20 Most Common Grammar Mistakes People Make

We all have to communicate in verbal and written form.   Want some simple advice?

Read this great post about the twenty most common grammar mistakes people make.

What They Don't Teach You In College

We all know that there are many things that are almost impossible to learn in college, that you hope you had in mind when you started your professional life.    After reading this article about the things you don't learn in college, I could not help but smile while remembering how naive and innocent one used to be.

Everything You Know About Learning Is Wrong

Everything from note taking, to study hours, and frequency of study.  What if everything you know about learning is wrong?  

Read about it here.

Free Creativity Workbook

If you're looking for some ideas on creativity, take a look at this free workbook titled Why Creativity.   It comes in PDF and Kindle Format.

Helping Others Goes a Long Way

Someone sent me this wonderful video, of how helping others is always a win - win - win proposition.

Great Idea For People to Save Money

One of the most important variables in a healthy economy is people's attitude towards savings.   What has been frequently found, is that people worry very little about the future, and instead like to focus on short term purchases and satisfaction.

The guys at Freakonomics received an excellent suggestion of how to induce people to save, starting from a very young age.

Will this help us improve our financial education?

Theory X, Theory Y or Theory Z?

When studying classic business management, one often runs to McGregor's theories about motivation in the workplace, Theory X and Theory Y:

• Theory X claims that employees aren't inherently lazy and dislike work, so managers must ensure a continuous supervision and control system is in place so people perform their work
• Theory Y claims that employees are self motivated and enjoy work, so managers must ensure that the proper environmental conditions exist so people perform their work 

Today we know that Theory X is ineffective for the vast majority of environments.   There is also a third and related motivational theory, Theory Z:

• Theory Z claims that employees want to build cooperative relationships with their employers, so managers must ensure that they a participate management system is in place and that their is job security for them.

So what are you doing today to motivate your employees and improve your organization?

We Are All Weird

Seth Godin, one of my favorite marketing authors and speakers, recently gave an excellent interview about his latest book, We Are All Weird, where he discusses the current shift in business:  from building products and services that appeal to the masses to building products that appeal to specific niches.   

The interview also touches on several ideas of his past bestsellers, such as Unleashing the Ideavirus, Purple Cow, and Permission Marketing.   

For all of you marketers out there, this an interview you can't miss.  And because we are always promoting ourselves as a brand, this may be useful to everybody.

Why Don't Employees Disclose Their Problems?

One of the critical signs you can look for to see if a company is committed to continuous improvement, is the way it manages its problems.   You could categorize companies into two types:

• Companies where the predominant culture is to avoid talking about problems, because it's likely your personal situation will get worse if you do, be it in the way of getting blamed for it, being reprimanded for it, or any other negative outcome.
• Companies that openly talk about their problems, and management even encourages employees get problems out in the open, in order to continuously improve company performance.

Of course, you'll find companies that are somewhere in the middle of these two extremes.   But let's be honest:   what type of company is more predominant in business?   Read Jamie Flinchbaugh's take on why employees don't always disclose problems, and what to do about it.

Looking for Great Ideas For Innovation?

The d.school, part of the institute of design at Stanford, has an amazing workbook full of ideas, methods, how-to's and other valuable information about innovation and design.   For all of us that have be continuously innovating in our work, this book is a great resource for many professionals out there. Best of all, it's free under the Creative Commons License.

The End of Toyota As We Know It?

After 50+ years promising lifetime employment, it seems that Toyota is starting to question this basic tenet of their organizational culture, which makes them one of a kind.   The effort to maintain a large percentage of their manufacturing in Japan, and an appreciating yen, may have become something to great to bear.

Is this the beginning of the end, to the source of one of the greatest management methodologies in the modern world?

Are you Thin or Thick Skinned?

A new psychology book is out called Your Emotional Type, that examines people through how easily external stimuli affect their lives.    Under this concept, there are two types of people:

• Thin boundary people, or people that are highly sensitive to input from their surroundings, are like "walking antennaes", and are "thin skinned"
• Thick boundary people, or people that have a high resistance to input from their surroundings, and are "thick skinned"

Now you may ask, why is this relevant for management?

When leading change of any type, it is critical to understand the people involved, and see what kind of people are best fit for certain tasks and activities.     Would you hire a "thin boundary person" to manage a customer service line?

You can take a test to see if you are thin or thick skinned here, and read Therese Borchard's great review about the book here.

What Software Do You Need To Support Lean?

Derek Singleton shares his views about the adequate software requirements to support a Lean implementation.   Although it was written focusing on a Lean implementation, I believe the concepts apply any other continuous improvement methodology such as Theory of Constraints (TOC) or Six Sigma.

The other important important reminder about software, is as Eli Goldratt used to say, "it's necessary but not sufficient", meaning that if your software is supporting an ineffective way of managing your company, then you won't see any improvements to the bottom line.

Dots and patterns: making your competitors colour blind

Iwan Jenkins talks about the power of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) in conjunction with narrative to identify how a company is currently performing.  The net promoter score is a key question to ask when investigating customer satisfaction, and it basically ask the question:

Would you recommend this product or service to a friend or colleague?  Why?

So, are your customers eager to recommend your products or services?   If not, why?

10 Must Reads for Continuous Improvement Thinkers

Ron Pereira, of the Lean Six Sigma Academy, shares his list of 10 suggested readings for continuous improvement practitioners for 2012.

I agree with most of the items on the list, but I would include Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kanehman and Toyota Kata by Mike Rother.

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".

Milliken, the Anti-Kodak

Kevin Meyer writes about Milliken, a company in the textile business in the US, and how its management was able to keep the company growing even when faced with cheap imports.

I particularly like his point about management not joining the "whining crowd", and instead, focusing on challenging the way things are done now.   Milliken also is a great example of how to "segment your markets and not your resources", or how to serve other markets using current capabilities, to grow sales and mitigate risks.

Why do we pay sales commissions?

Dan Ostund exposes his ideas around the elimination of commissions for salespeople.

No matter who explores this subject, the conclusion is always along the same lines:  they are detrimental and counter productive.

About Asking Questions and Answers

One of the basic principles of continuous improvement is understanding the "why" of things.   How often do you look for it?

Seth reminds us, as usual, to never forget to ask why, even if that means the status quo needs to be challenged.

How often do you ask why?

Becoming Trustworthy "On the Spot"

The Freakonomics guys recently highlighted a different way to recruit, using the hiring of cryptographers in the UK as an example.

This process reminds me of Charles Green's principles of trustworthiness, and how a quick way to become trustworthy is to show your abilities on the spot.   For example, a consulting company giving a sales presentation to a client could focus on giving some practical advice for the client, instead of focusing on showing his company's credentials.

Now how many firms have you met before, that are trustworthy on the spot?

Why It Pays to Panic Early (and How to Do it Effectively)

Mark McGuinness of Lateral Action has a point about how panicking can be a productive strategy to get more done.

It's interesting, when looking at the long term, how little time we have to achieve the things we want to do.

The Purple Musician

Seth Godin coined the term Purple Cow many years ago, to refer to something so extraordinary, that you just have to tell everybody about it.

Benjamin Zander is definitely a Purple Musician, and the TED Talk he gave some years ago is simply remarkable.

Cash is King - The Real Bottom Line

David Ottenstein reminds us of what is the real bottom line for any company:  it's cash flow position.   

In his book, "Manufacturing for the Real Bottom Line", he describes a three phased approach to focus improvement efforts and improve the bottom line of a company, consisting of:

• Phase 1 - Make Profit Equal Profit, or measure where your company stands right now and where it should be
• Phase 2 - Make Cash Flow Equal Profit, or ensure that you improve significantly your cash flow, through operational improvements, with the objective of cash flow being equal to your net profit
• Phase 3 - Optimize Gross Margin, or look at your current cost structure to see how costs can be improved.

After all, remember that cash is king.