I was coaching one of the national oil companies in the Middle East, offering mentorship to the director of their operational excellence program. He was frustrated because he had invested considerable funds building a team of sixty Lean Six Sigma Black Belts over a nine-month period, and they had not yet worked on—much less completed—any…
The date is September 15, 2008. The crisis in subprime mortgages had been going on for a little over a year. It was triggered in the last half of 2006 when house prices began to fall as the housing bubble in the United States burst. This caused those who had taken NINJA (No Income, No Job, or Assets) loans to buy…
If you are reading this, you probably engage in professional networking on social media. And if you are like me, you have been engaging for a very long time. The motivation is probably similar to mine. You want to learn and understand what’s going on in your profession, your industry, your community – and probably…
Transformation… I am hearing more and more talk about how companies are seeking to transform themselves, or that they are launching a transformation initiative. And as expected, there is the corresponding increase in transformation conferences, symposia, articles and books. But what is “transformation”? One definition for transformation is; “a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance.”…
I hear all too often from professionals in Continuous Improvement how “Senior Leadership does not give me the support I need”. Some go further by making the claim that “Senior Leadership just doesn’t understand”. And some go further still and make the suggesting there is a conscious, if not curious, effort by senior leaders to sabotage…
