If not, what are you doing about it? With all due respect to former (and currently dead) president Ronald Reagan, are you doing any better than you were earlier this year?  If not, what are you planning to do about it? Read more »

The problem: What do you do when you have too many choices and not enough time? How do you make sense of a lot of raw information about a problem that has no apparent pattern? Read more »

The Ishikawa Diagram - also known as a “fishbone” or “root cause” diagram - can jump start your strategic planning with wonderful results.  Named after Kaoru Ishikawa, one of the early pioneers of Total Quality Management in the 60’s, it forces you to: Identify the drivers in your business ecosystem.  In the service industry these are often the 4 S’s: Surroundings, Suppliers, Systems, Skills.  If you are in manufacturing, you can start with the 6 M’s: Machine, Method, Materials, Maintenance, Man and Mother Nature; Take a holistic approach. Read more »

Project Plans. PERT and GANTT charts. Critical Paths. All are wonderful linear tools well suited to engineering and construction projects but that fail miserably for innovators and creative thinkers. Read more »

The fastest way to prove to yourself the power of a 100 Day Plan is to start one yourself.  Just pick a goal, write it down, and navigate over to the Duration Calculator at TimeAndDate.com (yes, there truly is a site for everything). Select a project that’s been needing to get done for a while and has been nagging you; Read more »