Some time ago, I spoke to a group about organizational culture. Considering what is happening today it might be appropriate to present a few thoughts to a broader audience. Each person can determine how it might apply to their circumstances.

It’s hard to know what’s next. This remains true in business and in life, and it feels especially true right now. The news seems to change on a daily and hourly basis. Predictions about the pandemic can seem out of date within a few days.

A company with a highly developed culture of quality spends, on average, $350M less annually fixing mistakes than a company with a poorly developed one (Harvard Business Review, 2014). 

As baby boomer engineers retire from manufacturing, younger generations aren’t rushing in to fill their shoes. Rapidly changing technology has created greater demand for new skills among shrinking pools of talent, just as reshoring efforts promise to make domestic manufacturing even more robust.
This is why the field’s well-documented skills gap will only widen.

How is your compliance policy? Is it an all-consuming mission at your organization?

When I last spoke to Drew Greenblatt, in March, the world looked a little different.

How much time do most people spend thinking about success and how it is achieved? Likely not as much as we should because the world really revolves around success or elements of success. 

With great uncertainty comes great reward. If you’ve planned for the unknown, when something unexpected happens you’ll be that much more prepared. 

Erik Larson’s latest book begins with this quote. If you’ve ever read a book about a serial killer and the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, the last crossing of the Lusitania, an American family in Hitler’s Berlin, the inventor of wireless and Britain’s second most famous murderer, or the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, you may be familiar with Erik Larson.

Almost all organizations set performance targets for departments and/or individuals to conduct their operations and to deliver products and services to their customers. Although managers attempt to ensure their processes can handle all the issues that may arise in their business, in today’s complex world, these processes often fall short.