Yearly Archives: 2017

Advice for Managers Who are Just Starting Out

I was interviewed by Vidal Graupera for his Managers Club blog, excerpts from that interview: What are the biggest challenges you face? Convincing organizations to adopt better management methods. People are very attached to historical ways of managing. While it … Continue reading

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RSS feed for Management Improvement Blog Posts

I have created a RSS feed for select blog posts from the start of the Curious Cat Management Improvement blog in 2004 (as well as other posts I have made on management improvement on other blogs). Subscribe to the John Hunter management improvement RSS feed. Doing so will add a post each day to your RSS feed reader from my past blog post. Of course, the normal RSS feed for this blog will continue to provide access to the new blog posts I publish. Continue reading

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Looking in the Mirror at Customer Focus

Most organizations say they are focused on meeting and exceeding customer needs. But, as a customer, this often isn’t what I experience. Delighting customers is critical to long term business success. Satisfied customers will remain your customers until they see … Continue reading

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Don’t Expect Short Quotes to Tell the Whole Story

When people try to use a short quote as an accurate encapsulation of a management concept they will often be disappointed. It is obvious that Dr. Deming believed that organizations failed to use data effectively to improve. He proposed that … Continue reading

Posted in Data, Management, quote, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Importance of Critical Thinking and Challenging Assumptions

There are many factors that are important to effectively practice the management improvement ideas that I have discussed in this blog for over a decade. One of the most important is a culture that encourages critical thinking as well as … Continue reading

Posted in Data, Management, Process improvement, Psychology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

New JohnHunter.com Website

I have created a new web site for my personal site. I hope you like it. The home page now shows selected blog posts I have written about management, as well as on other topics: investing, software development, travel, software … Continue reading

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Technological Innovation and Management

Technological innovation brings great opportunity for improving results and our quality of life. But transforming potential benefits into real results comes with many challenges. ASQ has asked their Influential Voices to explore the idea of the fourth industrial revolution: “this … Continue reading

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Lessons on Competition from Mother Nature

An interesting short article by Joel Barker with some ideas to think about, Surviving the Fittest: New Lessons on Competition from Mother Nature As a result of this emerging body of research, we now must reexamine our competitive paradigm and … Continue reading

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Improving Management with Tools and Knowledge

Too often today I hear people disparaging management tools/concepts (PDSA cycle, mistake proofing, flowcharts, design of experiments, gemba…). The frequently voiced notion is that tools are being applied and not helping improve management in the organization. But it seems to … Continue reading

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Organizations as Social Systems

Organizations are social systems made up of people. Social systems often amplify what happens. If good things happen, more good things often follow. When bad things happen, more bad things often follow. To improve it is wise to this into … Continue reading

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