Category: Training

Crisis Management: The Need for Internal Consistency

August 13, 2021 No Comments

Attributed to former US Senator and Governor Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee, “Trust is built with consistency.” Moreover, from statistics we know that Internal Consistency, “measures whether several items that propose to measure the same general construct produce similar scores.” The follow on definition statistical reliability, “is the consistency of a set of measurements or measuring

What Is Your Opinion Based On?

January 26, 2021 No Comments

“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” ~ W. Edwards Deming Data and its use is a very hot topic these days. Significant controversy exists over decision making regarding Covid-19 strategies and the quality or lack there of the data supporting government policies. Scientific disagreements and so called ‘academic arguments‘ are appropriate, especially

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to . . . Innovation!

April 4, 2020 No Comments

The anecdote, ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to’ wherever manifests itself for a number of paths. One interpretation; we often end up somewhere other than expected. We find ourselves at another historical precipice. Some suggest Armageddon, the end of life as we know it and the emergence of a new normal. This writer

Celebrate Your Independence: Taking Charge of Your Career

July 4, 2019 No Comments

Today, my country celebrates its 243rd birthday. Many observe the day with family and friends and enjoy fireworks. Consumption of hamburgers and hot dogs will most likely be huge. No one in the United States is still alive from the time when the colonists rowdily left Great Britain. Moreover, the United Kingdom is one of

Human—Machine Interface in the Age of Digitalization: Can the Machine be Trusted and When Should the Human Intervene?

March 24, 2019 No Comments

On March 10, 2019 the second Boeing 737 Max 8 (in approximately 5 months) crashed in Ethiopia. This incident has led to extensive investigations and as of this writing that model aircraft is grounded. This pundit cannot and will not hazard a guess as to ‘why’ this aviation incident happened and what its ramifications will

Millennials Take On Our Increasingly Complex World

October 31, 2018 No Comments

Originally published in 2013. On January 1st at 0348 hours a young engineer employed by a service company is trying to address a problem she has encountered with a compressor on a drilling rig in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico. She graduated from college three years ago and went to work for a large energy

Are You In Distress?

July 13, 2018 No Comments

During a recent offshore sail from Florida to Texas the weather significantly deteriorated on this blogger and his boat mates. Our 45-foot ocean going sailboat was one in which (mostly) the same crew that has significant sea time together. That said, there were two days of very uncomfortable passage making. At one-point a nearby ship

Love to Have the Opportunity to Learn About Your Company: I Know I Can Help

June 22, 2018 No Comments

It seems that the preferred CRM Cold Call script goes something like this, ”I’d love to jump on a call with you and learn more about your company. I am sure we can help.” Really? The roots of this approach may be from the “Sell me this pen” sales model whereby the sales representative queries

Organizational Predators: Jackals, Hyenas, and Wolves in Managerial Clothing

January 25, 2018 No Comments

Prologue In the author’s August 2004 edition of the then, Executive Briefing Newsletter (early online delivery) we addressed the impact on the firm of managerial misbehavior. This article was one of a list of challenges put forth to that generation of management. Sadly, recent events have compelled us all to revisit this issue, although for