On My Mind
Top Management Teams (TMTs) often want to improve organizational performance from a strategic perspective and shaping organizational culture is one approach. COVID-19 has threatened the survival and prosperity of many organizations. How can organizations survive and prosper in a pandemic world? Several organizational culture dimensions appear to be important: safety, empathy, resiliency, adaptability, and creativity. The safety of employees and customers is now (finally) a number one priority and even a workstyle. Empathy is important in order to be able to relate to those who have suffered and/or are suffering. Resiliency is important in order to bounce back from setbacks. Adaptability is important since we have to cope with so many changes in the workplace. Finally, creativity is important in order to generate new ideas for products/services, processes, protocols, etc. Best wishes as you shape your organizational culture for survival and prosperity in a pandemic world.

Interesting Stories
Carlos Ghosn went from being one of the most admired and respected Chief Executive Officers (Nissan-Renault) in the world to being a fugitive. Ghosn was under house arrest in Japan until he concocted a special ops-type mission which involved him being smuggled out of Japan aboard a plane while hiding in a large trunk. A covert team was enlisted to execute the mission and Ghosn traveled through parts of Japan to Turkey to Beirut, Lebanon where he is believed to be currently living. His home in Beirut was recently damaged by the explosions, but he was apparently unharmed. The YouTube video titled “Inside Carlos Ghosn’s Unbelievable, Daring Escape” tells the tale if you are interested.

Company News
I conducted five Zoom webinars in June: Value Stream Leadership on July 7; Creating Standard Work on July 10; Ideation and Creativity Techniques on July 17, 2020; Visioning on July 24, 2020; and Advances in Strategic Planning on July 31, 2020. Several public events are scheduled in the next few weeks: Webinar on Leading in a COVID-19 World on August 10; Webinar on Creating a Performance Scorecard on August 14; Virtual Course on Strategic Improvement Yellow Belt on August 18 and August 25; Webinar on Regression Analysis on August 21; and Webinar on Shaping Organizational Culture on August 28, 2020. The webinar and course brochures are available on the PUBLIC SEMINARS page of this website.

Intriguing Reads
I re-read the book titled “The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites” of the Oglala Sioux by Joseph Epes Brown in preparation for the Visioning webinar I conducted on July 24, 2020. The book always inspires me and leaves me with profound new insights. I especially enjoy Chapter 3 on The Rite of Purification and Chapter 4 on Crying for a Vision. If you ever need to do some visioning for yourself or for your organization, then you might give those two chapters a try.