Category Archives: Blind Spots

Oh, Can You See By the Dawn’s Early Light?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
So begins the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain signed by the United States Congress on July 4, 1776. We in the US, celebrate July 4th as Independence Day this weekend with festivities, fireworks, picnics and devotionals to those whose lives were dedicated and often taken to secure these unalienable rights. In fact, the words could serve as anthem to peoples all over the world as a never ending objective and pursuit.
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Betwixt and Between

L’Envers et l’endroit (Betwixt and Between) is a phrase coined by the French Algerian writer and philosopher Albert Camus in one of his essays. It captures our current dilemma in the Gulf with the forces at play, wrestling with a series of positions, all supportable from different perspectives, in a tug of war wherein winners will all become partial losers before it’s over. A federal judge in New Orleans (not a trivial point) has blocked the current moratorium on deep water offshore drilling in response to the economic damage that local drilling operators are experiencing. The relationships between economic forces and judicial behaviors are nothing new to any region, and the ethics of the action are not in question. It is an example of the power of the lens we put on an issue and the persuasiveness of a point of view. The lens can create a bias for what we consider or discount in the decisions we make.
Judge Feldman wrote that the Obama administration had failed to justify the need for such “a blanket, generic, indeed punitive, moratorium” on deep-water oil and gas drilling. “The blanket moratorium, with no parameters, seems to assume that because one rig failed and although no one yet fully knows why, all companies and rigs drilling new wells over 500 feet also universally present an imminent danger,” he wrote.
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Truth or Consequences?

I heard someone on the news use the term “oil tsunami” to describe the river of oil currently sweeping across the gulf and the devastation it is delivering to those in the water and on shores. It is an interesting analogy in imagery, but it misses the big point, this growing glob of pestilence was triggered by man, by many people making a whole bunch of choices and decisions. The complexities of how it began and the complexities on how it may one day end are still unraveling. The forces of nature that have been unleashed still defy our technology, techniques, and even our collective confidence. Sadly, it does illuminate a darker side, not new, about the economics of the process. Responsible economists articulate the importance of incorporating the impacts of externalities into decision making. What that means is that what we do can have an adverse impact that transfers the burden, costs, and consequences of dealing with the mess to someone else. In the broadest sense, the total costs of what we do are bigger than our accounted costs and subsequent prices we charge.

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What If?

There may be a really big storm brewing. It may be a signal from a political barometer, or positioning, real outrage… not sure, but the thunder is increasing. The last few months have stoked the fires of outrage, anger, frustration, and deteriorating confidence from a public that may feel that they may have been too trusting.
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The Roads to Nothing or Zero

For most of the history of civilization, humankind has been devoid of, arguably, the most important number in the universe. It possesses the power of infinity and it is immeasurable or elusive, sometimes. But this number became the invisible fulcrum that redefined how we now weigh matters and many decisions in our world. That number is zero
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I Can’t Hear What You’re Seeing

For many years, the term Voice of the Customer has been a source of incalculable confusion and a hazardous source of misdirection. The reality of dealing with a cacophony of voices that can often come from the many interfaces and service points is daunting for some. Discerning the signal from the noise fosters subjective simplification and can and too often yield risky and sometimes shallow insights carried forward into our delivery of services.
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No Way!

“How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?” says Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Watson in Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle’s “The Sign of the Four” (and two other books in the series). Many problem solvers have applied the maxim to separate the signal from the noise, finding the real cause. I believe that the maxim creates a real struggle for those under the gun to find the culprit causes. This is one maxim that lots of folks at Toyota are stressed over.

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A Tale of Two Tigers

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.” So begins “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens. Although a story replete with social commentary, it brings into focus the impacts of adversity, particularly on the elite and unprepared. Aristocracy meant respect and a special place in the eyes of many, perhaps leading to hubris, and hubris often led to disaster.

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Think About It!

Have you ever thought about how we think, particularly the kind that leads to decisions? What drives important decisions? How do we know if we made the “right one”? As we enter into the New Year, how will we decide how to navigate ourselves and our enterprises successfully?
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Just Questions …

How do you know if your Lean and Six Sigma training and development program is succeeding?
When you set out on your implementation, did you develop metrics to gage progress and success?
Is success measured in terms of training and certification indicators or on the changes in business performance?
Have you has what appeared to be a successful implementation in a failing business or business unit? Are you counting projects and certifications still?
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