On My Mind: You never know what will emerge at the end when you start writing a paper and my latest paper on Advances in Strategic Planning was no exception. It was published on October 29, 2019 in conjunction with the 11th Annual Advanced Strategic Improvement Practices Conference. The paper attempts to answer the question: What is new in the world of strategic planning? Many of the findings confirmed what I already suspected, but there were some interesting surprises related to strategic planning as a social process, the importance of mindset, and the role ideation can play in strategic planning. If you want to know what has been happening in the world of strategic planning, then give this paper a read. It is located on the RESEARCH page of this website. Interesting Stories: “You can’t say that.” That is what the powers that be at the University of Wisconsin-Madison once told Dr. George E. P. Box (10/18/1919 to 3/28/2013) in reference to his “Monday Night Beer & Statistics” course which was listed in the UW-Madison’s course catalog. The word “Beer” in a course title became objectionable and so Dr. Box had to rename the course. I recently attended a conference in Madison, Wisconsin where his 100th birthday was celebrated. I’m so grateful to have had Dr. Box as a mentor and friend. He was not only a world class statistician, but was also one of the leading thinker’s in the Quality Management field and a wonderful human being. Company News: I attended the 100th Birthday Celebration for Dr. George E. P. Box (deceased) in Madison, Wisconsin on October 18, 2019. I also attended the Strategic Management Society 39th Annual Conference in Minneapolis, MN on October 19-22, 2019. The 11th Annual Advanced Strategic Improvement Practices Conference on October 29, 2019 at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum was a great success: I’m grateful to the following people who presented: Marilena Laterza, Dr. KyleeAnn Stevens, Wayne Fortun, Dr. Peter Miller, Steve Holmstrom, Dr. Ralph Bovard, Josh Flatla, Thierry Yamegam, Niyousha Esmaeili, Dina Yushkevich, and Vern Campbell. There was a record turnout in spite of the cold weather. The next public Strategic Improvement Systems, LLC courses are the following: Strategy Techniques & Tools will be held November 25, 2019; Strategic Improvement Green Belt starts January 7, 2020; and Innovation Techniques & Tools will be held February 4-5, 2020. The brochures for these courses are available on the PUBLIC SEMINARS page of this website. Intriguing Reads: People interested in continuous improvement are often searching for a good introductory best practices book – look no further. The book titled, Kaizen Advantage: Best Practices for Competitive Companies by Dr. Hiroshi Osada (lead author) introduces and describes twelve case studies involving Quality Control Circles (seven problem-solving case studies and five task-achieving case studies). In each of the twelve chapters, you almost feel like a part of the team as the case unfolds in incredible step-by-step detail. The schematic diagrams and descriptions of how the improvement tools were applied are excellent. This is a book I will re-read at least once a year.