On My Mind
Big Data is getting a lot of media attention in part because of the recent analytics movement; increased data storage capacity; and increased computing power. Some professional societies, such as the American Statistical Association and the American Society for Quality, are thinking deeply about the role they can play in the analytics movement. I’ve created an original cartoon that shows one executive speaking to another executive: “My company is skipping Big Data and going right to Gigantic Data.” There is much more to analytics than the size of a data set and computing power. We have to expand our definition of data to include audio recordings, pictures, video clips, tweets, likes, etc. This has opened the door for more integrative analytical techniques. I’ve been using the following framework lately: Zero Data, Small Data, Medium Data, and Big Data. Zero Data is the starting point and consists of answers to questions like the following: Why does our organization exist? What is our vision? What are our values? How will we measure performance? What are our strategic priorities? Answers to these questions are informed by experience, passion, insight, intuition, wisdom, and judgment. I suggest leaders spend some time on Zero Data before they invest a lot of time and money on Big Data.

Interesting Stories
I mentioned the 2014 Sinquefield Cup in my last newsletter. Fabiano Caruana, 22, easily won the historic tournament this year. He amazingly won his first seven games of the tournament earning him recognition for achieving one of the best world class tournament performances of all time. On another note, it will be interesting to see how far the Kansas City Royals go in the Major League Baseball playoffs. Considered a longshot at the beginning of the season, the Royals with their devil-may-care, gritty playing style are up three games to zero over the Baltimore Orioles. They now have confidence and their enthusiasm is infectious.

Company News
The Advanced Strategic Improvement Practices Conference was held September 24, 2014. This was another great success with a record attendance. A big thank you is owed to the presenters:  Scott Martens, Mary Jo Caldwell, Justin Gilbert, Dr. Vipul Trivedi, Randy Harelstad, Jim Buckman, Heather Vossler, Melissa Lenk, Cathy Reiter, Vern Campbell, Linda Nelson, Jeff Swanson, Dan Storkamp, Jay Meyer, and Lou Schultz. I will be making two presentations at the International Conference on Quality in Tokyo, Japan mid-October. One presentation is titled, “Trend of Data Analysis in the U.S.” and the other presentation is titled, “Applying the Four Student Model During the SDCA Cycle.” The paper associated with the latter presentation will be available on this website in late October.

Intriguing Reads
I re-read Guide to Quality Control by Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa in preparation for my trip to Japan. It is funny how reading a book again after a few years reveals new insights and lessons. The reader is more experienced and hopefully wiser and sees things in new ways. I especially enjoyed Chapter 1: How to collect data; Chapter 3; Cause-and-effect diagram; Chapter 4: Check sheets; and Chapters 7-8: Control charts. If you’ve never read this book before—give it a try.

On My Mind
You might not know it, but the world is witnessing one of the most amazing feat’s of individual performance. Chess is considered by many as the ultimate game of strategy and the most challenging chess tournament in history is being played in St. Louis as I write this newsletter. Six of the top ten ranked players in the world are playing each other twice (ten rounds) in the 2014 Sinquefield Cup. Fabiano Caruana, 22, born in the U.S., but living in Italy, has unbelievably won his first six games. Here is his historic streak: defeated Topalov while playing with black pieces; defeated Vachier-Lagrave while playing with white pieces; defeated #1 ranked Carlsen while playing with black pieces; defeated Aronian while playing with white pieces; defeated Nakamura while playing with black pieces; and defeated Topalov for a second time while playing with white pieces. There are four games left in the tournament for Caruana—I can’t wait to see if he performs a sweep!

Interesting Stories
When in doubt—try SCREAMING! Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, recently purchased the Los Angeles Clippers National Basketball Association team for $2,000,000,000. Ballmer became infamous for his tendency to SCREAM at high-profile Microsoft events. I’ve never admired the SCREAMING style of leadership—whether it was one of my coaches or one of my bosses. SCREAMING leaders have been rare in my career, thankfully. According to an August 18, 2014 post on NBA.com (check out the video), “Sweating, clapping and shouting until he was nearly horse, Steve Ballmer introduced himself to Los Angeles Clippers fans at a rally on Monday celebrating his new ownership of the NBA team.” For all those associated with the Clippers organization, you might want to purchase earplugs. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Company News
The Advanced Strategic Improvement Practices Conference will be held September 24, 2014 at the BayView Event Center in Excelsior, MN. There will be fourteen outstanding presenters this year and the brochure is available by selecting ANNUAL CONFERENCE on the home page of this website. I will be making two presentations at the International Conference on Quality in Tokyo, Japan mid-October. One presentation is titled, “Trend of Data Analysis in the U.S.” and the other presentation is titled, “Applying the Four Student Model During the SDCA Cycle.” The paper associated with the latter presentation will be available on this website in late October.

Intriguing Reads
The second edition of a very useful book by Heather Townsend was just published: Business Networking: How to Use the Power of Online and Offline Networking for Business Success. Networking has been identified by many as a “must have” professional and leadership development skill. This book is filled with practical concepts, tools, and techniques to strengthen your business relationships. Happy networking!

On My Mind
An organizational vision statement describes the desired future state of the organization. It can take on many different forms such as “To be the best widget maker in the world” or “To reach $10 billion dollars in annual sales by 2020.” Microsoft’s early vision statement was very compelling, “A computer on every desk and in every home.” It can be a difficult task to create a vision statement because you must think deeply about the future needs of your future customers plus the organization’s future capabilities in meeting those needs. Some common visioning problems include (1) inadequate input, (2) weak consensus on the vision, (3) poor communication and articulation of the vision, and (4) weak links to organizational actions. An effective vision statement is generally (1) memorable, (2) concise, (3) clear, (4) stretch—yet achievable, and (5) timebound (e.g., 2020). Best wishes thinking deeply about the future needs of your future customers. Happy visioning!

Interesting Stories
Can an organization try too hard at service? I recently stayed at a very nice hotel and after a few days I felt staff members were too attentive. I remember standing in the lobby on about the fifth day waiting for a cab when a hotel staff member approached me and asked, “Can I help you?” I responded, “No, thank you.” But I wanted to say, “Yes, please leave me alone!” There is a delicate balance between exemplary service and annoying the customer with over-service. Business meals can be difficult to conduct with over-service. Perhaps a good question for service providers to ask is something like, “How much service would you like?”

Company News
The Continuous Improvement Green Belt course will begin September 8, 2014. Please contact Charles at caliedtke@aol.com for details. The Advanced Strategic Improvement Practices Conference will be held September 24, 2014 at the BayView Event Center in Excelsior, MN. There will be fourteen outstanding presenters this year and the brochure is available by selecting ANNUAL CONFERENCE on the home page of this website.

Intriguing Reads
Those interested in strategy—and the ultimate game of strategy, chess—should consider following the 2014 Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, MO from August 27 through September 7. Six of the best players in the world will play each other twice in what is advertised to be the “strongest chess tournament in history.” The six participating Grandmasters include #1 ranked Magnus Carlsen (current World Champion), #2 ranked Levon Aronian, #3 ranked Fabiano Caruana, #5 ranked Hikaru Nakamura, #8 ranked Veselin Topalov, and #9 ranked Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Follow the action at www.uschesschamps.com and sharpen your strategic thinking skills.

On My Mind

July 1 roughly marks the half-way point of 2014 and many executives are taking some time to reflect on the performance of their organization year-to-date and to understand what the outlook is for the rest of 2014. What has gone well? What hasn’t gone well? What surprised us? What are our major performance challenges for the rest of 2014? A Japanese word for self-reflection is hansei. Executives will learn during their hansei activity that some of their performance objectives are too easy whereas others are too difficult. Hopefully some will be “just right.” An easy objective might lead to boredom. A difficult objective might lead to frustration. A “just right” objective is the Goldilocks approach—neither too easy, nor too difficult, but just right. Some objectives, strategies, and action plans will need to be adjusted based on the hansei. Best wishes to you during the rest of 2014 as you attempt to accomplish your performance objectives.

Interesting Stories

Talk about doing something counterintuitive—the story of sports agent J. B. Bernstein’s improbable baseball recruiting odyssey is told on the big screen in the movie titled, Million Dollar Arm. Whether you enjoy baseball or not, this is a touching movie about finding raw talent in a surprising place and then developing the raw talent to an elite level. According to Wikipedia, Bernstein sponsored a contest in India to find baseball talent. Two Indians—Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel—placed first and second in the Million Dollar Arm contest and were given the opportunity to develop their baseball skills in the U.S. They watched their first baseball game once they arrived in the U.S. Under the guidance of Tom House at the University of Southern California, the two pitchers developed their pitching skills and were drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates within one year of their arrival in the U.S. July 4, 2009 was an important event for India as Rinku Singh became the first Indian to play in a professional baseball game when he pitched in the 7th inning of a minor league game. Dinesh Patel pitched in the 8th inning. Singh went the farthest of the two pitchers eventually playing in a AA professional baseball league. This was also an important event for Major League Baseball because of the potential to create numerous new baseball fans from the billion-plus Indian population. I don’t expect baseball to replace cricket anytime soon in India, but it will be interesting to see who the next Indian baseball players will be and how well they perform.

Company News

I presented on Japanese-Style Hoshin Kanri at The Conference Board event in St. Louis on June 17. I will be conducting a public seminar on Advanced Lean in Manufacturing on July 10 at the Crowne Plaza in Plymouth, MN. The seminar brochure can be found on this website by selecting the “PUBLIC SEMINARS” tab on the homepage. The Advanced Strategic Improvement Practices Conference will be held September 24, 2014 at the BayView Event Center in Excelsior, MN. There will be fourteen outstanding presenters this year and the brochure will be available July 21.

Intriguing Reads

I’m writing a paper on Applying the Four Student Model During the SDCA Cycle for the International Conference on Quality in Tokyo this coming August. I recently revisited the book titled, Daily Management the TQM Way: The Key to Success in Tata Steel by Yukihiro Ando and Pankaj Kumar as part of my research. This is an excellent resource for learning about the basic ideas underlying TQM plus it provides an in-depth look at Daily Management with excellent Tata Steel examples.

On My Mind

My research team’s study on preserving quality superiority identified six factors that were important for an organization to sustain a quality advantage in the marketplace: quality superiority as a strategic intent; go beyond customer focus to customer intimacy; leaders at all levels engaged in quality activities; strong quality management system in place; quality is embedded in the culture; and the organization responds to—and shapes—the environment. Our initial findings were published in the July 2010 issue of Quality Progress (Top This: How to Maintain Your Edge After Gaining a Quality Advantage). I couldn’t help but think about our research recently while following the Norway Chess 2014 Supertournament (www.norwaychess.com). Ten grandmasters are competing in this year’s Supertournament including current World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen has not been dominating all his tournaments this year and he was beaten twice in one recent tournament. He is currently tied for first with two other players (Kramnik and Caruana) after six of nine rounds in the Supertournament. What does it take to stay the World Chess Champion knowing so many other grandmasters are focused on defeating you? It must be exhausting! Chess superiority as a strategic intent is probably one of them.

Interesting Stories

California Chrome comes up short! There have been eleven Triple Crown winners in horse racing history—the last being Affirmed in 1978. California Chrome won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness this year, but Tonalist played the spoiler by winning the Belmont Stakes. The three races—of different lengths—occur over a roughly five-week time period and some people have called for a rule change that would require all horses to run all three races. There is a perceived performance advantage for horses running only one or two of the three races. It’s difficult to say if this is a legitimate concern or sour grapes, but I’m sure the debate will continue for a while. On another note . . . I’m used to seeing small green mile markers on highways, but on my recent drive to Madison, Wisconsin, I saw large blue interstate highway markers on the left-hand side of the highway spaced .2 miles apart. They seemed unnecessary and a huge waste. I would love to own the company that received that contract.

Company News

I will be conducting three public seminars in the near future: Advanced Lean in Manufacturing on July 10; Root Cause Analysis on July 22; and Design for Six Sigma on August 14. All will be held at the Crowne Plaza in Plymouth, MN. The seminar brochures can be found on this website by selecting the “PUBLIC SEMINARS” tab on the homepage. The Advanced Strategic Improvement Practices Conference will be held September 24, 2014 at the BayView Event Center in Excelsior, MN. There will be fourteen outstanding presenters this year and the brochure will be available in two weeks. I will be making two presentations at the International Conference on Quality in Tokyo in October: Deep Analysis in Six Sigma and Applying the Four Student Model During Standardization Activities.

Intriguing Reads

This is about flicks, and not books, but . . . Groundhog Day (1993) is one of the best movies I’ve seen about continuous improvement. Bill Murray plays a hapless television news reporter who gets the opportunity to repeat the same day over and over again—during the course of the movie he becomes skilled at continuously improving his life through comical experimentation and learning. Fast forward to 2014 . . . The Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise, borrows/steals from Groundhog Day with a twist—there are now soldiers fighting creatures. While a different context, this movie again effectively tells the story about continuous improvement in a clever way.

On My Mind

The quality level of an organization’s strategic decisions can be a source of competitive advantage. What tools should be in the decision-making toolbox? A network is a clearly-defined set of members connected by ties. Examples include the employees of an organization, the customers of a company, the people who attend a meeting, the branches of a bank, and the business units of a conglomerate. The relationship between any two members is considered a tie. Network analysis is a useful tool for gaining insight into a network by analyzing the ties between its members. Some of the important characteristics of a tie include the age of the tie; the strength of the tie; the type of tie; the frequency of communication; the dominant direction of the communications; the content of the communications; and the modes used to communicate. A network itself has several characteristics including its size; the number of potential ties; density (the total number of ties divided by the potential number of ties); homogeneity of the members; and the existence of clusters. Network analysis can be used to identify improvement opportunities and solutions to problems. Best wishes analyzing your networks.

Interesting Stories

Restaurants make for good discussion about service since nearly everyone has experience with them. There is a new restaurant in my community and early reports suggest it might not be open for long. Issues include parking, mediocre food, and less-than-friendly staff. In other words, the restaurant is off to a poor start. Hopefully the owners will address these issues soon because word spreads quickly. I am always saddened when a business closes and the writing is on the wall for this restaurant.

Company News

I will be presenting on Strategy Tools for Continuous Improvement in Rochester, MN June 2 for the Performance Excellence Network’s Southeast Region. My public seminar on Strategy Tools for Continuous Improvement will be held May 20 at the Crowne Plaza in Plymouth, MN. The seminar brochure can be found on this website by selecting the “PUBLIC SEMINARS” tab on the homepage.

Intriguing Reads

Leander Kahney has now written two great books about Apple. I read Inside Steve’s Brain several years ago and it is still one of my favorite books on new product development. He recently authored Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products. This book chronicles the life and career of Jony Ive who has been one of Apple’s leading product designers for many years. This book takes us into Jony’s rise from a modest upbringing in England to his current role as an elite Silicon Valley product designer. We get a peak inside the field of industrial design and the world of high-tech new product development. This book is useful for those tasked with designing amazing products and leaders who want their organization to be more innovative.

On My Mind

Just when you thought you had a great strategic plan . . . something happens! Some organizations have already come to the conclusion that their 2014 strategic plan is out-of-date and their strategic objectives unrealistic. Game changing events impacting organizational performance can happen quickly such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April of 2010; the Arab Spring uprisings which began in December of 2010; and the earthquake and subsequent tsunami off the coast of Japan which caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Many organizations were affected by those events. More recently, Russia’s seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region has many organizations worried about their investments and access to energy resources. Dr. W. Edwards Deming stated that planning requires prediction. We should keep in mind that some of our planning predictions will be wrong—but which ones? Wouldn’t it be nice to know. The moral of the story is that deliberate planning can be useful, but be prepared for emergent events and develop adaptive capabilities.

Interesting Stories

Chess is considered by many to be the ultimate game of strategy and the next world championship event is set except for the details. It will be déjà vu all over again . . . Viswanathan Anand of India, former world chess champion, recently won the Candidates tournament for the right to a rematch later in 2014 against current champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Carlsen defeated Anand last year to become the world champion at the age of 22. The Candidates tournament field of players was strong with current #2 Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and current #3 Levon Aronian of Armenia. It will be interesting to see whether Anand can reclaim his title from the young Norwegian.

Company News

I will be presenting a paper at the International Conference on Quality this coming October in Tokyo. The title will be Applying the Four Student Model During the SDCA Cycle. There are two public seminars coming up: Advances in Hoshin Kanri on April 10 and Advanced Lean in Service on April 20. Both seminars will be held at the Crowne Plaza in Plymouth, MN. Seminar brochures can be found on this website by selecting the “PUBLIC SEMINARS” tab on the homepage.

Intriguing Reads

Thomas H. Davenport, one of the leading authors on analytics, has just written another informative book titled, Big data at work: dispelling the myths, uncovering the opportunities. I especially liked Chapter 4 on Developing a Big Data Strategy. This is an excellent book for those leaders who want to stay on the edge of the analytics movement.

On My Mind

There are three performance concepts I find useful: the ideal performance level, the theoretical performance level (“The Wall”); and a project team target. The ideal performance level is the ultimate or ideal level of performance. This level of performance is sometimes not achievable. The theoretical performance level (“The Wall”) is the level of performance it is impossible to go beyond without a fundamental breakthrough in knowledge or technology. This is sometimes considered, “the best anyone has ever done for an extended period of time.” The project team target is the level of performance a project team is expected to reach by the project deadline (expected results). A “bankable” target is one a project team should be able to reach by the project deadline. It can be both rigorous and realistic. It is common to develop stepping-stone targets towards the ideal performance level or “The Wall.” Renaud Lavillenie recently went beyond “The Wall” by breaking Sergei Bubka’s pole vault record of 20 feet, 2 inches. He amazingly cleared 20 feet, 2.52 inches. Bubka was in attendance at the event and witnessed the record-breaking vault. I wonder what was different. Was there a breakthrough in knowledge or technology?

Interesting Stories

Some victories mean more than others! Mitchell McKee, St. Michael-Albertville High School, recently won the 120-pound State of Minnesota Class AAA wrestling championship by defeating Malik Stewart of Blaine High School. McKee embraced his father Steve McKee shortly after winning the title. Steve is battling cancer. Malik Stewart also embraced Steve McKee after losing the match—a rare display of pure class and sportsmanship.

Company News

There are three public seminars coming up: Creating Successful Standards on March 20; Advances in Hoshin Kanri on April 10; and Advanced Lean in Service on April 20. All three seminars will be held at the Crowne Plaza in Plymouth, MN. Seminar brochures can be found on this website by selecting the “PUBLIC SEMINARS” tab on the homepage.

Intriguing Reads

Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel B. Rasmussen’s new book titled, “The Moment of Clarity,” puts forth a unique perspective given the onslaught of attention to the analytics movement. They describe how the human sciences can be used to improve organizational performance by using a process they call sensemaking. There have been very few silver bullets in the history of organizational improvement and analytics is no exception. This book offers practical ideas on how to complement a data analytics approach.

On My Mind

Chess has long been considered one of the best games of strategy and my favorite annual event—The 77th Tata Steel Chess Tournament—recently took place in the Netherlands. Twelve Grand Masters competed in the Tata Steel Masters category including five of the Top Ten ranked players in the world. Each player played every other player once and so there were eleven rounds. Levon Aronian of Armenia played brilliantly and won by a safe margin. He won two games while playing with black pieces as did Loek Van Wely. The only player in the field not to earn a black victory was Fabiano Caruana of Italy. There are three outcomes to a game of chess: the player using the white pieces wins, the player using the black pieces wins, or the players draw. In this tournament, 45.5% of the games resulted in a draw (30/66), 34.8% of the games were won by the player using the white pieces (23/66), and 19.7% of the games were won by the player using the black pieces (13/66). A black victory was the rarest outcome in this tournament like so many other tournaments and those are the games I like to analyze. If you are interested in sharpening your strategy skills, then consider frequenting the World Chess Federation (FIDE) website (“fide.com”) to learn about world class players and upcoming events.

Interesting Stories

The National Football League Super Bowl game was recently played and the Seattle Seahawks claimed the title for the first time. Seattle was an interesting team because it was led by second-year quarterback Russell Wilson—who was selected 75th in the NFL draft—and there were something like 21 players on the team who were undrafted. Wilson was overlooked by many teams because of his relatively small stature (5’10” and 185 pounds). Wilson has become known for his precision moves, craftiness, quickness, and smart decisions. One announcer said something I found hilarious: “His intangibles are off the charts.” On what charts would you find intangibles? Wilson’s success is a good reminder that contemporary, state of the art analytical decision processes are not perfect.

Company News

The 2014 Public Seminar schedule for Strategic Improvement Systems is now available on this website. You might need to refresh your browser to see the latest version. There are ten offerings ranging from Analytics to Service Design to Hoshin Kanri. On another note, I will be giving an evening presentation on February 11 at a Minnesota American Society for Quality Program Meeting. It is titled, “Dr. W. Edwards Deming: The World of Quality Twenty Years After His Death.” Please go to “mnasq.org” for details.

Intriguing Reads

The fifth edition of the “Lean Lexicon” book has just been published by the Lean Enterprise Institute. This is one of the most useful Lean reference books and the latest edition contains fourteen new definitions. I have found this book to be an indispensable resource in my consulting and training work. I highly recommend this book whether you are just starting your Lean journey or you want to enhance your current knowledge.

On My Mind

Humans faced a formidable challenge since the beginning—reach the summit of Mount Everest. Finally, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to accomplish the feat as they reached the peak of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953. It is important to remember that the equipment they used is considered primitive by the standards of today and they had no highway to the summit like that which exists today. They created their own path. Their story is expertly told—with text and amazing pictures–in the book by Alexa Johnston titled, Reaching the Summit: Edmund Hillary’s Life of Adventure. Many leaders of organizations are starting 2014 facing one or more formidable challenges. These challenges are related to performance categories such as quality, safety, talent acquisition, growth, profitability, and productivity. I have seen the phrase existential crisis used several times in newspaper and magazine articles this past year to describe some of these challenges. An existential crisis in this context means an issue or event that threatens the existence of the organization and requires its leaders to re-evaluate why the organization exists; how it will contribute to society; and what actions must be taken for survival. Like the situation in 1953 facing the Mount Everest expedition, there may be no clear path. Thankfully, formidable challenges can be successfully addressed. Good luck reaching the summit in 2014.

Interesting Stories

One of the advantages of the digital economy is the ease with which we can pay for products and services using credit and debit cards. In fact, many of us probably don’t pay much attention anymore when we use our cards. Target Corporation just experienced a digital economy nightmare affecting millions of its customers. In a broadcast e-mail message, Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel stated, “As you have likely heard by now, Target experienced unauthorized access to payment card data from U.S. Target stores. We take this crime seriously. It was a crime against Target, our team members and most importantly you – our valued guest.” The timing could not have been worse—right at the beginning of the holiday season. Target’s response was multi-pronged: two awareness e-mail messages; a CEO e-mail message; and automatic discounts on purchases among other things. Time will tell the full extent of the damages to Target’s financial performance and the relationships it has with its customers.

Company News

The 2014 Public Seminar schedule for Strategic Improvement Systems, LLC will be available on this website around mid-January. There will be at least ten offerings ranging from Analytics to Service Design to Hoshin Kanri. I will be giving an evening presentation on February 11 at a Minnesota American Society for Quality event. It is titled, “Dr. W. Edwards Deming: The World of Quality Twenty Years After His Death.”

Intriguing Reads

Lawrence Freedman, Professor at King’s College London, has written a comprehensive book on Strategy titled, Strategy: A History. The book is lengthy at 700+ pages, but I found it hard to put down and I finished it in less than a week. There are five parts: Origins, Strategies of Force, Strategy from Below, Strategy from Above, and Theories of Strategy. This book will no doubt become a classic and an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the history and development of the field of Strategic Management.