Many might be surprised that the title of this article is written in the past tense while we are still in the midst of crisis. That’s intentional for not one, but two reasons. First, the time to prepare for a …
My regular readers know that this monthly newsletter almost always comes out on the last day or two of the month. Coming out mid-month makes this a somewhat special edition. There are numerous messages about Covid-19 with almost every business …
Do you have some slack capacity? No person, system, or machine can run at 100% for an extended period of time. With that in mind, it’s important to operate in a manner incorporates some down time. For machines and systems, …
It’s never a bad time to set goals but in the world of corporate and financial planning a lot of it happens in the last few months of the calendar year that is winding down and the first month of …
I usually don’t publish something in December dedicated to the turn of the calendar but with the change of the decade, I was thinking about what it means to be more well-rounded. I don’t pretend to have mastered the concept, …
Whenever someone tells me something costs too much, I ask: “Compared to what?” Lately, I’ve had more than a few clients bemoan the cost of a possible solution. While it’s certainly appropriate to ask about costs my concern is in …
Most CEOs I know want their company to grow. It’s a measure of success. But I often ask if they’ve thought about whether they are properly positioned to grow. The following are basic prerequisites to growth. Capital: In order to …
Technology as an Impediment Technology is great and makes a lot of things possible but at times it can simply get in the way. Here are some of my favorite (or maybe least favorite) examples of technology as an impediment. …
Are you still tackling and accomplishing firsts? When we’re young, there are many things that we’re doing for the first time. Riding a bike, fishing, swimming, reading, writing, driving a car, college, moving out on our own; the list is …
Whether you are an individual, a professional services firm that sells their time, a manufacturing firm, construction company, processing plant, or virtually any other kind of business that I can think of, you need some way to measure your efficiency. …
