Archive for category Leadership
The Dog-and-Pony Show
Posted by enrique s in Career, Leadership on June 17th, 2010
It was presented as a chance for me to shine. Face time with one of the big boys. All good news to report. A piece of cake. The usual dog-and-pony show. Just talk to the slides, and you’ll do just fine.
And I would have done just fine, if only we were all on the same page.
With one of my program managers out on travel, I was pressed into service. I had to present the status of one of his large contracts to our director’s boss, the Super Director (in the old days he would have been considered a VP). I’m no stranger to giving presentations, and jumped at the chance to show off in front of one of the bigwigs. If I did a good enough job, maybe it would lead to something. It lead to something that I didn’t expect.
The time to present was upon me. I stood in front of the familiar conference room, and began my old soft-shoe:
“The contract is fully funded. We’ve achieved on-time deliveries for the past 6 months. We have some opportunities for support labor savings, yada yada yada, and there’s a new representative for the customer. Any questions?”
I was asking only the Super Director; everyone else in the room knew that you don’t ask any tough questions at a dog-and-pony show. That’s the point of a dog-and-pony show; it’s to show our upper management how great a job we’re doing (You need extra-long arms to be able to pat yourself on the back like that). Apparently, not everyone had read the rules. Vito has surprised me with his lack of decorum in the past. And he stayed true to form, with his own, unexpected question:
“What about the negative customer satisfaction rating that we received from the new representative last quarter? Has our relationship with the customer been damaged to hinder our ability to work together in the future?”
It was like somebody dragged the needle across an old vinyl record. The silence was deafening. I tried to speak, but it came out like Ralph Kramden, “Hommina hommina hommina”. I went from the old soft-shoe to a frenzied tap dance. I might have even broke into the Robot. DAMAGE CONTROL! I made up some bullshit, which smoothed things over, and thought of how I was going to crush Vito’s windpipe after the meeting.
After the meeting, our Director called us into his office for a quick brow-beating. “What the hell was that? You guys better have your stories straight before you go into a meeting with my boss. I don’t want to see that bullshit happening ever again!” He was right. Knowing his history as a loose cannon, I should have briefed Vito on what questions he was allowed to ask. We not only made ourselves look bad, but also the Director, in front of his boss, no less.
So the next time someone tells you it’s a sure thing, make sure you go back and cover all of your bases first. No need for a loose cannon to ruin your big moment.
Print This Post
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Related Posts -
Consistently Excellent My cousin used to take on various side jobs to help pay the bills. When I was a teenager, he would recruit me to help out. In most cases, I didn't have any skills required for the job, be it roofing, or putting up drywall. He used to joke,...... -
My Own TPS Report Story Adam Tinworth Peter, we need to talk about your TPS reports... If you've seen the movie Office Space (if you haven't, I highly recommend it), you know what a TPS report represents: some mindless drivel that gets consistently generated, its reason for being long forgotten. Earlier in my career,...... -
Eat Your Dog! Before Conspiracy Guy got laid off last month, his family "rescued" a greyhound that apparently couldn't run as fast as it used to. A noble gesture, to be sure, but not a smart idea if you have an inkling that you're about to be shitcanned from your job. Why......
Related Websites -
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_a.png?x-id=92878274-9116-4c54-a179-5012647684ba "Reblog this post [with Zemanta]")
Top Ten Ways to Deal with Anger In managing my own expectations, upsets, frustration or anger...I have come to realize that the issue is not with anyone else. The issue is with me. I choose to get frustrated or upset. I choose to be angry. The other person, especially my husband, did not make me angry. Blaming...... -
Dave Ramsey: An Introduction For New Fans Dave Ramsey is a household name when it comes to personal finances. He is by far the leading financial coach in America. And I’ll be honest I am a big Ramsey fan. I listen to his radio show on podcast and this Christmas I gave everyone in my family...... -
The Pit Ball Goes to the Dogs as Vicktory Emerges Victorious [/caption] I wrote about The Great Pit Ball before -- when it was just a glimmer in its host's eye. A very defined kind of glimmer, true, but when we talked, everything for the grand event was only just coming together. Today, I spoke to Mr. Bond again, with The......
Enemies
Posted by enrique s in Career, Leadership on June 16th, 2010
Photo by Caveman 92223 � On the 2010 US Tour
I was watching the movie Valkyrie the other day on HBO. If you haven’t seen it, it a Hollywoodized version of a plot to kill Hitler by his own officers. I was struck by the scene in which Tom Cruise’s character arrives at a conference at Hitler’s private retreat. Because he’s a war hero who has been maimed, he appears above reproach, and his briefcase is not searched for anything deadly. The same briefcase that contains the bomb meant for Hitler.
The irony of this is that the surrounding area of the camp was heavily guarded. You see German soldiers in trenches, staring out at the woods, waiting for an enemy that would slip by them, wearing their own uniform no less. One bored soul kills a mosquito with the lit end of his cigarette. The soldiers were expecting an enemy dressed in the uniform of the Red Army, not the German Army. They were lulled into a false sense of security.
Why this scene struck me has to do with recent events at work. A recent addition to our team, Alibi Ike, has a big target painted on him. Unfortunately, it’s been painted by his own people. He’s being undermined, and has no idea that it’s his own subordinates who want to take him down. You can feel the desperation as he tries to maintain control of his department, circling the wagons, so to speak, against an unknown enemy. If only he knew.
Much like Hitler, he wasn’t expecting his enemies to be from his own camp. Tensions in his department have been rising steadily, and I expect some form of mutiny in the near future. I haven’t been asked by either side to intervene, so I’m keeping my nose out of it. It is great theater, though, watching a conspiracy take shape. When the coup does occur, the method of assassination won’t be a bomb in a briefcase. It will be something subtler, like a screwed-up high-profile assignment. A career-ender.
So that sage advice from Sun-tzu, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”, should come with a caveat: Know who your enemy is first; he may not be the usual suspect. Then you can take precautions against the figurative bomb in the briefcase.
I’ll keep you posted about the fate of Alibi Ike.
Print This Post
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Posts -
The Week that Everything Broke I've had a rough week. Not because the transmission went on my car. Not because my computer was on the shelf for a few days while we worked out some spyware issues. It wasn't that my son broke a bracket on his braces, or that our whiz-bang forecasting system at...... -
Living in the Past Photo by archangel_raphael I heard some people at work sharing war stories. You know, how many home runs they hit in their senior year in high school; how much hair they used to have; how thin they used to be in college. I even heard one guy admit that...... -
The Dog-and-Pony Show It was presented as a chance for me to shine. Face time with one of the big boys. All good news to report. A piece of cake. The usual dog-and-pony show. Just talk to the slides, and you'll do just fine. And I would have done just fine, if......
Related Websites - Review of Ty's Tricks by Ty Pennington Since tomorrow is July 4th, I've decided to take it off. There will be no blog post tomorrow which is why the book review is today instead of Friday. Have a great weekend everyone! If you're into do it yourself television, you've undoubtedly heard of Ty Pennington. He's been on......
-
Stem Cell Research Trial for Congestive Heart Failure Image via Wikipedia Look what we have here- another stem cell research trial for heart disease (congestive heart failure) and another heart patient has his life improved. This time, at the University of Louisville, the first heart failure patient treated with his own Adult Stem Cells has improved already,...... -
NYC car bomb suspect pleads guilty [/caption] NEW YORK – Calling himself a Muslim soldier, a defiant Pakistan-born U.S. citizen pleaded guilty Monday to carrying out the failed Times Square car bombing and left a sinister warning that unless the U.S. leaves Muslim lands alone, "we will be attacking U.S." Faisal Shahzad entered the plea in......
Memories of Corruption
Posted by enrique s in Career, Leadership, Money on June 8th, 2010
Photo by Hryck.
Just like A Law & Order episode comes a story “ripped form the day’s headlines.” Power brokers conspire with members of an organization in order to make illicit profits. The conspirators succeed, but also get caught red-handed by a probe. Reputations are ruined, money is lost by the organization. If you think I’m talking about the Kansas Ticket Scalping scandal, you’re only partly correct.
The recent ticket scalping scandal at the University of Kansas brought back memories of the first company that I worked for. Our company’s CEO was caught defrauding the government by working in cahoots with a supplier. The supplier received no-bid contracts and preferential treatment, with taxpayers footing the bill. This caused the credibility of my company to suffer, and caused the ruination of many careers at both companies.
The Kansas scandal involves the Pump brothers, who are major power brokers in the college basketball world. They orchestrated a ticket scalping operation that netted two Kansas officials more than $800,000. Losses to the school are estimated to range close to $3 million. The pair sold thousands of tickets to the NCAA basketball tournament, a clear violation of the rules against selling more than 8 tickets at a time. Another four people will possibly face civil charges.
At my old company, our CEO accepted more than half a million dollars in personal loans from a defense industry power broker. In return, the power broker’s company received contracts from my company, an old “wink-wink-nudge-nudge” kind of deal. These sweetheart deals may have cost taxpayers millions of extra dollars, because they didn’t go through the DoD’s formal procurement process.
Are these rich guys not making enough money? Why are they stupid enough to risk all that they have for illegal profits? These were not calculated risks; with so many people involved, someone was bound to screw up. At Kansas, it was the official who was facing sentencing on an unrelated bribery charge. At my old company, the Operation Ill Wind investigation brought the illegal activities to light. Karma can be a bitch.
What’s even more ironic is the fact that our CEO had made us watch a refresher on the company’s Code of Ethics each year. There he was, schooling us on the importance of time charging and the acceptance of gifts from our suppliers. He was wary of the behavior of the peons in the organization. He obviously didn’t practice what he preached, as the corruption occurred at the highest level in the company: his office.
Print This Post
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Posts -
Sarbanes-Oxley, or, How to Waste a Tremendous Amount of Money Any beancounter out there can probably tell you at least one Sarbanes-Oxley horror story. SOX, as it's sometimes called, created a whole cottage industry of companies that ensured that you were SOX-compliant. There were practice audits, creating findings from these practice audits, leading to corrections to procedures, to more practice...... -
Best of Money Carnival #26 Photo by ishrona Welcome to the 26th edition of the Best of Money Carnival! This was my first-ever hosting experience, and I was blown away by all of the quality submissions. It was extremely tough whittling the list down to just 10; I could have easily picked twice that...... -
Getting the Most Out of Your Per Diem Photo by kainet I was on a business trip recently with other members of my "team". When the subject of dinner came up, one of the members, who will remain nameless, suggested the Golden Arches. That's right, McDonalds. He wanted to try to make money on the trip, and......
Related Websites - Weakon 152: How Insurance Companies Make Money Insurance is the most important thing we never think about. That's what is so great about insurance, we never have to think about it. This is not an introduction to the types of insurance nor a commentary of all the bad press insurance companies always seem to get. Insurance......
-
5 Innovations Senior Citizens Will Want in Future Cars What will aging seniors need and want the most in future cars?Here is our list of the 5 most important improvements we believe cars of the future should have in order to make driving safer and easier for older people. 1. Better visionWe need to be able to see all around the car, back and front. The cars should have...... -
SourceWatch:nn * Air Transport Associationn * Allegheny Powern * Aluminum Association, Inc.n * American Automobile Manufacturers Associationn * American Commercial Barge Line Co.n * American Farm Bureau Federationn * American Forest & Paper Associationn * American Highway Users Alliancen * American Iron and Steel Instituten * American Petroleum Instituten * American Portland Cement Alliancen * Amocon * Association of American Railroadsn * Associ" title="Global_Climate_Coalition" target="_blank">SourceWatch:nn * Air Transport Associationn * Allegheny Powern * Aluminum Association, Inc.n * American Automobile Manufacturers Associationn * American Commercial Barge Line Co.n * American Farm Bureau Federationn * American Forest & Paper Associationn * American Highway Users Alliancen * American Iron and Steel Instituten * American Petroleum Instituten * American Portland Cement Alliancen * Amocon * Association of American Railroadsn * Associ" border=0>Still Deny That Climate Change Is Real? This Is Who Agrees With You. The Global Climate Coalition (GCC) was an outspoken and confrontational industry group in the United States battling reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. Started in 1989, some of the original members included Amoco, American Petroleum Institute, Chevron, Exxon, Shell Oil, and Texaco, and they assembled together in order to......
Alibi Ike
Posted by enrique s in Career, Leadership, Motivation, Rants on May 18th, 2010
Alibi Ike was a character in a series of short stories written by Ring Lardner. They centered around a baseball player who was prone to making excuses for his shortcomings.
Several excuses are always less convincing than one. - Aldous Huxley
In the midst of the recent layoffs and reorganization at my place of business, my group inherited a company lifer from another area. While he has a finance background, and seems to be a decent guy, I think he’s going to have trouble lasting through the next layoff. The reason: he likes to make excuses. He’s our very own Alibi Ike.
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. - Henry Ward Beecher
Well, they sound innocent enough:
“I just took over this project, so you’ll have to bear with me.”
“We used to have a larger staff, but I’ve lost 40% of my people.”
“I thought so-and-so was handling that one.”
“Everyone’s morale is down due to the layoffs.”
“I wanted to stay late to help, but I had a doctor’s appointment last night.”
“I know it’s crunch time, but I had this vacation planned long before I was transferred into this department.”
On their own, they don’t sound like a big deal. But I sit within earshot of Ike, and I see a pattern developing. A pattern that makes me think that Ike’s a little full of shit.
Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure. - Don Wilder and Bill Rechin
If Ike only knew what our boss valued most: accountability. I once worked for a controller who was, err, let’s just say he was exacting. He looked like John Locke from Lost. When our computer system crashed the night before his flash numbers were due, he would accept no excuse for missing the deadline. “We have four hours. Get your ass and a calculator over to shipping and get me my sales numbers!” True, he was a prick, but he did get his flash numbers in on time.
Success is a tale of obstacles overcome, and for every obstacle overcome, an excuse not used. - Robert Brault
The controller taught me a lesson that day: any obstacle can be overcome if you perservere. So when you’re hit with a challenge, stop whining about how hard it is. Challenges are difficult in their design; that’s why they’re called challenges. Suck it up and find a way around it. Don’t let yourself off easy with an excuse.
The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse. ~Author Unknown
Print This Post
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Posts -
Brett Favre: But With a Whimper Paul O'Neill hit 21 homers. Tiki Barber rushed for over 1,600 yards. Jim Brown scored 17 touchdowns in his last year. These athletes walked away while they were still at the top of their games. But this week we saw another example of a person taking one curtain call...... -
Lateness Man Photo by bogenfreund There's a type of person that I've always had to deal with at work. He's not the most punctual person in the world. He's not a new hire; he's been around seemingly forever. Look, up at the clock, he's tardy again, it's twenty past eight, it's...... -
Enemies Photo by Caveman 92223 � On the 2010 US Tour I was watching the movie Valkyrie the other day on HBO. If you haven't seen it, it a Hollywoodized version of a plot to kill Hitler by his own officers. I was struck by the scene in which Tom......
Related Websites - Stop Making Excuses And Do Something I found out fairly recently that I'm an excellent negotiator. I've always had a knack for being able to talk to customer service representatives over the phone and get a better deal, but until a month ago, I would never have tried it in person. I thought it would be downright......
-
Save Time, Money and Space in Over 80 Ways If you're looking for handy gadgets, tools and various items that can save you time, money or space (or all three!) this list of more than 80 top products is just what you need. Everyone's got saving money on their minds these days. Some of us are always looking to...... - Simple Living: Chapter 2 Summary From The Complete Idiot's Guide to Simple Living by Georgene Lockwood, 2000. Chapter 2: Simplicity and the Spirit "Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity."-- Julia Cameron The Least You have to Know Simple living can......
Reshuffling at the Office
Posted by enrique s in Career, Leadership, Motivation on March 16th, 2010
Change it had to come
We knew it all along
-from The Who song “Won’t Get Fooled Again”
We had another reorganization at my company. That’s the second in about six months, for those keeping score at home. Divisions were consolidated, all in the name of enabling future growth. I’m a skeptic and a realist (and maybe a little paranoid), so I expected some announcement about cost-cutting.
But the world looks just the same
And history ain’t changed
Well, we didn’t have to wait long. Two days later brought an official release from our VP, who broke the bad news in an email. Layoffs would start in a month. Anyone who wished to be put on a voluntary list should stop by HR for the necessary paperwork. Happy Monday!
Meet the new boss
On a surprising note, the incumbent leaders in my area were all sacked. That there replacements were from a lower pay grade was merely a coincidence. Yeah, right. We had our first staff meeting with the new big cheese today.
Same as the old boss? Maybe not.
Well, I was pleasantly surprised by the new head honcho. He stated that the restructuring made little sense to him, too. He said to expect personnel cuts in our organization, and admitted that he had no idea in which direction the company was moving in regard to our division. A pretty candid admission for the first day. I think I’m going to like this guy.
As long as I’m not on his layoff list…
Print This Post
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Posts -
Getting Rich in America Book Review and Summary, Part 2 This is Part 2 of my review and chapter summary of Getting Rich in America: 8 Simple Rules for Building a Fortune and a Satisfying Life by Dwight R. Lee and Richard B. McKenzie. You can read Part 1 of this review by clicking the following link: Getting Rich in...... -
Barbaric Book Review: Die Broke by Stephen M. Pollan, Part 1 In Die Broke, Stephen M. Pollan and Mark Levine propose "a radical, four-part financial plan to restore your confidence, increase your net worth, and afford you the lifestyle of your dreams." Hey, sign me up! The book, first published in 1997, attempts to poke holes in conventional financial and estate...... -
Cut $1,500 From Your Energy Bill Consumer Reports recently listed 4 strategies to lower your energy bill by $1,500. You can read the original article by following this link: Cut Your Energy Bills. Heating & Cooling - $550 savings Eliminate leaks Check insulation levels Correct ductwork Lock double-hung windows to prevent air from escaping Open......
Related Websites -
Using a Home Improvement Company for Best Results The best thing that you can do with a home improvement company is actually use their expertise. This is something that many people are afraid of doing because they fear that they might get sucked into paying an extra amount of money for the services of a company. This would...... -
Budgeting for Insurance Many people believe that they are forced to pay whatever it is that their insurance company is telling them to pay. This method of thinking may be true across the board when it comes to insurance policies like health insurance, auto insurance, home insurance and life insurance, but there is...... -
Getting Motivated the Right Way One of the key components to eating right is getting motivated. While it's easy enough at first to have grand plans, if you don't have enough motivation to do the follow through, there's just no point. In order to make sure that you're successful with your diet, you're going......
The Comedian at Work
Posted by enrique s in Career, Leadership, Rants on February 24th, 2010
Every group of workers has a comic amongst them. He lightens the mood, pointing out the absurdities of rules and procedures. In my office, our own funny man, much like the Comedian from the Watchmen comics, tends to be a little darker in his approach to humor.
Our Comedian is a true original. Nobody is safe from his satiric barbs. He’s quick with a comeback, downplaying his frequent jabs with, “you put that one on a tee for me.” His appearance is deceiving, too, as he approaches everything with an air of annoyed nonchalance. It would appear to an outsider that he doesn’t care about his job, his responsibilities, or his coworkers. That outsider couldn’t be more off base.
The Comedian, you see, is a disguise. Underneath the facade dwells an intelligent man who cares deeply about his responsibilities. Those responsibilities include not only his job, but the well-being of his colleagues. While he might try to convince everyone that he doesn’t give a hoot about anything, subtle clues emerge about his true intentions. After some harmless needling, he’ll jump in and help with a problem. He meets all of his deadlines, and produces quality work. But there is one thing that he does that’s a dead giveaway to his true self.
His biggest benefit: his honesty. He ’s the only one who isn’t afraid to say what he truly thinks. He’s the King Solomon of the office. If you want the straight dope, you ask the Comedian. He pulls no punches, and suffers no fools. Take it or leave it.
He’ll also ask the questions that nobody else has the balls to ask. During a recent gathering with upper management, he asked the VP what everyone else had on their mind: “So, when do the layoffs start?” After a stunned silence, the VP gave the standard, non-answer answer. The Comedian, our champion, rolled his eyes and sat down. A brave question to ask, but not without its perils. I’m sure that he now has a bullseye on his back. No VP likes to be showed up.
The Comedian is our pressure-release valve. When tensions rise in the office due to unrealistic deadlines, and everyone’s hackles are up, a well-timed one-liner from the Comedian diffuses the tightness in the office.
So I’ll enjoy the Comedian for as long as he shares our foxhole, which may not be long. Even he acknowledged that possibility, as he asked me after the meeting with the VP, “Where do they keep the cardboard boxes?” I’ll miss his willingness to take one for the team.
Print This Post
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Posts -
Who Have You Taken for Granted Today? Every office has that generous guy who's got a stash of candy for everyone to enjoy. At my old company, I worked with a little Italian guy from the Bronx. Let's call him Cosimo. Cosimo was that guy. His cubicle was brimming with Snickers bars, Chips Ahoy cookies, Twizzlers, Animal...... -
Blind Loyalty I had a dog when I was growing up, a sheperd/collie mix. He was always loyal, even when I, being the little bastard that I could be at times, would mistreat him, like trying to ride on his back like Peter Griffin did to Brian (only Family Guy fans...... -
Unpaid Overtime: Not Just for Brown Nosers Anymore country_boy_shane I worked with a guy many years ago who lived for overtime. Actually, I think he relied on it to live. Even though he had a college degree, and worked in the finance department, he would work overtime in the kitting department (the stockroom for you non-defense contractor......
Related Websites -
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_a.png?x-id=ca19cc8f-8909-4426-9ecf-89b8342f015a "Reblog this post [with Zemanta]")
What does a man mean when he wants you 2b his lover? L asks: Help - what does a man mean when he says that he wants you to be his lover Dr. Dar says: The answer is It Depends because the answer could vary from man to man. I had a boyfriend who called me that and he meant that he...... -
Usher Performs First Concert In China -- And Sings In Chinese He is joined by Chinese singer Leehom Wang, who helped Usher out on 'OMG.'By Kelley L. Carter Leehom Wang and Usher Photo: 42 West For his first-ever show in Beijing, Usher paired up with Chinese singer Leehom Wang onstage to sing his hit "OMG." They also joined forces on Wang's...... - The "But Everyone Has A" Mentality A few days ago a stranger stopped me outside The Home Depot and asked how old my van was. Apparently, it reminded him of a work van his father drove. "1990," I replied. "Wow, 19 years?" he said with a surprised look on his face. "Does it still run good?"......
Lessons from Watching Jeopardy!
Posted by enrique s in Career, Leadership, Productivity on January 5th, 2010
The wise man knows he doesn’t know. The fool doesn’t know he doesn’t know. - Lao Tzu
One of the TV shows that I like to watch is Jeopardy! Sure, I like to show off how smart I am for my wife, which counteracts my failure to remember to take out the garbage. But I also use it as a barometer of how much I don’t know. And that’s today lesson, grasshopper.
The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
-William Shakespeare
I think it’s in our nature to want to learn new things. The problem is, many corporations develop procedures that force everyone to do things the same exact way. While this does create a consistency, it can also stifle any positive development. I’ve talked about this in the past in this post:
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. -Socrates
Procedures serve their purpose. You need some consistency in the day-to-day operations of your company. But procedures should be written that allow a little “wiggle room”, in order to let you deviate a bit. Otherwise, they should be changed when necessary. The business world is constantly evolving, and companies must be flexible enough to be able to change on the fly.
Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomfort. - Arnold Bennett
Procedures keep us in our comfort zones. They are the Golden Handcuffs, the leash that keeps us in line. They’re the excuse of last resort. If your strategy doesn’t work, you can always blame it on the procedure that you followed. But why blindly follow a procedure that’s forcing your company to weaken itself? Take a hard look at your procedures, and change the ones that do more harm than good. Break out of that cage right now!
Print This Post
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Posts -
The Conspiracy Guy Photo by Marko Miloševi� One of my coworkers is a little paranoid. Well, maybe more than a little. He's always looking for hidden meanings in the most pedestrian announcements that are issued by our company. To him, black is white, up is down, right is left, etc. He thinks...... -
Free Will, or Freewill [/caption] Photo by yngrich There are those who think that life has nothing left to chance A host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance I'm a big fan of the band Rush. They have a unique approach to writing music, and they always surprise me with their creativity...... -
Self-Reliance Series #5A: Prepping Your Home for an Emergency: Shelter, Water, and Fire Photo by howieluvzus This is Part 5A of my self-reliance series. I hope that you've enjoyed the first 4 parts. If you haven't read them, you can do so by clicking on the following links: Self-Reliance Series #1: A Personal Survival Kit (PSK) Self-Reliance Series #2: An Office Survival......
Related Websites -
A New Alternative to Weight Loss Surgery – But is it Safe? The push for instant weight loss has lead to the popularization of surgeries that can dramatically alter the human body and its digestive functions. Complications are numerous, but the demand for weight loss surgery is high and it doesn’t look as though it will be waning any time soon. For...... -
Review: Entire Raintree Trilogy By: Marcia, guest reviewer The review for today is not one, but three novels. The Raintree Trilogy is an weak, anemic effort by three different authors. The premise is that two hundred years ago there was a war between the Raintree clan, a family with paranormal abilities, and the...... - Life ain't always beautiful Gary Allan This is a beautiful song, with beautiful lyrics. I hope it touches you as it touches me. It fit in with the larger discussion of happiness. Karin Life ain't always beautiful Sometimes it's just plain hard Life can knock you down, it can break your heart Life ain't always beautiful......
Deming’s Seven Deadly Diseases
Posted by enrique s in Career, Leadership, Motivation on December 17th, 2009
I’ve wrote about W. Edwards Deming and his 14 Points in a previous post. You can read it here. Today, I’d like to talk about his Seven Deadly Diseases. These were the ailments that Deming saw as reason for the decline of Western Management:
Lack of constancy of purpose to plan product and service that will have a market and keep the company in business and provide jobs.
General Motors, anyone? Remember the Hummer? As people were clamoring for hybrid vehicles, dealerships couldn’t give these beasts away.
Emphasis on short-term profits: short term thinking, fed by fear of unfriendly takeover, and by plush from bankers and owners, for dividends.
My company focuses on “key salients”, i.e. measurable targets such as new orders, sales, profit, etc. Bonuses for the directors are tied to achieving their numbers for the year. It gets real interesting at year-end, as contracts are accepted with less-than-optimal profit margins just to achieve the new orders target. If this isn’t short-term thinking, I don’t know what is.
Personal review system, or evaluation of performance, merit rating, annual review, or annual appraisal, by whatever name, for people in management, the effects of which are devastating. Management by fear would be better, than management by objective without a method for accomplishment.
Oh boy, a pet peeve of mine. Every year, we have to compile a list of our objectives. The achievement of many of these is out of my control, but they count towards my performance anyway. What everyone does is sandbag their objectives, making most of them easy to attain, so that there’s only good news at review time. Nobody wants to miss accomplishing an objective. The system as it exists is basically useless as a management tool.
Mobility of management: job hopping.
One of my former employers encouraged this practice. They felt that you were ready for a new assignment every 18 months, and encouraged job-hopping. The only problem with this, besides lack of continuity with your customers, is that someone could do a lousy job and get promoted out of it - the Peter Principle in practice. You wouldn’t even know what damage was done until the dust settled. These screw-ups were using company policy to run away from their own messes. People were changing jobs more often than Larry Brown.
Use of visible figures only for management, with little or no consideration of figures that are unknown or unknowable.
Our division has been tasked with an 8% annual CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate). Our division is in the defense industry. We’re in a recession. Guess what’s getting cut to help pay for all of last year’s bailouts? That’s right, new defense contracts. Rather than look at a dollar value, we should measure our success against market share. Market share might be harder to measure than new orders, but it is more accurate in determining effectiveness in a declining market.
Excessive medical costs.
My company has a health club on the premises. You pay a small amount as a “copayment”, and you can use the equipment on your own time. We also have free blood pressure screenings. If more companies would offer these preventative measures, maybe we could cut health care costs.
Excessive costs of warranty, fueled by lawyers that work contingency fees.
The product line that I support has a built-in level of expected failures. This leads to the purchase of excess material, which ties up working capital. For every dollar that could be saved, we could invest it back into the company. Think about that when your foreman wants a few extra pieces “just in case”. Improve the quality, and improve the profits.
I’ve pointed out where my company has “sinned”. How about yours? Do you see your own company in any of these examples? If so, have the problems been identified, and any corrective action taken? Let’s hear it in the comments!
Print This Post
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Posts -
Slacking Off at Work Photo by cell105 As we get toward the end of the year, people in my area of expertise (finance) tend to get busy. Very busy. It starts just before Thanksgiving, and just gets crazier as the end of the year gets closer. So today it's Thanksgiving, and I'm planning...... - Barbaric Book Review: Die Broke by Stephen M. Pollan, Part 1 In Die Broke, Stephen M. Pollan and Mark Levine propose "a radical, four-part financial plan to restore your confidence, increase your net worth, and afford you the lifestyle of your dreams." Hey, sign me up! The book, first published in 1997, attempts to poke holes in conventional financial and estate......
-
Demotivation Photo by Thorne Enterprises I love those demotivational posters that people create. These are generally witty, in contrast to those lame, tired, corporate-approved motivational posters from Successories that espouse Teamwork or Attitude; the kind that hang in every director's office in Corporate America, filled with rainbows, rock climbers, or......
Related Websites -
Internet Network Marketing Training And More... Image by larryosan via Flickr Internet Network Marketing is well on its way to becoming a household name. There is a revolution going on right now that you may be missing out on. A few years back lets say 2005 network marketers where starting to fizzle out. The main...... - How Hybrid Diesel Electric Technology Makes a Difference While there are some hybrid diesel electric buses and locomotives operating in the US, the long-awaited Volkswagen hybrid diesel electric Golf that's manufactured in Europe won't be released to United States market as they had originally planned. Volkswagen claims that the price of manufacturing the vehicle is too high. The......
- Making Money With Forex Market Would you like to make easy money? If yes, you should read this article. If you are reading this article I’ve caught you. You are one of those who would like to get a lot instead of doing nothing. In other words you are a dreamer. In real life it......
Deming’s 14 Points
Posted by enrique s in Leadership, Motivation, Productivity on November 30th, 2009
Back when I was working towards my MBA, I had a professor that was very passionate. Let’s call him Nick. One night, Nick polled the class, asking us who we thought was the epitome of a great leader, a person whose policies allowed for everyone to win. When one of my classmates offered Lee Iacocca, the then-chairman of Chrysler as an example, I swear that I could see steam pouring out of Nick’s ears. “LEE IACOCCA!” he bellowed. “Lee Iacocca is building his engines in Mexico! How does that help everybody win? He’s trying to solely increase the bottom line by costing Americans jobs!”
You’re kidding, right?
Rather than ague with Nick, lest he burst a blood vessel in his forehead, we let him rant on. When he finally calmed down, he gave us his example of a good leader: H. Ross Perot. Yup. This was before he ran for president, and just after he sold his business, EDS to General Motors. All that I knew about Ross Perot was that Richard Crenna played him in that movie about a hostage rescue in Iran. As part of this diatribe, Nick also managed to dismiss Peter Drucker and Management By Objectives (MBO), and introduced us to W. Edwards Deming.
Who?
W. Edwards Deming was a statistician by trade, who wound up in postwar Japan to work on the census. He was invited to teach statistical control and the concepts of quality to a group of engineers, managers, and scholars. His concepts were put into practice by Japanese industry, and the rest is history. Japanese goods became renowned for their quality and reliability. Couple that with the energy crisis in the 1970s, and you can understand why Japanese automakers took away market share from Ford, Chrysler, and GM.
Indelible mark
See, while American auto companies were giving us the Corvair and the Pinto, Japanese car companies were building a reputation for quality that trumps American car companies to this day. Maybe Iacocca should have listened to Deming. Anyway, here are his 14 Points:
1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and stay in business, and to provide jobs.
2. Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place.
4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move towards a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.
6. Institute training on the job.
7. Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers.
8. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service.
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.
11.a. Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.
11.b. Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership.
12.a. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality.
12.b. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. This means, inter alia, abolishment of the annual or merit rating and of management by objective.
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job.
It’s funny how these concepts are just being accepted now, more than 20 years after Deming wrote about them in his book Out of the Crisis. My company has started preaching the “factory without walls” concept to help our diverse divisions work together to bring in new business. Too bad they’re still stuck on slogans. Here’s a link to a Wikipedia entry that provides more background on Dr. Deming: W. Edwards Deming at Wikipedia
I’ll be revisiting Deming in the coming weeks, so stay tuned! Why not subscribe, so you don’t miss a new installment? Subscribe
Print This Post
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Posts - Rant of the Day: Asking for Donations at Work I consider myself a generous person. I regularly drop a couple of bucks in the Salvation Army bucket at Christmas time, and buy wreaths from the Cub Scouts. My old clothing gets donated to a veteran's group. These things occur outside of work, where I don't feel compelled to contribute.......
-
8 Things that Will Get You Fired Photo by clementine gallot A recent Yahoo! Shine article discussed the 4 lies that can cost you your job. I'm sure that we've all experienced some of these first-hand. You can read the original article by clicking the following link: 4 Lies that Can Cost You Your Job The...... - Getting Rich in America Book Review and Summary, Part 1 This is Part 1 of my review and chapter summary of Getting Rich in America: 8 Simple Rules for Building a Fortune and a Satisfying Life by Dwight R. Lee and Richard B. McKenzie. I won't turn this into a Cliffs Notes version, but I'll hit the high points, and......
Related Websites - Types Of CPA Offers - Cost Per Action Programs There are many different CPA offers you might see as a CPA marketer. It can seem overwhelming at first to try and figure out what all the different offers are! Some common types you might run across are free trial offers, zip submit, e-mail submit, and those that are similar......
- 3 Easy To Do Step To Start Affiliate Marketing Affiliate marketing is said to be the agreement between an online business and an affiliate, in which the affiliate makes a payment for making sales, guides and clicks for the businessperson's website. Affiliate marketing functions a condition, which is beneficial to both the business and the affiliate. The businessperson gets......
- Make Money On The Internet There is a growing trend for people to want to work from home. Many large companies as well as growing companies are finding it easier and more cost effective to allow employees to work at home. They do not have to provide office space and the employees can save money......
Slacking Off at Work
Posted by enrique s in Career, Leadership, Motivation, Productivity, Rants on November 26th, 2009
Photo by cell105
As we get toward the end of the year, people in my area of expertise (finance) tend to get busy. Very busy. It starts just before Thanksgiving, and just gets crazier as the end of the year gets closer. So today it’s Thanksgiving, and I’m planning on slacking off big-time. Because when the bell rings on Monday, all Hell will break loose.
To everything there is a season…
Some professions have their busy seasons, while others don’t fall prey to quarterly reporting like finance and accounting people do. In my case, these are the engineers, who work on projects that may span years. Sure, they have certain milestones to meet along the way, such as Technical Readiness Reviews, Critical Design Reviews, and Functional Bench Tests, but these aren’t contingent on the calendar year.
I guess it’s just not my season
So, for my friends in Engineering, the time after Thanksgiving is slack-off time. Holiday parties are arranged. Extra vacation time is burned. Trips to Rockefeller Center to see the tree are taken. I know this, because the ranks are thin in Engineering during the holiday season. I had one guy tell me years ago, as I was going balls to the wall in order to get home at a decent hour, that he was “pretty much finished” with his work for the year. This was two weeks before Christmas. I must be in the wrong racket.
Personal Standard of Excellence
So, as I kick myself in the ass for not becoming an engineer, I see that my technical brethren are just enjoying the spoils of their craft. I can’t blame them for exploiting the peculiarities of their profession. But even if I had the opportunity, I don’t think that I’m wired for slacking off. I think way back to college, and one of my business lessons that dealt with motivation and the responsibilities of managers. My favorite teacher, Professor Stanford, told us a tale of a worker who lowered his productivity to that of his coworkers. One of my fellow students thought that the worker was smart for not “rocking the boat.” Prof. Stanford admonished him for not upholding his own personal standard of excellence, regardless of what those around him were doing. Wow. That one really hit home, and I carry it with me to this day.
Less bullshit, more work
If I think even farther back, I had a lesson in not slacking off from my older cousin, on a roofing job. His was less subtle, however. It went something like, “Less bullshit, more work”, accompanied by an angry shake of his fist, but the message was basically the same. He was also bigger and could beat the crap out of me, so work hard I did. I consider it a primer for Stanford’s more elegant lesson.
So, before you slack off, think about your personal standard of excellence, and whether you want to risk compromising it by getting caught goofing off. But, you can goof off today.
Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble ’til you wobble!
Print This Post
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Posts -
How Ugly are Your Coworkers? Photo by scragz Eleanor Roosevelt. Woody Allen. The two names above were successful in their lives, yet neither of them ever won a beauty contest. Neither did Howard Stern, Rodney Dangerfield, Phyllis Diller, Janet Reno, or Yogi Berra. Marty Nemko wrote in a recent Kiplingers article that he likes...... -
Barbaric Links: Summer's Here Edition mfrascella Well, the unofficial start of summer, anyway. Hope everyone had a nice holiday. The weather in my neck of the woods was great. They sure messed up the forecast. Here are some of the best posts that I read this past week: Brett at The Art of Manliness...... -
My Thanksgiving Ritual Photo by theogeo People develop different rituals to celebrate Thanksgiving. Laurel and Hardy fans may tune in to March of the Wooden Soldiers, or watch the Macy's Parade. A local radio station plays Alice's Restaurant in its entirety every year (I never tire from hearing the massacree again). Some......
Related Websites -
Athlete Profile: Dan Wakeham The first male Olympic competitor on snowboard in Britain, Dan Wakeham has announced that he will be retiring from the world cup circuit. He has recently announced that following seven years with the British snowboarding team, he will be retiring from World Cup level competition. Dan Wakeham is only 27...... - Five Lessons I Learned From My Own Frugal Dad This is a guest post from The Investor, the publicity-shy blogger who writes about money and finance at Monevator. If you like this post, you can subscribe to his free RSS feed for similar posts on money and investing topics. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a frugal dad.......
- Goals Update for End of November 2009 For most of 2009 I was completely healthy. In November I managed to get sick two separate times. That combined with an excess of work to do at work and a job interview, and my blogging has definitely slacked. On the bright side, I've made significant progress on my......
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the Leadership category.
