In the 90’s, Dell beat competitors with supply chain efficiency; however, their competitors were able to copy this competitive advantage to the point that it became a market expectation. Apple turns its inventory over every 5 days; Dell every 10 days and Samsung every 21 days. Wal-Mart is known for its use of technology when…

Oracle President Mark Hurd said that executives can use HR-related intelligence to: help make better business decisions, shape the future of their organization, and improve the bottom line. He said we need to use data to make fact-based decisions about hiring, talent management and succession to drive strategic growth. Essentially, effective organizations provide leaders with…

Customization results in variability, which is wasteful and time consuming. Standardized processes accomplish: Compliance: protect your company and your people globally and locallyConsistency: cut costs as efficiency and mobility improveCapability: improve workforce performance Complementing a standardized process is a comprehensive technology solution. This provides system-wide efficiencies by sharing common data across every part of an organization. However, what commonly happens…

Companies are operationalizing global distributed processes — which involves breaking up and distributing across nations and locations what were once tightly integrated tasks. The new operating model is to conduct the work where the best expertise exists at the lowest possible costs. By doing this, a company can:a) exploit time zone variations to operate 24/7…

A few years ago, the popular term was that BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) was where the future growth opportunities were.Today, most of the popular press is only focused on two of these: India and China. China grew 10% annually the last 4 years. India’s real GDP grew 8% annually; however, Brazil is only at half…

Most companies give lip service re: the importance of good employees, but they don’t act on that by treating them as though they are important. I visited Yum! (Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut) in Louisville recently, and they literally walk the talk.David Novak (CEO of the year in 2012) gives out chattering teeth with…

A colleague of mine just joined Proctor & Gamble. One of the great cultural activities there is something called a “Join Up.” Before two people conduct a business meeting 1:1, it is important that each colleague knows a little about the other. So, every employee has a 1-sheet summary of who they are as a…

One health care system just laid off 25% of their workforce in order to find hundreds of millions of dollars in savings to comply with the recent regulation and legislation. The loss of jobs is staggering, and the expectation for the surviving employees–to maintain the same level of service with much lower headcount–is demoralizing.I asked…

27 years ago…..on January 28, 1986, Roger Boisjoly, an engineer at Morton Thiokol, warned his bosses that the frigid conditions would endanger NASA’s space shuttle voyage. 73 seconds after launch, and after his bosses rebuffed his concern, his warning materialized with an explosion that killed astronauts. How do you escalate effectively?

A friend recommended the Navy Seal book on the firsthand account of killing Osama Bin Laden. In reading the book from a human capital perspective, it highlighted the Navy’s: Selection Process – a rigorous program to find candidates who had what it took (aligned knowledge, skill and aptitude with the job requirements); Learning & Development – a…