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Volume 3 | Number 1 | January 2020

Scrapping the Notion of New Year’s Resolutions

We are now into the third full week of the New Year. If you made resolutions, how many are still in-place? Statistics show 90% are dropped within the first 30 days.

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When Ludicrous becomes Scandalous

When Ludicrous becomes Scandalous.

I like to have fun with the words ludicrous and scandalous. By personal definitions are as follows:

Ludicrous; We’ve all been there… Billy always has the crazy ideas. Often, they’re actually worth looking into and determining if they have any substance. However, with any good brainstorming there are the occasional ludicrous ideas. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the occasional ludicrous idea, just don’t spend resources on it.

Scandalous; Is spending time and money on that ludicrous idea…!

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The Important gets Sacrificed for the Urgent

Entropy Busters® Series
Volume 2 | Number 12 | December 2019

Sacrificing the Important for The Urgent

Do you or anyone within your organization ever sacrifice the important for the urgent? This is one of the key challenges of many organizations. When you look at the team member’s challenges: e-mails, mobile phones and open work spaces, it’s nearly impossible to find the quiet time and space to complete meaningful work. This reality is echoed by team leadership. Many, if not all, say they would love to work on certain priorities…if they only had the time…

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Inventory Is NOT a Security Blanket!

Why do we care about inventory?

  • It costs money
  • It uses needed capacity
  • It negatively affect service
  • It hides problems thereforeIt delays fixing problems!!!
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Knocking off the Training Wheels – November 2019

Volume 2 | Number 11 | November 2019

Knocking Off the Training Wheels
Recently, I attended two industry functions and spent several days with other consultants, advisors and strategists. It’s always great to be around other smart people. It makes you elevate your own game.

However, there can be a downside to meeting with these professionals.

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Enterprise vs Cost Center Thinking

Don’t fool yourself by only considering incremental cost.

World class organizations think enterprise wide when completing cost analysis.

Don’t get trapped into trying to optimize,

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Do you have Vendors or Supplier Partnerships?

So what is the difference between a vendor and supplier partner?

A vendor supplies products. Examples are; when at a sports or entertainment venue and you buy; soda, beer, food or candy.

Suppliers are enterprises providing goods and services that are recognizable to you as the customer.

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Leadership starts with Change… And Change starts with Leadership…

A colleague recently asked what I use to train Change Management.

Leadership starts with Change… And Change starts with Leadership…

Helps to set the tone of importance and the dependence of both.

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Plan “B” for China

Let’s start with the realization that plan “A” to relocate operations to China had a major flaw. If you moved manufacturing to China, India or any other low- cost producing country with the intention of importing goods back to North America or Europe (half a world away), then your plan was unsound!

I was taught to do everything possible to reduce lead-times and increase inventory velocity! Why is this important? Longer lead-times increase inventory. More inventory equates to less profits. Why? Because inventory delays fixing problems. When I see corporations chasing the labor “ghost”, I cringe! Labor typically accounts for 8-12% of the total cost of ownership. But too many leaders only have one play in their play book: to reduce labor costs by moving head count to low cost countries! They are missing 90% of the total cost of ownership!

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The Simple Mistakes of Executive Development

At one point in our careers we all have been part of executive development. Some good, some could have been executed better.

I often see mistakes and/or steps missing in executive development implementation. So before jumping in to the deep end of the pool, there are four elements that should be concerned:

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