Have you thought about how we make decisions? It’s fascinating and frightening. I believe decision making is by far our greatest Achilles Heel. In his book, “Fateful Choices, Ten Decisions that Changed the World”, Ian Kershaw delivers a monumental and …
Read More
While driving this morning I caught some news on the radio. One disturbing bit of news reported that a large defense contractor in Great Britain is facing potential fines of over $1 billion for alleged bribery paid in pursuit of business.
Read More
Today I experienced something some really cool healthcare! It left me contemplating that maybe we really do have the capacity to sort out the hurdles we face with the healthcare issue
Read More
How aren’t you doing? That’s right, how are you at what you’re not doing? Have you ever been asked that question? I hope so! How well do we choose what to do and what to measure?
Read More
Planning has lots of meanings. Often, planning is a bridge between intent and action. That means once we want to accomplish something, get somewhere, achieve a goal, make a number, change, transform, grow, shrink, acquire, dispose, win, or a myriad of end states, we spend time some effort wrestling with the how to (plan) achieve the aforementioned intent (vision). The vision is described with adjectives and nouns, but the plan needs verbs to have any useful meaning. If the vision is big and farther out than the budget, the plan is often called strategic. If the vision looks out as far as the budget, the plan is often called business. The vision creates provide promise and the plan provides confidence to achieve the promise. Planning is getting harder to do.
Yesterday was Labor Day in the US. When I was growing up, it was usually a milestone close to the end of summer and a signal that back to school was here. The contributions and needs of labor did not weigh into my view or feelings about the day back then. They are a big deal today and weigh heavy.
Read More
You did that on purpose!” I often hear that when someone’s about to get it for a misdeed. It differentiates those actions that are done with intent from those not by mistake or accidentally. So, the word purpose can be used to differentiate a special cause from a random cause. In this case, it takes on the differentiator for indictment, something a prosecutor might want to propose (ironic, that purpose and propose share the same etymological genealogy)
Read More
This has been a tough season for many. As business belts and budgets tightened, the focus to become leaner has led to some tough choices. Many of the activities we engaged in with customers had to change, even go by the wayside. Maybe it was fewer visits, or less personalized care, as we moved their requests into more “efficient” centers, thereby reducing transactions costs. Some of the requests we did for little or no cost, now are fee based. What about when the economy improves?
Our customers make us better! Have you heard that phrase? When I have, the translation that emerges is that our customers sometimes have to drag us into improvement. In fact, it often means that we become aware of the needs to improve from feedback and complaints. Someone might argue that we sometimes innovate from negative feedback
Read More
A must read chapter is “Battle of the Nile.” For me, it resonates with the importance of knowing your competition and your real estate (where you are competing), planning, innovation, and most of all, empowering your team to win. It also serves as a vivid example of how much the rigid controls of an adversary created wonderful opportunities for execution with agility and surprise.
Read More
Your couch. It is mine.
Im a cool paragraph that lives inside of an even cooler modal. Wins
×