Robert J. Samuelson, the op ed writer, wrote a piece this week called ‘Why America’s Recovery is Feeble.”
The numbers are stunning. The recession officially ended in mid – 2009. The US annual growth rate since the recession has been 2%. Similar recoveries average 4.5% growth. We all know what this means. Fewer jobs. Less capital and consumer spending. Higher unemployment. Fiscal cliff approaching fast.
Semmelweis Reflex? Ever heard of it? This condition seems to be the reason why today’s challenges can’t be understood, solved and resolved.
So, what is the Semmelweis reflex? It is the seemingly reflex reaction that organizations and people have to new ideas because it contradicts established paradigms, norms, ideas, or ways of doing things.
A little background may help. Semmelweis was an Austrian physician who believed that childhood fevers cold be drastically reduced by simply washing hands with a chlorinated solution. This idea was fairly radical in the mid 1800’s. Even after multiple scientific studies, his ideas were not accepted and even ridiculed by his chronological peers. He died in an asylym a broken man. Visit wikipedia for more information at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
Our inability today to understand, study, and accept new ideas and paradigms is a huge risk for us personally (think of job changes), for organizations that need to adapt to new market realities (think globalization), countries that have changing economic paradigms (think US fiscal cliff) and the planet that’s going through new cycles (think global warming).
Bio:
Greg Hutchins PE and CERM (503.233.101 & GregH@QualityPlusEngineering.com) is the founder of:
CERMAcademy.com
800Compete.com
QualityPlusEngineering.com
WorkingIt.com
He is the evangelist behind Future of Quality: Risk®. He is currently working on the Future of Work and machine learning projects.
He is a frequent speaker and expert on Supply Chain Risk Management and cyber security. His current books available on all platform are shown below:
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I’m a risk book junkie. I want to keep up and be employable. So , I read about every risk book that’s published. This my attempt to follow the excellent logic in The Reinventors by Jason Jennings. Let me explain:
The premise of the book is that organizations must reinvent themselves or die. Tough message for tough times. By extension, all of us must reinvent ourselves to be employable. Hence, my interest in reading every or most risk books.
Jason Jennings researched a lot of companies going through mega changes. Some were successful. Many were not such as Kodak, Blockbuster and others. The reasons varied why they weren’t successful. The reasons are familiar to all of us. They didn’t accept change. They stayed too long with legacy products. They didn’t reinvent in the right growth sectors. They did not execute appropriately.
There are a number of reasons why we recommend this book. While we know many of the lessons learned in the book, they really bear repeating. We or myself specifically tend to forget many common sense rules and examples.
Mr. Jennings offers practical tips and path to follow. Let go of the past. Pick a destination. Kiss a lot of frogs. Who stays, leads or goes. Get everyone on the same page. Be frugal and lean. Systematize everything. Do and don’t hesitate.
Most importantly at the end of each chapter, he provides tips for an action plan. Buy it. Read it. Apply it.
Bio:
Greg Hutchins PE and CERM (503.233.101 & GregH@QualityPlusEngineering.com) is the founder of:
CERMAcademy.com
800Compete.com
QualityPlusEngineering.com
WorkingIt.com
He is the evangelist behind Future of Quality: Risk®. He is currently working on the Future of Work and machine learning projects.
He is a frequent speaker and expert on Supply Chain Risk Management and cyber security. His current books available on all platform are shown below:
I’ve been giving lots of talks on the future of professions and even of management.
Bottom Line: The future of management and all professions is fundamentally changing and even some professions are disappearing.
What does the NERC Reliability Assurance Initiative (RAI), proposed CMEP changes, Actively Monitored List (AML) and the tiered approach to auditing mean to registered entities?
What are the major differences between the current ‘zero defect’ and NERC’s proposed Reliability Assurance Initiative (RAI)?