Hockey-stick forecasts
The “hockey-stick forecast” is a fairly common concept for people who deal regularly with future plans of one type or another.
Plan
Why CEOs struggle to align their organizations
Properly integrated management systems are the most important tool that a CEO has for aligning an organization and creating a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. Management systems help all management levels plan, execute, report and improve their area of responsibility in accordance with the CEO's strategic direction.
The origin of “R2”
When we studied organizations and how management reacted to off-schedule conditions or variances from their plan, we noticed that results that came relatively close to an objective were generally considered "good enough."
What’s the real problem?
An auto-parts supplier who made plastic components for a large car manufacturer needed to increase the throughput of one of its production lines, because the line was losing money.
Never present “new” ideas
We were working in the food and beverage area at a beautiful Ritz-Carlton resort. It was an important meeting: we were presenting method changes that had been developed with the help of the leaders of the stewarding and banquet areas.
Start with the conclusion
Lesson Learned #20
There is a pretty funny story about a lesson learned by a consultant. It was told to us by a ...
A strategy needs to solve a problem
Lesson Learned #17
One of our early clients asked us if we were interested in helping him develop a strategy for ...
Avoid empty jargon
Lesson Learned #12
In the early days of the company the founders had to figure out how to position the firm in ...
Benchmarking others rarely helps
Lesson Learned #7
The idea of benchmarking your processes against other divisions, other firms or other ...
Why your customer’s vision is more important than your own
Paint their picture, not yours.
Look forward when implementing change
Look where you want to go.
Four questions to understand how your business makes money
Find the racks.