November 13, 2008
By Chris Massaro
It's tough to wake up each morning and face the day, as we're met with bad news everywhere we turn. It's gotten so bad, that I don't watch the news when I get home from work, and look forward to the excitement of getting back to my office, which seems to insulate me from the fire storm outside. As we watch our investments ride the roller coaster of the stock market, and watch every major news stations continuously recite the bad news on a 24-hour loop, it's easy to assume a position of paralysis. In times like these, it's apparent that many of the people we rely on for guidance, namely our government, appear to have no answers. Last week I saw a Today Show interview with Bill Gates, and this past week I read an op-ed piece written by Warren Buffet, and both men made too much sense to me.
November 6, 2008
By Eric Kramer
Statistics Can be Misleading
My favorite quote about statistics is, “If you have one foot in scalding hot water and one foot in freezing cold water on the average you are comfortable.” With this quote in mind, according to a Hudson Survey, 75% of all employees surveyed label their interview experience as either good or excellent. Only 5% rate the interview as poor. However and here is where the statistics get confusing, 20% say the job they took did not match the job they were told about in the interview. And a similar number, 19%, say they did not meet their boss before joining the company. Thus, interviews considered either good or excellent had poor outcomes. A Hudson representative concluded, “There is room for improvement”; I agree.
October 31, 2008
By Nick Burkholder
Value Metrics ????
No, we’re not coining another term; there are too many already. But there is a growing disconnect between all the performance data being thrown about and actual performance value that you should recognize.
October 29, 2008
By David Bush
A traditional hierarchical pyramid that was originated by Alexander the Great is incompatible with the Outside-in® Customer-centric organization. The pyramid has a leader at the top and the leader or a group of leaders formulate strategy and pass down orders. Those occupying the base of the pyramid are to follow the commands of the leader as they are passed through the layers in the “chain of command”. Alexander was not interested in innovation or creativity; he wanted his orders to be executed precisely. What should we call those with whom his foot soldiers interacted? Are they customers? Were they given a needs assessment? No, many had no choices and many perished. It is almost as difficult to think of the citizens who deal with the IRS as being customers. Who will argue that the IRS is an Outside-In® organization?
October 28, 2008
By David F. Bush
When Xerox gave us their true story of redemption through Benchmarking, we had a tale of corporate salvation that rivaled Japan’s story of national salvation from the lessons of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. A popular term that emerged from the Benchmarking movement of the 1980s was Best Practices. These practices were statistically evaluated within a data base that allowed comparisons among the performance of different organizations in a particular data base. The limitation of these studies is the size of the sample and the representativeness of the companies in the sample. How can we assert that we have discovered a best practice unless we have included the best performing company in our sample? Secondly, these studies are time limited. Last year’s best practice may not lead to top performance one year later. The bottom line for good benchmarking is the right metrics and the right data.