


According to a recent survey conducted by the National Association for Business Economics, the future of jobs and employment within the US hasn’t looked this bright in the past 12 years. This report has indicated that the percentage of companies anticipating employment expansion versus those expecting to downsize their staff teams was the largest it…

Fixing broken processes is the better choice for increased productivity and a more engaged workforce. “A bad system will beat a good person every time.” Dr. W. Edwards Deming One of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming is, “A bad system will beat a good person every time.” This is one of the many lessons…

Summary. Although it sounds cliché, the world really is a more volatile place than it used to be. That’s because the drivers of uncertainty are more intense — there are more and more change vectors affecting outcomes and these vectors are more and more inter-related. The range of likely outcomes five and 10 years has…

One of the many symbols of Southern Europe’s industrial decline must be the sight of one particular washing machine factory that now makes fewer than half the washing machines it did when Italy joined the euro. Rather, today, the Porcia plant is also a testing ground for the region’s industrial future. Home appliance maker Electrolux, which owns…
Operational excellence is a mindset, not a methodology and needs redefining. We tend to think of operational excellence in terms of eliminating waste and standardizing the way we operate. We “lean” our processes and use six sigma approaches to drive how we operate. We also sometimes lean on these methodologies, and others, like crutches to…

In this conversation, Alan shares his life’s journey as a pilot. From earning his pilot’s license before most people earn their driver’s license all the way to becoming a research pilot for NASA and it’s SOFIA program. I met Alan while I was on assignment in Denver. He and his team from NASA were also…