Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 15NOV10

“Thank God It’s Monday” is to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus: leadership

There is a Japanese concept that I know as “gemba” meaning “go to where the work is.” There are great lessons that can be learned “where the work is.”

The TV show Undercover Boss captures CEOs going to where the work is. It is interesting watching the executive’s eyes being opened to realities their employees face every day.

If more leaders would go to “where the work is,” they would be adding value beyond belief and helping their employees and organizations

Thought for the week:

“To sensible men, every day is a day of reckoning.” -John W. Gardner

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Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2010 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

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Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 08NOV10

“Thank God It’s Monday” is to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus: configurable products and services

The reason most ordering environments for configurable products and services are so challenging is that they cannot easily accommodate “exceptions.”

Non-conformity to standard, e.g., “I want it just like this but…,” requires 10 people to put their heads together to figure out how to handle an exception that never should have been an exception in the first place.

Companies that provide configurable products and service must pre-define a relevant set of options and allow people to order within the parameters provided.

The more “a la carte” product and service providers can be, the happier their customers and employees will be ensuring the company thrives.

Thought for the week:

“Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.” -Unknown author

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Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2010 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

Privacy Statement:  Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 01NOV10

“Thank God It’s Monday” is to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus: ethics

Ethics is about meeting expected, professional standards of conduct—“doing the right thing”—especially when no one is looking.

This past week, GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, agreed to pay a whopping $750 million fine to settle with the FDA for serious quality control breaches (read my blog post here).  We do not know if people died or suffered significant side effects as a consequence of this ethical lapse—it is certainly possible.

The Gulf Oil spill was no accident—repeated warning signs were ignored. Besides the economic and ecological catastrophe that ensued for BP and the Gulf region, we should not forget that eleven people lost their lives, a horrific outcome for such an ethical lapse.

In both instances, the quest for profits trumped safety.

Companies that thrive instantiate a culture imploring employees to “do the right thing” irrespective of the implications.

Thought for the week:

“We must look for the opportunity in every difficulty instead of being paralyzed at the thought of the difficulty in every opportunity.”
– Walter E. Cole

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Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2010 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

Privacy Statement:  Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.