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Category Archives: Improve / Turnaround
A Good Leader is a Good Facilitator
As a leader, our objective must be to drive success and move our companies forward. To do this, we need to have effective team communication and decision – making. In short, we need to have excellent meetings. “As a consultant, … Continue reading
Relearning
Much has been written about the importance of learning throughout our careers and how we can Learn Better. As we progress in our careers, it is equally important to relearn. That is, to review previously learned material to revise and … Continue reading
Be the Right Kind of Lazy
Laziness gets a bad rap and deservedly so. Of course, we, ourselves, are never lazy. No… Never… But we know other people who are lazy. They procrastinate. They only do the minimum work necessary to stay employed (quiet quitters). Or … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Perform / Execution, Personal Success
Tagged Getting Things Done, Laziness
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Learn Better
When learning new ideas or concepts, most of us learn as we did in high school and college. We listen to a lecture or podcast, read a book or textbook, highlight the key ideas, and then re-read our highlights as … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Perform / Execution, Personal Success
Tagged Learning, Training
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Make Continuous Improvement Easier
For all companies, continuous improvement is vital. We and our companies need to be better today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we are today. Unfortunately, most improvement initiatives (including most lean kaizen events) fail. They fail because … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Leadership, Personal Success
Tagged Continuous Improvement
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Manage the Data Overload
We are awash in data – round the clock news, social media, E-Mails, texts… The challenge for the business leader remains the same: “The important thing is detecting whispers of useful information in a howling hurricane of noise.” The Economist … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Perform / Execution, Personal Success
Tagged Data Management, Data Overload
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Keep Eyes on the Business
100 years ago, Henry Ford said: “The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all but goes on making his own business better all the time.” To be successful leaders, we need to be that … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Leadership, Perform / Execution
Tagged Do the Right Thing, Focus
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What’s Our Zero to Sixty?
Late one afternoon, a major plumbing leak sprang up in a building we were helping to build. Our field team sprang into immediate action, mobilized a large crew of workers, worked overtime, and repaired the damage caused by the water … Continue reading
Ideological Necrophilia
“Ideological necrophilia – a love of ideas that have been tried and proved not to work.” Moises Naim (Venezuelan writer and journalist) In the political world, we see ideological necrophilia in a continued love of Marxism and communism by the … Continue reading
Rough Seas Ahead?
Economists, politicians, and many business leaders are predicting a recession in 2023 as the Federal Reserve continues to tighten to lower inflation and inflationary expectations. Alas, I have no insight on whether an economic downturn will come to pass. I … Continue reading
Evolution and Change in Business
Looking at our businesses within the context of evolution can give us actionable insights to help move our businesses forward. Despite what we may have read or heard; evolution is not about a dog-eat-dog world where only the strongest individuals … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Improve / Turnaround, Perform / Execution
Tagged Change, Change Management, Evolution
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Let’s Be Scientific
As leaders, we are required to constantly evaluate evidence and make decisions. In doing so, we often succumb to “winging it” and making decisions on the fly, trusting our gut. While this might work for some decisions, it does not … Continue reading
Field Centric
As leaders, we can get wrapped up in so many different activities and meetings – meeting with the finance, human resources or marketing department; talking to investors, banks and insurance companies; strategic planning; looking at acquisition candidates or joint venture … Continue reading
Make Molehills
“Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.” Unfortunately, too many leaders ignore this wise advice. Instead, every minor issue becomes a major problem that needs to be addressed and resolved now. Why? Leaders make mountains out of molehills for … Continue reading
Seek Out the ‘Useful Answer’
“When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.” Dalai Lama In my company, as in many others, we have a formal system to review work that we have done. Whether called post-project reviews, re-caps, or post-mortems, these reviews give the people … Continue reading
The First Two Steps in Process Improvement
Most process improvement initiatives fail miserably. First, they do not improve the processes they were supposed to improve. Second, they waste managerial and employee time, effort and attention. Or, third, the process may be improved; but this improvement does not … Continue reading
Top Three Things to Do Today to Be a Better Leader
To build a better business, we need to be better leaders. This does not mean we need to rush out and get more training or education or bring in a consultant (absolutely not!!). Instead, we need to focus on the … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Leadership, Perform / Execution
Tagged Follow Up, Leadership, Positivity, Simplicity
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What To Think About
Studies from social psychologists have concluded that the media (contrary to common opinion) is not effective at changing how we think. Instead, it is quite effective in determining what we think about. As leaders, it can be helpful to focus … Continue reading
Use the ‘Base Rate’ for Better Decisions
The IT project took twice as long as planned. The construction project to expand the plant went over budget. Why does this always happen? Too many decisions are made with too much self-confidence and too much optimism. As a result, … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Leadership, Personal Success
Tagged Base Rate, Decision Making, Richard Thaler
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10 Fundamentals of Continuous Improvement
When continuous improvement is a fundamental part of our company culture, our business gets better every day and will soon out-run and out-perform the competition. Over 100 years ago, Henry Ford wrote: The competitor to be feared is the one … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Leadership, Perform / Execution
Tagged Continuous Improvement
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David M. Shedd - Move Your Company Forward 