Risk Culture is the greatest myth perpetrated on business since the Y2K bug. Just like Y2K, an industry has now grown up around it assisting companies to improve their “risk culture”. The problem with “risk culture” is that it has been hijacked from its original practical intent to now being an impossible (and unrequired) philosophical pursuit. Continue reading
Throughout the ages, many have tried to put into words exactly what risk is and what it means to them. Some have been more successful than others—cutting to the heart of the matter, appealing to sensibility, or just putting an idea that’s difficult to explain into words we all can understand.
Today, I want to share 99 quotes that have had the greatest impact on me and how I think about the concept of risk. Continue reading
From Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s 14 Points: Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
By definition, in order to improve something, a change has to occur. I have benchmarked several companies and it seems that those that do the best with their improvement efforts have a workforce that embraces change. If, on the other hand, there is a culture of fear and the workers are terrified to try something different, nothing will improve. Continue reading
We are all good at reacting and responding, putting out fires, and crisis management. In addition, organizations large and small have learned how to be lean and agile, and how to execute a strategy at a high level.
However, despite these skills, General Motors still declared bankruptcy, Blockbuster closed its last store, and Blackberry quickly moved from leading to bleeding. And let’s not forget Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Dell, and a host of other companies who failed to thrive despite its leaders and workers being responsive, agile, and executing well. Continue reading
Blocker (noun) – Someone who purposefully opposes any change (improvement) to a process for personal reasons
‘Blockers’ can occupy any position in a company. They can be any age, gender, education level or pay rate. We tend to think of blockers as older, more experienced workers who have been with the company for a long time, and they don’t want to consider any other way to do things. Continue reading