Many organizations desire innovation, rating their attitudes toward creativity as positive. However, the goal of creativity is abstract, and then managers spurn it when they see it because they have a greater need to reduce uncertainty (Mueller, Psychological Science, 2010). Many companies would describe their IT and HR departments as controlling; their main motivation is…

Countries with labor surpluses and no economic growth are at risk of the surpluses spiraling out of control. Two countries with continuing surpluses include South Africa with 7 million, and the US with 20 million. These countries should consider: a)     Repatriate the manufacturing it previously outsourced, b)     Align educational qualifications of college graduates and labor…

Toyota has two pillars, which have provided a foundation for success:  1.     Kaizen – philosophy of continuous improvement ·       When operational excellence is not a part of the process or culture, there is a huge issue with inconsistencies costing effectiveness and efficiency. 2.     Respect and empowerment for people ·       Individual independence leads to a lack…

A man celebrating his 100th birthday was approached by a news reporter. “I suppose you’ve seen a lot of changes in your day?” “Yes,” the centenarian said, “and I’ve been against every one of them.” Because employees are naturally change resistant, one company says, “We’re not changing…we’re just constantly improving!” The British created a civil…

When the Houston-based Enron fraud also caused Andersen Accounting to go under, one of my New York friends who worked for Andersen called me in Texas and commented on my unethical state! The “moral spillover effect” is when the personal reputations of good and ethical leaders are damaged in companies that have a corruption or…

Matt Emmons, a world-champion marksman, competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. When the final round of the 50-meter, three position rifle competition, he had a significant lead. He aimed and fired three times – and hit the bull’s-eye on his three shots. However, the automatic scoring system scored him a 0. When…

All of us would probably agree that innovations are good, as they have improved our standard of living…transitioning from buggies to cars, from kerosene to light bulbs, and from typewriters to computers. However, with each one of these innovations, many jobs were eliminated. Yet, new jobs were created. That being said, change resistance is often…

The two highest GDP growth rates for the past 20 years are 10.1% for China and 6.7% for India. However, a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) does not include: household labor, parenting, community work and volunteering. Thus, this common economic measure of a country’s wealth does not translate into personal mental health.  Based on 90,000…

A while ago, I did some work in Scarborough, England…a quaint arcade facing a beach, it definitely had charm. When the jet lag hit early in the morning, I took a stroll on the boardwalk watching the sunrise. I arrived at a nice development with a large sign stating, “To be completed in Spring 2007.”…

In 1968, Ford decided to produce the Pinto, a car that weighed less than 2,000 pounds and cost less than $2,000. The Pinto promise was to take on the foreign imports, save jobs for Americans, and make profits for the shareholders. In order to realize this promise, they compressed the normal 3.5 year development process…