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Lessons in Cambodian Silk Supply Chains

By  in June 18th 2013   No Comment »
Filed Under Community Involvement, Light Your World     Tags: , ,      

Marcelia Muehlke, one of the great young entrepreneurs I get to hang out with. She’s just your ‘average’ 20-something creating an international supply chain in the fashion industry, and succeeding.  In the spirit of ‘and/both’ instead of ‘either/or’, Marcie doesn’t accept the 20th century cut throat culture of the Garment District.

This is a wonderful story, with lessons for all of us! Marcie started a fair trade wedding dress company that cares about the workers, working conditions and the environment. Making eco-socially-responsible wedding dresses requires a very special international supply chain and lets her combine a background in international development with her MBA.

Read more here.

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9 Ways to Motivate Employees When You Don’t Set the Goals

By  in June 14th 2013   No Comment »
Filed Under Leadership Development, Workplace Issues     Tags: , , , , ,      

Ways to motivate employees

What Now?

Julia slammed her laptop shut and slumped over her desk.

“Ugh! What are they thinking? My team’s gonna hate this!”

We had just sat down to discuss her goals when the email arrived from her regional manager.

The email listed sales goals she and her team were expected to meet…goals from headquarters that neither she nor her team had any input into.

What Would You Do?

Julia’s situation is not unique.

Whether you’re a team leader, a mid-manager, or even the President, CEO, or Executive Director, there will be times in your career where you are asked to meet goals that you did not speak into or, in some cases, even disagree with.

Naturally, this presents a leadership challenge.

As Julia noted, people often react negatively when they have goals ‘shoved down their throats’ – goals that may have been set by people who may not have all the facts and didn’t ask for input.

The good news is that you and your team can still thrive in these situations – there are ways to motivate employees when you don’t set the goals…9 of them, if fact! [Read More...]

Take care,

David

 

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Do You Want to Write a Book?

By  in June 10th 2013   1 Comment »
Filed Under Self Leadership     Tags: , , ,      

type It’s a question that, admittedly, may only speak to a small percentage of people. However, it is a question I get often… What advice do you have for an aspiring author?

This is a fun and strange question for a guy who sells chicken for a living. I’m no expert on writing books. However, with three published titles and a fourth in the pipeline, I do have a few ideas for you to consider.

In this post I share 3 ideas that will help you to write and publish the book you’ve always wanted to publish.

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Innovating Higher-Education

By  in June 7th 2013   No Comment »
Filed Under Leadership Development, Resources     Tags: , ,      

coursolveMOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses) are a very hot topic in higher education and corporate training. Nabeel Gillani started Coursolve.org to connect organizations using MOOCs with students around the world to solve real world problems.  UVa’s Darden School of Business and University of Washington are finding unexpected value and learning by using Coursolve.  We are in a new age of education, and just leave it our students to make sure they are front and center! Read more here.

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What Legacy Will You Leave?

By  in June 3rd 2013   No Comment »
Filed Under Self Leadership     Tags: , ,      

wallyHave you ever been touched deeply by someone you barely knew?

On May 1, 2013 a man named Wally Collins passed away. A few short years ago I sang at his wedding as he married one of the people I hold most dear, Mary McClean. They shared a brief, but beautiful love. It was moving to witness. Wally fought hard to stay on this earth to be with Mary and his family as long as possible. He defied the odds over and over right until the end.

I had known Wally for only 4 of his 89 years. Yet somehow he had touched my life deeply.

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Quality Circles: The U.S. False Start to Lean

By  in May 31st 2013   No Comment »
Filed Under Workplace Issues     Tags:      

Lean5(This is the fifth in a 12-part series on the origins of Lean in the U.S. and my role as one of its pioneers.)

It was clear that employees in Japan were engaged. Toyota was famous for andon, a manufacturing term used to describe a system whereby employees could “pull the cord” and alert management and engineering that there was a quality problem. Pulling the cord resulted in the production line coming to a stop and causing all resources to be focused on resolving the problem all the way back to its root cause.

YouTube: Why Buy a Toyota – Andon Cord

In the U.S. we used inventory to hide these kinds of problems. If there was a problem with a part we had an extra batch of parts around and would set the bad one aside for the quality department to analyze. But in Japan a quality problem caused immediate focus on problem solving and a drive to eliminate all quality problems at their source. It was a philosophy of “build quality in” versus an “inspect bad quality out” approach.

Read More….

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Authentic Leadership Dallas: Gaining Momentum

By  in May 29th 2013   Comments Off
Filed Under Leadership Development     Tags: , , ,      

Lead ChangeLast week, we had our monthly luncheon in Dallas. Although we call it Authentic Leadership Dallas, Lead Change is the rallying and centering organization for our gathering.  It is the principles of character-based leadership that bring us together, and it is the efforts of Mike Henry and others joining together to make things work in local communities.

Social media communities deliver a lot of value in learning, connecting, and sharing. It is a whole new experience to sit across from other individuals and share stories of challenge, opportunity, and success. Leadership is real and situations stare back at us as we listen and offer ideas. It is in our leadership stories we learn, coach, and grow.

During our last meeting, we had a new mix of people, and I believe we have a core of eight people now. It is exciting to see the momentum gain with this group. While it has not been an immediate success, many things are not. It takes time to build relationships and consistency to put a foundation in place.

Our meeting flow was simple. Introductions are always a great place to begin, but we then went into a discussion of a core belief for each leader. In exchanging our core beliefs, we naturally went to how these work at work or how to make them work in our work. It was an engaging, thoughtful conversation and I believe each of us left with some new insights and appreciation for the challenges we lead through.

The last part of our meeting was spent discussing how to continue our conversations next month. The consensus was to focus on a single question for part of our exchanges and then share unique situations we are working through. The reality may be this group is a mutual mentoring community. Isn’t that how leaders get better after all?

As we move into our June meeting, we will explore one moment of authentic leadership we each experienced. We will also open time to share what is happening in our workplaces and looking for ideas on how to enhance what we do.

This is our Lead Change journey in Dallas. Real conversations. Real people. Real leadership stories and opportunities for growth.

If you are in Dallas, join us. Check out our Authentic Leadership Meetup group and RSVP!

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It Sounds Great in Theory…

By  in May 28th 2013   Comments Off
Filed Under Self Leadership     Tags: ,      

in_outThere are a lot of things that “sound great in theory.” Yet knowing the theory doesn’t always tell you how to implement the theory in real life.

Why does there so often seem to be such a big gap between theory and action?

I’ll suggest it is because to apply the theory we have to first change the way we think. Just because a concept makes sense to us intellectually doesn’t mean we have embraced the new thinking or beliefs and integrated them into our mindset.

Your thoughts, which are always based on your personal context, mental models, beliefs, etc., are the source of all of your actions. Change the way you think and you will change the way you act.

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Lean Blossoms: The U.S. Pioneer of Lean Spreads the Knowledge

By  in May 24th 2013   Comments Off
Filed Under Workplace Issues     Tags:      

Lean4(This is the fourth in a 12-part series on the origins of Lean in the U.S. and my role as one of its pioneers.)

By 1984 Omark was gaining wide recognition as one of the best companies in America. The company was featured in what I believe was the first book written in the U.S. on the application of Lean methods brought back from Japan. Dr. Richard Schonberger’s 1982 book, Japanese Manufacturing Techniques: Nine Hidden Lessons in Simplicity.

We appeared in many articles and delivered results that were hard to beat. In 1984 we reported an increase in sales of 18 percent over 1983 (from $252 to $297 million) and our net earnings were up a whopping 115 percent (from $6.8 to $14.6 million. Things were going well.

Read More….

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In Collaboration We Trust

By  in May 23rd 2013   Comments Off
Filed Under Team Dynamics     Tags: , , , , ,      

In Collaboration TrustCollaboration is the new way to work. Walls are being removed and collaboration points are being designed into workplaces. Though collaboration isn’t new, it is being revived.

In a world of extreme connectedness, collaboration is rising as a strategic and practical way to gain a competitive advantage.

At the core of collaboration is trust. Without trust, collaboration falls apart quickly and, sometimes, irreparably.

Since trust is so crucial, there needs to be a clear focus on how to protect it while still allowing it flourish. The four principles outlined in this post will ensure effective collaboration while fostering trust.

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