From the monthly archives:

October 2011

All you really need to know about courage and risk in your career

10.19.2011

Sam Walton was fired as a J.C. Penny store manager before starting WalMart. Countless world champion coaches were fired before reaching the ultimate prize. So many individuals want to do more, push harder, say what’s on their mind, and take some risks. But something’s stopping them. But it’s the courage and risk-taking that leads to [...]

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Building a kaizen (event) team

10.12.2011

Kaizen doesn’t literally mean a weeklong event with a cross-functional team for focused improvement. However, in many organizations, that’s what it’s come to mean. Regardless of your name for it – kaizen, kaizen event, Rapid Improvement Event, or something else – these focused kaizens are often a part of a lean strategy. As Mike Rother [...]

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Northeast Shingo Prize Keynote Presentation on Problem Solving

10.06.2011

The Northeast Shingo Prize recognizes business excellence regionally. They are established with the goal of making manufacturing facilities and other industries more competitive in the global marketplace, illustrating how world-class results can be achieved through the implementation of lean principles and techniques in core manufacturing and other business processes. This year I am giving the [...]

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3 big wins from knocking down [cubicle] walls

10.04.2011

3 times in my career, I was able to knock down the cubicle walls. The end-result was always half-walls or low-walls, with high visibility across the room. Twice we actually bought the proper furniture to make this happen, although one time we literally cut the existing walls. Every time, people liked the change. It took [...]

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