Category Archives: Systems thinking

Tilting at Ludicrous CEO Pay

Posted on June 11, 2007 by John Hunter

I continue to tilt at the robber barron CEO pay packages. Hopefully, at some point, the people approving these obscene pay packages can be shamed into stopping or replaced by people with some sense of decency. I was taught in … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Management, Performance Appraisal, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged curiouscat, Deming, executive pay, management, overpaid executives, quote, respect for people | 10 Comments

Focus on Long Term Success

Posted on May 29, 2007 by John Hunter

Put Investors In Their Place by Clayton M. Christensen and Scott D. Anthony: The notion that managers must above all appease investors drives behavior that focuses exclusively on quarterly results. Thus, many management teams hesitate to invest in promising innovations … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Innovation, Management, Systems thinking | 1 Comment

Eliminating Quarterly Earnings Guidance

Posted on May 25, 2007 by John Hunter

It is good to see more people understand the bad practice of excessive short term focus on quarterly profits. It is also a bit amusing to see the Chamber of Commerce pushing an idea Deming was called unrealistic for pushing. … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Google, Investing, Management, Systems thinking | 1 Comment

Rethinking the Social Responsibility of Business

Posted on May 17, 2007 by John Hunter

Rethinking the Social Responsibility of Business, a debate on the correct focus of business: Not that we’re only concerned with customers. At Whole Foods, we measure our success by how much value we can create for all six of our … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Management, Systems thinking | 1 Comment

Keeping Track of Improvement Opportunities

Posted on May 14, 2007 by John Hunter

The Priority Trap [the broken link was removed – long term reliability of the web page links isn’t a priority I guess] by Dan Markovitz makes some good points: But if it’s not important enough to make the short list, … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged prioritize | 2 Comments

Deming Seminar Update

Posted on April 5, 2007 by John Hunter

Ian Bradbury, President of Peaker Services Inc., will discuss his company’s implementation of Dr. Deming’s theory of management at a seminar in Lansing, Michigan, 23-25 April 2007. As I mentioned previously I will be co-presenting this seminar. Several interesting articles: … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Deming, Management, Process improvement, Systems thinking | 3 Comments

Joel Barker Podcast

Posted on April 1, 2007 by John Hunter

Innovation with Joel Barker at the Cranky Middle Manager Show: Innovation isn’t necessarily all great. Unintended consequences are something to be considered- what Joel calls “Cascade Thinking”. What are the long-term consequences before you invest. “the answer to the problem … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged Creativity, Process improvement, Systems thinking | Comments Off

Exposing CEO Pay Excesses

Posted on March 23, 2007 by John Hunter

The politics of pay from The Economist: Although barely one-tenth of the 2,000 biggest American companies have yet reported under the new rules, the tally of negative headlines is already mounting. “There are already plenty of examples of firms reporting … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged executive pay, management, overpaid executives | 4 Comments

Jeffrey Pfeffer on Evidence-Based Practices

Posted on March 11, 2007 by John Hunter

Jeffrey Pfeffer Testifies to Congress About Evidence-Based Practices [the broken link was removed]: In this short statement, I want to make five points as succinctly as possible, providing references for background and documentation for my arguments. First, organizations in both … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Data, Management, Performance Appraisal, Public Sector, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged evidence based management, Public Sector | Comments Off

Total Quality Software Development

Posted on March 6, 2007 by John Hunter

Total Quality Service podcast by Michael Tiemann, Redhat Software. Do we offshore the problem to somebody else, you know get more bad software cheaper? Or do we fix the problem? I think we fix the problem. Now, in going to … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Software Development, Systems thinking, webcast | Comments Off