One of my friends sent me this story, with a completely different analysis. Of course, I know mine is better :-). (BTW, I don’t follow football, so I hope I have not ruined the basic elements.)
Continue reading At least annually- but quarterly is better…
Imagine this scenario. Dialysis as a therapy is just starting to ‘click’. Treatments are available in one of two modalities- coil or flat plate. The coil system (shown below) reminds one of a giant washing machine, with a bathing solution of warm salt water, bubbled carbon dioxide, and a plastic device (looking like a car “air filter”) inserted inside this mess, through which passes your blood. The “air filter” is a membrane that separates the solution from your blood; the impurities from your blood are whisked away by the solution.
Continue reading Dialysis Glimpses from the 60’s and 70’s
I read an article about a month ago that really riled me up. (That’s why I haven’t written about it until now.) A fairly well-known business consultant articulated that small business should NOT try to be creative in their business. This was substantiated by a series of reasons- most of which demonstrated that the exemplar businesses that either never studied their competitors (and, therefore, were certain their proposition was unique and creative) or were larger companies that had forgotten how to be creative.
Continue reading No, Ms. R, Businesses MUST be creative in their approach
As one reads the newspapers (uncritically), one would assume that business is booming. We have just read about the third quarter in a row of impressive earnings growth. Total corporate profits are on the order of $ 1.2 trillion, way higher than before our devastation. First caveat- we are comparing these results to pretty anemic periods. If you were running your company and had a 50% drop in profits for one year, the next year’s earnings growth of 100% would mean you were back to just where you were two years ago.
Continue reading Profits Don’t Provide the Whole Picture
That’s an old expression- one that may go by the waysides, as my generation passes the torch. It means one (or one entity) is operating at full capacity, at optimum speed. It is a more vernacular expression for “The Adjuvancy”- an organization that optimizes the performance of all the entities in a mixture, ensuring maximum benefit to all participants.
Continue reading Firing on all cylinders
So, now we know. To insure that employees (primarily managers) would get a good night;s sleep, the alarms on the TransOcean drilling rig (the aptly named Deepwater Horizon; to inform us what was , indeed, just on the horizon) were turned off. To insure that Metro (DC) could keep operating the subways without slowdowns, train dispatchers turned off the alarms on sections of track by the Fort Totten station.
Come on, you didn’t think I was going to just wail on our local governments, did you? No, we, as business leaders, are often just as guilty as our governments are in the execution of our plans.
Continue reading What should we do as leaders and managers?
This is not a local story for most of us- but, it exemplifies most of our towns, cities, and counties. A building goes vacant in the downtown area. A company buys that property- knowing exactly what zoning obtains, when it purchases this building. No promises were made to change the zoning before the deal goes through.
Continue reading What should our local governments do?
That quote from John Donne is some four centuries old and still provides guidance to us. No matter how good, how smart, or how talented we think we are, we cannot succeed alone. We need trusted advisors- whether we call them our inner circle, our family, our board, or our friends- or any combination thereof.
Continue reading No Man Is An Island…(Neither is Woman)
I know, I know, we eMail every single day (sometimes, thrice). We text one another. But, that is NOT personal contact. And, for your business and personal lives, that’s what counts. If you don’t think a personal touch is needed- think about the last time you got a note- handwritten! It touched you! This is even more important if you are a leader! Your staff/management team can feel alienated if all they see is you brusquely parading around the plant- even if there are memos from you on the bulletin board and they get eMail communiqués. Keep things personal- it really pays off. Continue reading I_REALLY_WANT_2_TELL_U_SOMETHING