When It Pays to Say "I don't know"

Steve Dubner reminds us of the importance of saying  "I don't know" and how some teachers are promoting this concepts in school.   In a world that usually rewards people who "know it all", having the courage to say "I don't know" adds many points to your trustworthiness score.   

Eli Goldratt, the founder of Theory of Constraints used to remind his students to "never say you know", meaning that no matter how familiar you are with a situation, there is always room for improvement.

What kind of person do you prefer, an "I don't know" or a "know it all"?

The Reinvention of Management

In the first installment of a series of articles, Steve Denning talks about five major shifts that are changing the way organizations should be managed, which are the following:

• Shift #1: New goal: From inside-out to outside in, or focusing on delighting customers
• Shift #2: New role for managers: From controller to enabler, or allowing employees to work together and harness their creativity to delight customers 
• Shift #3: New coordination: From Bureaucracy to Dynamic Linkage, or shifting from top down relationships to an environment of collaboration
• Shift #4: From Value to Values, or shifting focus from monetary gains to operating according to a set of values that customers identify with
• Shift #5: Communications: From command to conversation, allowing employees to collaborate with each other to create products and services that delight customers

All of these shifts are discussed in more detail in his book, Radical Management.

Basics of Queues and Murphy's Law

Bill Hammack has a short but very illustrative video on the basics of queues, using supermarkets and telephone centrals as examples.

The idea of thinking that your line is always the longest is also influenced by how the human mind works.   Believing that Murphy's Law is there to make things worse is in part explained by the fact that people remind negative experiences more intensely than positive experiences.   

In summary, you will easily remember when that supermarket line was too long;  but not when you were "lucky" and stood in a short and quick line.

Moving Forward Faster

Bob Emiliani's new book about Lean is called "Moving Forward Faster",  and is a summary of his six previous books on continuous improvement.   In the book he questions many "firmly held notions" about economics, history, politics, and society, and how many of them run in the opposite direction to what a Lean organization should do.

You can read Jon Miller's review on the book here.

How To Kill The Root Of A Limiting Belief

Barrie Davenport, personal and life development coach, shares some thoughts about the power of limiting beliefs and how they can impact your life's goals and satisfaction.

 

When working on change and initiatives, many times the key to improving performing lies within the validity of assumptions we are making about a particular situation.   Every continuous improvement methodology provides a method to uncover the underlying assumptions regarding a particular problem:   In Theory of Constraints, the Logical Thinking Processes;   in the Toyota Production System, the Five Why's, and so forth.

Questioning the current assumptions about a particular situation is not limited to a business setting;  it is also very useful to your daily life.    Continuous improvement has no boundaries, and for all of us who work as change facilitators, we should not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk.

About Change

Seth Godin shares some inspiring quotes about change. 

This one in particular, I liked the most:

"On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right."

It reminds me of that famous quote:  "the right choice is almost always the most difficult choice".

Ford, Ohno and other Giants

Bill Waddell describes some of the significant contributions that Henry Ford brought to manufacturing and to management thinking.   One of Ford's radical ideas was to pay his employees twice the average wage at the time and reduce the hourly shift by 20%.   Contrary to what many Wall Street analysts would believe today, his bottom line improved significantly.

It is no wonder why Taichii Ohno was very impressed by Ford's teachings, and developed his ideas upon his contributions.   Eli Goldratt, the founder of Theory of Constraints (ToC) wrote an article some years back where he also recognizes Ford's and Ohno's contributions on how to manage operations and gives his own point of view as well.

As a general rule, we shouldn't reinvent the wheel when tackling a subject, as there have always been significant contributions made by others.   Newton's famous phrases captures that spirit beautifully, by saying "If I have seen further it is only because I'm standing on the shoulders of giants".