In a moment when so many businesses must learn to start again, they could not do better than build their efforts on the solid foundations of Deming’s Theory of Profound Knowledge. His credentials are impeccable: Japan was able to emerge from devastation and become an economic powerhouse by absorbing and applying his teachings after WWII. […]
Some Summer Reading for Whole System Change
The famous “brioche con gelato” in Salerno, Italy. As we take a few days off mid-August Italian style, we wish all our subscribers and readers a serene and regenerating summer period. We will be back soon with our regular blog. In the meantime, here is a selection of some of our most popular posts […]
85% of Global Employees Are Disengaged: How to Build Employee Engagement
According to a recent Gallup State of the Global Workplace report, 85% of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged at work. The economic consequences of this global “norm” are approximately $7 trillion in lost productivity. …this global engagement pattern provides evidence that how performance is managed, and specifically how people are being developed, is misfiring. […]
Managing as a Whole System – A New Learning Path
Most organizations (and business schools) are lagging behind the times as they still work in silos, missing completely the challenge and opportunity of the complexity that now dominates our world. We need to manage organizations as whole systems. Those who don’t know what that entails need to catch on, catch up and embrace a new […]
The Quality Conundrum and the Heritage of W. Edwards Deming
In a recent article in Auto News about the demise of Toyota president, Tatsuro Toyoda, they state that Toyoda “earned an MBA from New York University, where he studied under the famed quality-control guru W. Edwards Deming.” Deming is perhaps one of the most quoted and yet misunderstood leaders in management thinking and practice, and […]
Ethical, Sustainable and for the Common Good – a Playbook
As Super Bowl fever rises, it’s worth recalling that Chrystia Freeland, global editor at large for Reuters, reviewed a book that suggests capitalism has something to learn from the NFL; it is the duty of society to ensure that the rules of capitalism are working for the common good. The NFL continuously tweaks the rules […]
Systemic Organization Management for the Age of Complexity
As this post is being written in Italy where we first set up our firm and where we are visiting for projects, it’s not surprising that we often think about how we first started in the mid 1990s in Milan. Back then, we worked with organizations to transfer Deming’s principles about Quality. It quickly became clear […]
Resource Optimization – Don’t Make the 100% Efficiency Mistake
Do you think getting everything in your system/organization to work at 100% is the right way to create maximum efficiency? Dr. Giovanni Siepe explains how we can learn from management science (and other sources) that there is a better way. Not too long ago I was reading about “Sukkot”, a holiday celebrated at the end […]
Nothing Is the Same: How to Survive and Thrive in Today’s Market
This month marks ten years since the start of the 2007 financial crisis. Our economic models have failed us. Anyone who has lived with the aftermath of that crisis knows that. Many have lost their jobs, or lost their investments and even their future prospects. Many who expected to have a smooth career path are getting […]
How to Predict the Future in Uncertain Times Part 2
In Part Two of this article on predicting the future with science, we look at the tool from Statistical Process Control that helps us understand behaviour patterns in our processes so we can make more informed decisions. When is a process predictable? We say that a process is “predictable” when it is in a state […]