There exists a form of power and intelligence that represents the high point of human potential. It is the source of the greatest achievements and discoveries in history. It is an intelligence that is not taught in our schools nor analyzed by professors, but almost all of us, at some point, have had glimpses of […]
Sometimes people are bullied because they can’t fight back. This can happen to people who are weaker, physically, than their opponents. This is one of the most common reasons for the bullying experienced by children. Even the toughest of six-year-olds is no match for someone who is nine. A lot of that power differential disappears […]
Over the millennia, animals who must co-habit with others in the same territories have in consequence learned many tricks to establish dominance, while risking the least amount of possible damage. A defeated wolf, for example, will roll over on its back, exposing its throat to the victor, who will not then deign to tear it […]
My dad and I designed a house for a wren family when I was ten years old. It looked like a Conestoga wagon, and had a front entrance about the size of a quarter. This made it a good house for wrens, who are tiny, and not so good for other, larger birds, who couldn’t […]
If you are like most people, you don’t often think about lobsters —unless you’re eating If you are like most people, you don’t often think about lobsters —unless you’re eating one. However, these interesting and delicious crustaceans are very much worth considering. Their nervous systems are comparatively simple, with large, easily observable neurons, the magic […]
The real challenge today is to ensure that managers continue to apply the basic principles of quality management and performance excellence. Unfortunately, a recent survey sponsored by ASQ found significant gaps between executives´ awareness of quality improvement processes and implementation, suggesting that many organizations either are not using these proven approaches or simply don´t realize […]
After I finished my autobiography-a fun but crazily intense grind that I wedged into the corners of my real job at the time- I swore I’d never write another book again. But I guess I did. My excuse, if there is one, is that I didn’t actually come up with the idea for this book. […]
A Shared Vision means all employees in a company share the same vision of where the organization needs to go (instead of a vision-statement where management has written where the organization should be going). Only when the vision is authentic and shared, employees will automatically participate in the improvement processes to get the company closer […]
After the war, during the late 1940s and early 1950s, the shortage of civilian goods in the United States made production a top priority. In most companies, quality remained the province of the specialist. Quality was not a priority of top managers, who delegated this responsibility to quality managers. Top management showed little interest in […]
In the early 1990s, the work of Frederick W. Taylor, often called the “father of scientific management,” led to a new philosophy of production. Taylor’s philosophy was to separate the planning function from the execution function. Managers and engineers were given the task of planning; supervisors and workers took on the task of execution. This […]