beasuccessfulentrep...

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Christian Sarkar 5 days ago in reply to Glenn

Good point Greg. Customer Intimacy has come a long way though, and is often neglected. Google the work of "Dean McMann on customer intimacy", for example!

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Amimasell 1 day ago

I would only change one thing, and say the definition of innovation, based on your words is: Something new and different that has the potential for making an impact. Though not solicited, my .02 cents.

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sabine taylor 2 days ago

I believe that if everyone did what they loved then there would be more innovation...more jobs. My question is that why is there not a follow your dream campaign by the government...sounds pie in skyish but this could be the solution that lowers unemployment

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Ken Rosen 2 days ago

Fantastic set Scott. Will use starting next week! Loved the "every failure had a spreadsheet that looked awesome" line.

Thanks, Ken
Performance Works
www.PerTalks.com

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Rahulsahasrabudhe 4 days ago

Excellent, feeling confident to innovate. Every idea is important no matter how silly it is.
I would like to know:
Once the innovative idea is accepted, what is the path to be followed from Idea into Prototype ?
This distance between Idea-----> Prototyping is a confusing and sometimes people think of giving it up, because of internal or external or unforseen reasons or risks.
Please if you let us know few points what next after idea is accepted that will be of great help

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Amit Tripathi 4 days ago

Thanks Scott for the relevant questions & insightful answers.

I wanted to ask what is the best way to incentivise for being innovative. Most organizations focus on execution & the culture supports that mindset. What levers or culture traits - help an organization being innovative ?

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Zak 4 days ago

How do I start a lucrative Toxic Assets business and finance it with Quantative Easing"?

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Dhina 4 days ago

Excellent Q's. I have something to add - not a question but a step for innovation. Conscious doing - if we keep doing the same thing again and again it becomes a habit and we blindly do it going forward. But if we observe what we do consciously, then we can question why we are doing in a certain way or even why we do it at all - this is the first step to innovation I feel.

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toquemag 4 days ago

Perfect timing for this as 2010 closes out. I pondered #13 carefully, which at first seemed contradictory. Aren't awesome spreadsheets little more than wishful thinking? Upon consideration, when I realized that spreadsheets are the "pattern to guide" and that we must look to the more important part of the equation, "let actions decide," then it clicked. Wishful thinking is NOT a bad thing if there is active, open-minded adjustments that follow.
Thank you!
Another critique: I'm always looking for ways to innovate as a party of one, as well. Some of these are pointed more towards groups and departments. How about a follow-up?

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Brian1284 4 days ago

32. Are we already innovative? Bringing a value-add benefit to a function that others already do.

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Berenice Ring 5 days ago

This is a really great post, Vincent! Innovation is one of the top subjects for companies today. I disagree, though, with your definition: "Something different that has impact". I'd say innovation is "To innovate is to come up with something new, introduce it to the market and have commercial sucsess." - Many people could think about "something different that has impact", the difficulty being, getting the resources, producing it and introducing it at the right place at the right time with the right marketing plan. Agree? Have a Happy New Year!

Berenice Ring - Innovation and Branding Professor at FGV University, Sao Paulo, Brasil.

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Judy 5 days ago

Scott,
Thank you for a great list of concise questions on innovation. Appreciate everyone's insightful comments and agree with so many. Especially, Kamal's very key question, "What does the innovation culture look like?"

As management teams define innovation for their respective organizations, it might be valuable to ask, "What is the business of management in the next decade? What business should our management team be in future forward?" "Are enabling structures in place to release the human potential of our workforce?"

Finally, if I might add a follow-up question to #4, "How are we optimizing our workforce portfolio to leverage key talent, insights and innovation flow?"

Happy New Year!
Judy White, SPHR, GPHR, HCS
The Infusion Group™
www.theinfusiongroupllc.com

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Raszwja 5 days ago

I'm curious - what were the 8 questions that your participants chose?

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Andy Ellwood 5 days ago

Great post. Quick hits with a lot of wisdom.
I'd like to echo Jorge's follow up question:

"If everybody agrees about the importance of innovation, then why are so few companies that master this practice?"

There seems to be so much room for innovation that is left untapped by the major players in the market place. How can innovation be fostered from the outside and cultivated from the inside?

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Ajeva 5 days ago

Wow... I think I will have to start asking myself these questions and see if I can make brevity work for my answers. Now, the toughest challenge is perhaps the realization that you know what innovation is all about and yet, you can't seem to cross the line between being good and becoming great. Come to think of it, innovation is taking an old concept and giving it a serious makeover - we always come up with something fresh, new... and lucky is the one who create it first.

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RichardMPalmer 5 days ago

I define innovation similarly as something NEW that has VALUE and therein lies the paradox of dealing with the early conception stage of innovations......you can only MEASURE VALUE in the past or present, and to see the opportunity of something genuinely NEW, you have to BELIEVE in the future. Two different worlds, and you need to keep them carefully apart at the beginning or you will short circuit the process......'so from our 200 brainstorming ideas, which ones are the good ones' .......oh dear!

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Jorge Galvez Choy 5 days ago

Simple and direct, just a few words that go directly to the core of innovation. At times when information seems to surpass our capacities, it's always good to find a brief and fresh article.

One more question to the list:
If everybody agrees about the importance of innovation, then why are so few companies that master this practice?

Jorge Galvez Choy

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Freelance Copywriter 5 days ago

Thank you. Clear, simple and inspiring.

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Vincent Carbone 5 days ago

Great post Scott... As "things" in general continue to become easier to make (because of digitalization), companies will need to really start looking at Innovation as a "business process" (like Sales, Finance, HR, etc). The key to innovation over the next 5 years is going to be formalizing the process of Innovation. This will include creating a "system of record" for innovation activities within companies. Every other mature business process in an company already has this and therefore it can be reported on and optimized. Thanks to Innovation Management Software and social functionality, Innovation can now be faciliatated and optimized as a business process. This will finally giving C-level executives the visibility and accountablity they need to manage their businesses with "Innovation" as a core driver.

Vincent Carbone
Co-Founder Brightidea.com
www.brightidea.com

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Loyal Customers Are Worth Their Weight in Gold

Sunday, January 02, 2011

31 Innovation Questions (and Answers) To Kick Off the New Year

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