Myth Busters – Statistical Mystery Solved?
We have all heard and/or read the oft quoted “40% of all businesses experiencing a crisis go out of business within one year…”. Ever wonder where that statistic came from? For many years a colleague of mine, unfortunately now deceased, searched for the answer; to no avail. No one could actually cite the source for this statistic. Many refer to FEMA or the US Small Business Administration: Continue reading
ISO 31000 notes the importance of understanding internal and external context on the risk management process. Similarly, contemporary water quality risk management frameworks include the need to understand the system from source to end point (what we refer to as S2E). We find that the ‘gold’ in risk assessments is in setting up your foundation properly – once you have a good understanding of your context, the risk assessment has much more power and you will get so much more out of it. Continue reading
At the time of this writing coronavirus is spreading in China and is appearing in other areas of the world. Seasonal flu is also spreading through much of the world. As a comparison, the below graphics provide a snapshot of the current situations. First is the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) graphic with its representative statistics. Alarming? CDC estimates 19 – 26 million flu illnesses; currently there have been approximately 8,000 flu deaths. Alarming? Continue reading
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he CERM Risk Insights article #262 by Tom Taormina and the comments by Paul Simpson and Greg Hutchins, open an important discussion on the future of the quality profession. This piece builds on that discussion. The discussion is important because the quality profession is being disrupted. Both the business approaches and professional organizations which have supported and advanced the quality profession are being affected by this disruption. Continue reading
People are living longer in good health today than has ever been true throughout recorded history. Even so, a lot of people check out early. Some of the shortening of lifespan is due to choices that people make.