Tag Archives: long term thinking

Short Term Investing Focus

Posted on February 17, 2010 by John Hunter

Buffett’s New CEO Shows Analysts, Hedge-Fund Managers to Door [the broken link was removed] Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. completed the buyout yesterday after winning the approval of Burlington Northern investors. The deal, valued at $100 a share, allows Rose to hand out returns of nearly 300 percent, plus dividends, to investors who bought stock the day he was named CEO in 2000. The problem, he said, is that shareholders with that length of commitment are dwindling in number and influence. … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Investing, Management | Tagged Deming, Investing, long term thinking, management, short term thinking, Warren Buffett | 4 Comments

Worker Retention at Zappos

Posted on October 29, 2009 by John Hunter

Tony Hsieh, chief executive of Zappos, spoke at a recent y-combinator event (two great organizations we have mentioned before). Facebook and Zappos’s Different Views on Worker Retention “We actually want our employees stay with the company for a long time, for 10 years, maybe their entire life.” … “We now provide mentorship and training so employees can join at the entry level and, over a period of five to seven years, have the opportunity and training to become senior leaders … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Fun, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged aim, Creativity, Deming, long term thinking, management, managing people, respect for people | 2 Comments

Dr. Deming Webcast on the 5 Deadly Diseases

Posted on August 26, 2009 by John Hunter

The W. Edwards Deming Institute has posted Dr. Deming’s 1984 video on the 5 deadly diseases of western management. Lack of constancy of purpose Emphasis on short term profits – “creative” accounting, focus on quarterly profits Annual Performance Appraisals – management by objective, management by fear Mobility of management – [see Toyota for a great example of a company that operates on different principles – where the leadership has been with Toyota for decades] Running a company on visible figures … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Lean thinking, Management, Performance Appraisal, Popular, quote, webcast | Tagged Deming, long term thinking, management, management experts, management webcast, Performance Appraisal, Popular, quote, webcast | 7 Comments

Zappos and Amazon Sitting in a Tree…

Posted on July 23, 2009 by John Hunter

Amazon is acquiring the unique company – Zappos: we have written about Zappos previously: Paying New Employees to Quit. Jeff Bezos uses the webcast above to talk to the employees of Zappos. Excellent job. The letter from Tony Hsieh, the Zappo’s CEO, to employees is fantastic. This is a CEO that respects employees. These are leaders I would follow and invest in (and in fact I am glad I do own Amazon stock). First, I want to apologize for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, Deming, Fun, Innovation, Investing, Management, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged Amazon, Bezos, Customer focus, customer service, Innovation, Investing, long term thinking, respect for people | 7 Comments

Respect for People – Understanding Psychology

Posted on July 13, 2007 by John Hunter

Process improvement tools offer great resources to improve results. Dr. Deming included understanding psychology as one of the 4 areas of his management system. He understood organizations where not machines but systems made up of people. Therefore management needs to reflect that reality. -Lee Fried discusses these ideas in It is All About the People: We may organize and teach around the process, but it is the people that we really need to change if we want to show long-term … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Respect | Tagged build capability, long term thinking, management, management system, Process improvement, Psychology, respect for people | 6 Comments

Goodbye Quarterly Targets?

Posted on March 31, 2007 by John Hunter

Goodbye Quarterly Targets? [the broken link was removed], Business Week: For about a decade, companies have tried to goose their stocks-or manage the market’s expectations-by putting out quarterly earnings projections. Now the practice has come under fire as business leaders fret that the focus on short-term targets undermines long-term growth. On March 14 the Commission on the Regulation of U.S. Capital Markets in the 21st Century, a project of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, urged executives to stop issuing their … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged Investing, long term thinking, management, short term thinking, targets | 3 Comments

Going Lean Brings Long-term Payoffs

Posted on September 10, 2006 by John Hunter

Going lean brings long-term payoffs [the broken link was removed] by John Torinus: The growing number of Wisconsin manufacturers, and the few service companies, taking the lean journey are learning that it is not a sprint. … The immediate paybacks come in the form of saved space, less distance traveled, fewer handoffs, faster throughput, lower inventories and man-hours saved. I would state the authors next point differently. The early successes provide resources to invest in making large more fundamental changes … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Systems thinking | Tagged lean manufacturing, Lean thinking, long term thinking, Quality tools, Systems thinking, Wisconsin | 2 Comments

Gladwell (and Drucker) on Pensions

Posted on August 21, 2006 by John Hunter

The Risk Poolhttps://management.curiouscatblog.net/2006/08/21/gladwell-and-drucker-on-pensions/ by Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point and Blink): The most influential management theorist of the twentieth century was Peter Drucker, who, in 1950, wrote an extraordinarily prescient article for Harper’s entitled “The Mirage of Pensions.” It ought to be reprinted for every steelworker, airline mechanic, and autoworker who is worried about his retirement. Drucker simply couldn’t see how the pension plans on the table at companies like G.M. could ever work. “For such a plan … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Economics, Health care, Investing, Management, Popular, Systems thinking | Tagged business, Data, Economics, Investing, leadership, long term thinking, Management | 1 Comment

Management Training Program

Posted on October 28, 2005 by John Hunter

Fog Creek Software Management Training Program by Joel Spolsky: Finally, when you’re really really good, they let you hang around with Yussef on the ovens. Yussef was about 100 years old and so good at running the ovens it was scary. When Gabbi tried to show me how to solve the problem of bread sticking to the conveyer belts on the way out of the oven, he ran back and forth like a lunatic for ten minutes, turning knobs, pulling … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Management, Popular, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged curiouscat, Education, Joel Spolsky, long term thinking, management, Software Development, training | 3 Comments

Life Beyond the Short Term

Posted on September 4, 2005 by John Hunter

Life Beyond the Short Term by Simon Caulkin, The Observer. Last week’s column – ‘Adrift in a parallel universe‘ – about the perversion of management provoked an eloquent, sometimes passionate, response. … In the spirit of a positive alternative, a prime text is W Edwards Deming’s 14-point programme for transforming management, drawn up in the 1980s. Once again Simon Caulkin has penned an excellent article. In this article he gives an overview of Deming’s 14 points. I am glad to … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged Deming, long term thinking, management history, short term thinking | 1 Comment