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There is a special type of leader capable of transforming a company from good to great: The Type 5 Leader Jim Collins and his research team spent years analyzing thousands of companies to define this leadership style. To explain one of its fundamental traits, the research team uses an interesting analogy: The mirror and the…
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Marcio Ballas, a Brazilian TV moderator, entertainer, and clown, created an interesting approach to boost creativity and promote problem-solving. The power of YES. Graduated from the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, he spent decades working with creativity to find out the transforming power of this tiny word: YES. Instead of listing a finite number…
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1) Avoid large meetings Large meetings waste valuable time & energy – They discourage debate – People are more guarded than open – There’s not enough time for everyone to contribute Don’t schedule large meetings unless you’re certain they provide value to everyone 2) Leave a meeting if you’re not contributing If a meeting doesn’t…
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During a ceramic pottery class, the teacher divided the class in two groups. The two groups should produce clay pots, however, while the first group received the target to produce as many pots as possible, the second group was instructed to produce only one – perfect pot. After completing the task, the teacher was surprised…
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In 1978, James Dyson became frustrated when his vacuum cleaner diminished performance due to a clogged filter bag. He had some experience building cyclones to separate paint particles from the air, but could this idea work for vacuum cleaners? He gave it a try, and built a prototype. It turned out, it didn’t work. The…
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In the movie Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin plays a factory worker fired due to his inappropriate behavior. A certain scene shows an assembly line with three workers standing at a conveyor belt. Each one of them is performing a different task. As the conveyor belt rushes the production parts in front of them, it becomes…
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Is that really important? In fact, when it comes to improvement and innovation, this is one of the most important elements, for a simple reason: How we think about people defines how we interact with people. If you think of your colleagues as being uninterested and slow, the chances are high that you will create…
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In his book entitled “Zurück an die Arbeit”, Lars Vollmer examines the aspects that keeps us from delivering good, productive work. As Lars Vollmer takes the reader through corporate settings, shop floors and board rooms, it becomes clear that there are two different “stages” on which an organization operates: The front-stage and the backstage. The…
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For decades, Prof. Jeffrey K. Liker devoted his time to study the Toyota Production System to find out what is at the core of a highly successful Lean company. In his book on Lean Leadership, he points out the damage that shortsighted managers can have on the long-term development of an organization, if the only…
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You probably have seen this cartoon: Two persons working hard while a third person is standing apart with a solution to ease their work. Unfortunately, the two persons are too busy to care about what the “process improver” has to say. No improvement is done, all due to the lack of time from the operators.…