It was Yogi Berra[i] who said “When you reach a fork in the road . . . take it.” That’s all fine and dandy, but doesn’t that raise some questions for you regarding the significance of that fork in the road? For example, Why does the road you’re on bifurcate at all? Why here …
Yeah, yeah, I know, Einstein’s definition of insanity―The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them―is used ad nauseam. BUT, what I want you to do is change what you BELIEVE he said—i.e. doing the same thing over-and-over again—to what he ACTUALLY said; …
Imagine everyone agreeing on having a confounding problem while no one admits to making any mistakes; everyone is just doing their job. The mere fact that this kind of problems tend to linger for months or years, and keep coming back, regardless of your best efforts to solve them, makes matters even worse. …
There were times when experts believed that Aircraft are interesting toys but of no military value; There’s a world market for about five computers, and 640K ought to be enough for anybody. Having the foresight that comes with the insight of hindsight, few people, if any, would use these assertions today. What happened in the …
Albert Einstein is credited saying Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Yet, many business leaders are preaching the KISS-principle―acronym for “keep It Simple, Sailor”―as it seems to originate from the U.S. Navy. Although this principle was intended originally to be applied to system design, where simple and straightforward contributes to …
Q: Are your decisions CREATING or PREVENTING resistance to change? How would you know? ♦ A business is a system—a network of functions and their connections. ♦ In order for a system to have integrity, it must be designed and built according to its purpose; it’s raison d’être. ♦ System INTEGRITY indicates alignment between the …
Wanna know why certain problems linger, persist, and keep coming back—why they seem to be without solution? Well: ❶ They are systemic in nature—i.e. they are inherent to your decisions regarding the business system’s design, structure/organization, implementation/operation, maintenance, and management. ❷ The solutions you choose only address the problems symptoms or effects. ❸ You haven’t …
“I can resist everything except temptation” is a quote from Oscar Wild’s Victorian-era comedy of manners titled Lady Windermere’s Fan: A Play about a Good Woman. Who can resist temptation when finding oneself in the tool section of a home improvement center? Every tool, from the simplest scribing tool to advanced digital or laser guided …
Pounding your fist on the desk and demanding to get some answers might make you look tough, but is this demeanor helping or hindering getting you what you want? Pounding fists on desks is a sure sign of frustration, which is typical of leaders who are confronted with challenges that linger, persist, and keep coming …
TREATING people like they are a liability, thus looking left and right for opportunities to reduce their pay and benefits, opposing unionization and collective bargaining, and replacing them through investments in technology or by outsourcing their jobs to foreign workers in low-wage countries. And then . . . . . LAMENTING that remaining employees are …