The “Stone Age” didn’t end because they ran out of stones
Charles Darwin in his book, “The Origin of Species” (read full PDF book here) proposed that evolution occurs with the introduction of challenging or adverse circumstances on a population of a species such that only those who are able to adapt (either by natural selection or by action) thrive (or even survive). For instance, the Shark…
3 Mistakes Change Leaders Make; Plus Essential Strategies to Avoid Them
Mistake 1: Leaders fail to prepare themselves for change I bet there’s not one person reading this article who is not experiencing some kind of change, whether in your work or personal life. Regardless of the type of change, you’re often in the position of leading others through the change. Your role involves helping others to…
Case in Point: Avoiding Martial-arts Moves by ‘pulling the Andon cord’
The Big Idea How can executives (or any of us, for that matter) use what we know about process improvement to engage and motivate the people in our lives? Which touch points for intervention are most effective? How can we measure success? Rachel’s approach to identifying defects in the way her family operates and harnessing the…
Business Rule #1: The customers have a choice … Make sure they pick you!
For every company, it’s a jungle out there… Every day, every moment, you are either the hunter or the hunted. The strong and the skilled survive while the weak get cut from the herd to be killed and eaten – or just fall back and left to die. And the pace gets quicker each and every…
Leadership, Culture and the Situation of Marissa Mayer
Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, sent a shock wave across the internet and the blogosphere recently when she announced that Yahoo’s policy of allowing people to work remotely would be ended, and that remote-working employees would need to begin reporting to the office by June 2013. The debate has raged over the wisdom of the move, with a heaping…
Don’t Manage Factories; Design Them to Run “Autonomously”
Imagine this scenario: A customer gives us an order, the factory produces the products, and the order ships, autonomously, without any management intervention. No meetings, no expedites, no shifting priorities, no direction setting. Like turning a key to start your car engine, it just happens. Sound like a dream? It’s not. Many companies have achieved a…