Business901

Within any industry – be it hospitals, public accounting firms, manufacturing, governmental organizations or law firms -- 20% of the organizations will be dramatically improving much more effectively than 80% of their competitors.  What does the top 20% do differently than the rest in their respective industries? In The Escape the Improvement Trap: Five Ingredients Missing in Most Improvement Recipes , the authors reveal the five most important ingredients that the top 20% exploit, but the remaining 80% do in a mediocre fashion: Create value for customers. Create an environment in which employees excel to their fullest potential. Measure performance in a more meaningful fashion – Use the “right” metrics not all the metrics! Apply process thinking to all areas of work. Use an “executive mindset” to improve the way the organization goes about the business of improvement. This podcast I had with co-author Michael Bremer was exhilarating for me as a host. By the end of the podcast, you will look at your continuous improvement efforts from a totally different perspective. Mike does a great job in summing up the five steps and you will be surprised and maybe how simple it is. He simply nails it! Related Posts: Outside in Strategy– Customer Value Practical Approach to Innovation used by Disney Faster, Better, Cheaper is the Norm. What are you doing different A Quick Tool for Value Analysis Using Value Stream Mapping in Lean

Within any industry – be it hospitals, public accounting firms, manufacturing, governmental organizations or law firms -- 20% of the organizations will be dramatically improving much more effectively than 80% of their competitors.  What does the top 20% do differently than the rest in their respective industries? In The Escape the Improvement Trap: Five Ingredients Missing in Most Improvement Recipes , the authors reveal the five most important ingredients that the top 20% exploit, but the remaining 80% do in a mediocre fashion: Create value for customers. Create an environment in which employees excel to their fullest potential. Measure performance in a more meaningful fashion – Use the “right” metrics not all the metrics! Apply process thinking to all areas of work. Use an “executive mindset” to improve the way the organization goes about the business of improvement. This podcast I had with co-author Michael Bremer was exhilarating for me as a host. By the end of the podcast, you will look at your continuous improvement efforts from a totally different perspective. Mike does a great job in summing up the five steps and you will be surprised and maybe how simple it is. He simply nails it! Related Posts: Outside in Strategy– Customer Value Practical Approach to Innovation used by Disney Faster, Better, Cheaper is the Norm. What are you doing different A Quick Tool for Value Analysis Using Value Stream Mapping in Lean

Within any industry – be it hospitals, public accounting firms, manufacturing, governmental organizations or law firms -- 20% of the organizations will be dramatically improving much more effectively than 80% of their competitors.  What does the top 20% do differently than the rest in their respective industries? In The Escape the Improvement Trap: Five Ingredients Missing in Most Improvement Recipes , the authors reveal the five most important ingredients that the top 20% exploit, but the remaining 80% do in a mediocre fashion: Create value for customers. Create an environment in which employees excel to their fullest potential. Measure performance in a more meaningful fashion – Use the “right” metrics not all the metrics! Apply process thinking to all areas of work. Use an “executive mindset” to improve the way the organization goes about the business of improvement. This podcast I had with co-author Michael Bremer was exhilarating for me as a host. By the end of the podcast, you will look at your continuous improvement efforts from a totally different perspective. Mike does a great job in summing up the five steps and you will be surprised and maybe how simple it is. He simply nails it! Related Posts: Outside in Strategy– Customer Value Practical Approach to Innovation used by Disney Faster, Better, Cheaper is the Norm. What are you doing different A Quick Tool for Value Analysis Using Value Stream Mapping in Lean

Ed Muzio, president and CEO of Group Harmonics was my guest on the Business901 Podcast and we had a great discussion on how to Make Work Great (Super Charge Your Team, Reinvent the Culture, and Gain Influence One Person at a Time). He is a leader in the application of analytical models to group effectiveness and individual enjoyment. This is a must listen for Kaizen Leaders and participants. Great tips and tools that can be instantly implemented. I was very impressed on his ease of explanation and mastery of the subject. The author of the award-winning book Four Secrets to Liking Your Work: You May Not Need to Quit to Get the Job You Want (FT Press, 2008), Ed  was originally trained as an engineer. He has started organizations large and small, led global initiatives in technology development and employee recruitment, and published articles and refereed papers ranging from manufacturing strategy to the relationships between individual skills and output. His analytical approach to human productivity has been featured in national and international media, including CBS, Fox Business News and The New York Post; he is a regular guest on CBS Interactive. With clients ranging from individual life coaches to the Fortune 500, he serves as an advisor and educator to professionals at all levels, all over the world. A Cornell University graduate, Ed's accomplishments include the creation and stewardship of a worldwide manufacturing infrastructure program, a nationally-recognized engineering development organization, and a non-profit organization providing residential services to at-risk youth in his home town of Albuquerque, NM. Related Posts: World of Work Will be Witnessing 10 Changes Value Stream Mapping your Sales Team Quality and Collaboration eBook Quallaboration Podcast with Personal Kanban Founder Can you be talented enough on your own? what I learned about Kaizen and Agile from Pixlar

Ed Muzio, president and CEO of Group Harmonics was my guest on the Business901 Podcast and we had a great discussion on how to Make Work Great (Super Charge Your Team, Reinvent the Culture, and Gain Influence One Person at a Time). He is a leader in the application of analytical models to group effectiveness and individual enjoyment. This is a must listen for Kaizen Leaders and participants. Great tips and tools that can be instantly implemented. I was very impressed on his ease of explanation and mastery of the subject. The author of the award-winning book Four Secrets to Liking Your Work: You May Not Need to Quit to Get the Job You Want (FT Press, 2008), Ed  was originally trained as an engineer. He has started organizations large and small, led global initiatives in technology development and employee recruitment, and published articles and refereed papers ranging from manufacturing strategy to the relationships between individual skills and output. His analytical approach to human productivity has been featured in national and international media, including CBS, Fox Business News and The New York Post; he is a regular guest on CBS Interactive. With clients ranging from individual life coaches to the Fortune 500, he serves as an advisor and educator to professionals at all levels, all over the world. A Cornell University graduate, Ed's accomplishments include the creation and stewardship of a worldwide manufacturing infrastructure program, a nationally-recognized engineering development organization, and a non-profit organization providing residential services to at-risk youth in his home town of Albuquerque, NM. Related Posts: World of Work Will be Witnessing 10 Changes Value Stream Mapping your Sales Team Quality and Collaboration eBook Quallaboration Podcast with Personal Kanban Founder Can you be talented enough on your own? what I learned about Kaizen and Agile from Pixlar

Ed Muzio, president and CEO of Group Harmonics was my guest on the Business901 Podcast and we had a great discussion on how to Make Work Great (Super Charge Your Team, Reinvent the Culture, and Gain Influence One Person at a Time). He is a leader in the application of analytical models to group effectiveness and individual enjoyment. This is a must listen for Kaizen Leaders and participants. Great tips and tools that can be instantly implemented. I was very impressed on his ease of explanation and mastery of the subject. The author of the award-winning book Four Secrets to Liking Your Work: You May Not Need to Quit to Get the Job You Want (FT Press, 2008), Ed  was originally trained as an engineer. He has started organizations large and small, led global initiatives in technology development and employee recruitment, and published articles and refereed papers ranging from manufacturing strategy to the relationships between individual skills and output. His analytical approach to human productivity has been featured in national and international media, including CBS, Fox Business News and The New York Post; he is a regular guest on CBS Interactive. With clients ranging from individual life coaches to the Fortune 500, he serves as an advisor and educator to professionals at all levels, all over the world. A Cornell University graduate, Ed's accomplishments include the creation and stewardship of a worldwide manufacturing infrastructure program, a nationally-recognized engineering development organization, and a non-profit organization providing residential services to at-risk youth in his home town of Albuquerque, NM. Related Posts: World of Work Will be Witnessing 10 Changes Value Stream Mapping your Sales Team Quality and Collaboration eBook Quallaboration Podcast with Personal Kanban Founder Can you be talented enough on your own? what I learned about Kaizen and Agile from Pixlar

Customer Value seems old hat and so un-marketing like in this day of Social Media, Analytics, Inbound-Outbound, Trending and Buzz. However, the successful companies that are not necessarily writing about marketing as much as the are doing it rely on a simple term, Customer Value. As Christine says, These are not flash-in-the-pan companies. They are the likes of Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Fidelity, Cisco, Walmart, Amazon, Apple, IKEA, Philips, Texas Instruments, Becton Dickinson, and Tesco. These companies approach strategy from the outside in. They begin with the market, not their own capabilities. While that may sound easy, it is incredibly difficult. In the vast majority of companies inside-out thinking dominates practice and inevitably leads to eroding customer value and company profits. * These companies invest in generating and deploying unique market insights to inform and guide their outside-in view. They don't guess or fly blind. * These companies focus every part of the organization on achieving, sustaining and profiting from customer value. Christine Moorman is the T. Austin Finch, Sr. Professor and founder of The CMO Surveyat The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. Professor Moorman is the author of over 60 journal articles, reports, and conference proceedings. She has co-edited the book Assessing Marketing Strategy Performance (with Don Lehmann) and has made over 100 presentations of her work at companies and universities all over the world.  Her primary areas of activity are marketing strategy and customer-focused innovation About the Book: How do these firms bring the outside in and profit from it? In Strategy from the Outside In: Profiting from Customer Value , the authors unveil four guiding principles—the customer value imperatives—that distinguish market leaders from other companies just muddling through. They argue through hundreds of examples that without constant attention to these four imperatives from the very top of the organization, any firm will quickly succumb to the centripetal forces pulling it toward an inside-out approach, and its position in the market will soon erode. Related Posts: Outside in Strategy– Customer Value Faster, Better, Cheaper is the Norm. What are you doing different Profiting from Customer Value Why Lean Marketing? Because it is the Future of Marketing What does a Customer want? A Quick Tool for Value Analysis Your Value Network Participants; Who are the

Customer Value seems old hat and so un-marketing like in this day of Social Media, Analytics, Inbound-Outbound, Trending and Buzz. However, the successful companies that are not necessarily writing about marketing as much as the are doing it rely on a simple term, Customer Value. As Christine says, These are not flash-in-the-pan companies. They are the likes of Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Fidelity, Cisco, Walmart, Amazon, Apple, IKEA, Philips, Texas Instruments, Becton Dickinson, and Tesco. These companies approach strategy from the outside in. They begin with the market, not their own capabilities. While that may sound easy, it is incredibly difficult. In the vast majority of companies inside-out thinking dominates practice and inevitably leads to eroding customer value and company profits. * These companies invest in generating and deploying unique market insights to inform and guide their outside-in view. They don't guess or fly blind. * These companies focus every part of the organization on achieving, sustaining and profiting from customer value. Christine Moorman is the T. Austin Finch, Sr. Professor and founder of The CMO Survey at The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. Professor Moorman is the author of over 60 journal articles, reports, and conference proceedings. She has co-edited the book Assessing Marketing Strategy Performance (with Don Lehmann) and has made over 100 presentations of her work at companies and universities all over the world.  Her primary areas of activity are marketing strategy and customer-focused innovation About the Book: How do these firms bring the outside in and profit from it? In Strategy from the Outside In: Profiting from Customer Value , the authors unveil four guiding principles—the customer value imperatives—that distinguish market leaders from other companies just muddling through. They argue through hundreds of examples that without constant attention to these four imperatives from the very top of the organization, any firm will quickly succumb to the centripetal forces pulling it toward an inside-out approach, and its position in the market will soon erode. Related Posts: Outside in Strategy– Customer Value Faster, Better, Cheaper is the Norm. What are you doing different Profiting from Customer Value Why Lean Marketing? Because it is the Future of Marketing What does a Customer want? A Quick Tool for Value Analysis Your Value Network Participants; Who are the

Customer Value seems old hat and so un-marketing like in this day of Social Media, Analytics, Inbound-Outbound, Trending and Buzz. However, the successful companies that are not necessarily writing about marketing as much as the are doing it rely on a simple term, Customer Value. As Christine says, These are not flash-in-the-pan companies. They are the likes of Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Fidelity, Cisco, Walmart, Amazon, Apple, IKEA, Philips, Texas Instruments, Becton Dickinson, and Tesco. These companies approach strategy from the outside in. They begin with the market, not their own capabilities. While that may sound easy, it is incredibly difficult. In the vast majority of companies inside-out thinking dominates practice and inevitably leads to eroding customer value and company profits. * These companies invest in generating and deploying unique market insights to inform and guide their outside-in view. They don't guess or fly blind. * These companies focus every part of the organization on achieving, sustaining and profiting from customer value. Christine Moorman is the T. Austin Finch, Sr. Professor and founder of The CMO Surveyat The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. Professor Moorman is the author of over 60 journal articles, reports, and conference proceedings. She has co-edited the book Assessing Marketing Strategy Performance (with Don Lehmann) and has made over 100 presentations of her work at companies and universities all over the world.  Her primary areas of activity are marketing strategy and customer-focused innovation About the Book: How do these firms bring the outside in and profit from it? In Strategy from the Outside In: Profiting from Customer Value , the authors unveil four guiding principles—the customer value imperatives—that distinguish market leaders from other companies just muddling through. They argue through hundreds of examples that without constant attention to these four imperatives from the very top of the organization, any firm will quickly succumb to the centripetal forces pulling it toward an inside-out approach, and its position in the market will soon erode. Related Posts: Outside in Strategy– Customer Value Faster, Better, Cheaper is the Norm. What are you doing different Profiting from Customer Value Why Lean Marketing? Because it is the Future of Marketing What does a Customer want? A Quick Tool for Value Analysis Your Value Network Participants; Who are the

The guest on the Business901 podcast was Adam Zak (@leanthinker), founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Adam Zak Executive Search and an accomplished senior executive with more than 25 years of experience spanning the areas of management consulting; financial and operations management; and talent acquisition. During the podcast I was able to ask questions on Customer Value, Value Proposition, and Value Streams, subjects that I am passionate about. Adam did not disappoint me as he challenged the status quo in the continuous improvement field bringing customer value to the forefront. Adam has just co-authored a new book, Simple Excellence: Organizing and Aligning the Management Team in a Lean Transformation and it was the topic of the podcast.  The book takes on difficult subjects outside of the normal Lean arena such as Pricing, Human Resources (should have guessed that!), Sales and Marketing, Supply Chain and others.  I found the book entertaining and read it rather quickly. However, when finished I found myself thumbing back through certain sections and rereading parts of it. They chose a great title for the book. It reminded me of an Einstein quote: “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” This one should be considered for your bookshelf. It is not a fiction book where you get to learn all the answers. It is a book that challenges your thinking through concrete examples with an emphasis on Customer Value. By the way, they allude to no quick fixes and ask you to accept the challenge of a journey to excellence, however simple it may seem. Related Posts: Xerox Operational Excellence Program Why Lean Marketing? Because it is the Future of Marketing Profiting from Customer Value Agile, Scrum, Kanban, or is it just a Marketing Funnel? The Pull in Lean Marketing Your Value Network Participants; Who are they? Value Stream Mapping differs in Lean Marketing Using Value Stream Mapping in Lean

The guest on the Business901 podcast was Adam Zak (@leanthinker), founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Adam Zak Executive Search and an accomplished senior executive with more than 25 years of experience spanning the areas of management consulting; financial and operations management; and talent acquisition. During the podcast I was able to ask questions on Customer Value, Value Proposition, and Value Streams, subjects that I am passionate about. Adam did not disappoint me as he challenged the status quo in the continuous improvement field bringing customer value to the forefront. Adam has just co-authored a new book, Simple Excellence: Organizing and Aligning the Management Team in a Lean Transformation and it was the topic of the podcast.  The book takes on difficult subjects outside of the normal Lean arena such as Pricing, Human Resources (should have guessed that!), Sales and Marketing, Supply Chain and others.  I found the book entertaining and read it rather quickly. However, when finished I found myself thumbing back through certain sections and rereading parts of it. They chose a great title for the book. It reminded me of an Einstein quote: “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” This one should be considered for your bookshelf. It is not a fiction book where you get to learn all the answers. It is a book that challenges your thinking through concrete examples with an emphasis on Customer Value. By the way, they allude to no quick fixes and ask you to accept the challenge of a journey to excellence, however simple it may seem. Related Posts: Xerox Operational Excellence Program Why Lean Marketing? Because it is the Future of Marketing Profiting from Customer Value Agile, Scrum, Kanban, or is it just a Marketing Funnel? The Pull in Lean Marketing Your Value Network Participants; Who are they? Value Stream Mapping differs in Lean Marketing Using Value Stream Mapping in Lean

The guest on the Business901 podcast was Adam Zak (@leanthinker), founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Adam Zak Executive Search and an accomplished senior executive with more than 25 years of experience spanning the areas of management consulting; financial and operations management; and talent acquisition. During the podcast I was able to ask questions on Customer Value, Value Proposition, and Value Streams, subjects that I am passionate about. Adam did not disappoint me as he challenged the status quo in the continuous improvement field bringing customer value to the forefront. Adam has just co-authored a new book, Simple Excellence: Organizing and Aligning the Management Team in a Lean Transformation and it was the topic of the podcast.  The book takes on difficult subjects outside of the normal Lean arena such as Pricing, Human Resources (should have guessed that!), Sales and Marketing, Supply Chain and others.  I found the book entertaining and read it rather quickly. However, when finished I found myself thumbing back through certain sections and rereading parts of it. They chose a great title for the book. It reminded me of an Einstein quote: “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” This one should be considered for your bookshelf. It is not a fiction book where you get to learn all the answers. It is a book that challenges your thinking through concrete examples with an emphasis on Customer Value. By the way, they allude to no quick fixes and ask you to accept the challenge of a journey to excellence, however simple it may seem. Related Posts: Xerox Operational Excellence Program Why Lean Marketing? Because it is the Future of Marketing Profiting from Customer Value Agile, Scrum, Kanban, or is it just a Marketing Funnel? The Pull in Lean Marketing Your Value Network Participants; Who are they? Value Stream Mapping differs in Lean Marketing Using Value Stream Mapping in Lean

My guest on the Business901 Podcast was Tricia Bhattacharya. She authored the Guide to Operational Excellence that Xerox makes available to their print customers. It introduces a five-step plan to help in-plants remove waste like overproduction and idle time. The five steps are: understand the goal, measure the current state, analyze data, develop a plan, and implement and track results. Tricia explains the guide by saying, “I thought with Xerox and all of our focus on Lean Six Sigma, why don't we develop something that print shops can use to help themselves run a little more efficiently. As a Black Belt, I thought some of these concepts are not really too difficult, Lean Six Sigma has almost a stigma attached to it that it's very difficult and very hard to apply to a smaller business or a medium sized business. I  took some of the simpler concepts out of a Lean Six Sigma tool set, put them in this guide, and renamed it "Operational Excellence." She is currently a Worldwide Segment Marketing Manager for the Xerox Graphic Communications Business Group. In this role, she is responsible for developing marketing programs focused on in-plant environments. She also holds a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Her 19-year career at Xerox has spanned roles from product development to marketing and she holds several patents for technologies developed while working on high-speed color product innovations. She earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lafayette College, an ME in Mechanical Engineering from RIT, and an MBA from the Simon School at the University of Rochester. Related Podcast: Overcoming Resistance and Backsliding Need a primer on Lean Six Sigma? Why Lean Marketing? Because it is the Future of Marketing What went into Xerox’s new Ad Campaign World of Work Will be Witnessing 10 Changes

My guest on the Business901 Podcast was Tricia Bhattacharya. She authored the Guide to Operational Excellence that Xerox makes available to their print customers. It introduces a five-step plan to help in-plants remove waste like overproduction and idle time. The five steps are: understand the goal, measure the current state, analyze data, develop a plan, and implement and track results. Tricia explains the guide by saying, “I thought with Xerox and all of our focus on Lean Six Sigma, why don't we develop something that print shops can use to help themselves run a little more efficiently. As a Black Belt, I thought some of these concepts are not really too difficult, Lean Six Sigma has almost a stigma attached to it that it's very difficult and very hard to apply to a smaller business or a medium sized business. I  took some of the simpler concepts out of a Lean Six Sigma tool set, put them in this guide, and renamed it "Operational Excellence." She is currently a Worldwide Segment Marketing Manager for the Xerox Graphic Communications Business Group. In this role, she is responsible for developing marketing programs focused on in-plant environments. She also holds a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Her 19-year career at Xerox has spanned roles from product development to marketing and she holds several patents for technologies developed while working on high-speed color product innovations. She earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lafayette College, an ME in Mechanical Engineering from RIT, and an MBA from the Simon School at the University of Rochester. Related Podcast: Overcoming Resistance and Backsliding Need a primer on Lean Six Sigma? Why Lean Marketing? Because it is the Future of Marketing What went into Xerox’s new Ad Campaign World of Work Will be Witnessing 10 Changes

My guest on the Business901 Podcast was Tricia Bhattacharya. She authored the Guide to Operational Excellence that Xerox makes available to their print customers. It introduces a five-step plan to help in-plants remove waste like overproduction and idle time. The five steps are: understand the goal, measure the current state, analyze data, develop a plan, and implement and track results. Tricia explains the guide by saying, “I thought with Xerox and all of our focus on Lean Six Sigma, why don't we develop something that print shops can use to help themselves run a little more efficiently. As a Black Belt, I thought some of these concepts are not really too difficult, Lean Six Sigma has almost a stigma attached to it that it's very difficult and very hard to apply to a smaller business or a medium sized business. I  took some of the simpler concepts out of a Lean Six Sigma tool set, put them in this guide, and renamed it "Operational Excellence." She is currently a Worldwide Segment Marketing Manager for the Xerox Graphic Communications Business Group. In this role, she is responsible for developing marketing programs focused on in-plant environments. She also holds a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Her 19-year career at Xerox has spanned roles from product development to marketing and she holds several patents for technologies developed while working on high-speed color product innovations. She earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lafayette College, an ME in Mechanical Engineering from RIT, and an MBA from the Simon School at the University of Rochester. Related Podcast: Overcoming Resistance and Backsliding Need a primer on Lean Six Sigma? Why Lean Marketing? Because it is the Future of Marketing What went into Xerox’s new Ad Campaign World of Work Will be Witnessing 10 Changes