Achieving Class A Business Excellence: An Executive's Perspective

6

. . . AND LEARNING

The pace of change in business is faster today than ever in history, but is slower today than it ever will be again.

 

I also have a concern that what might work in one company, might not work in another.

Culture change will occur only when it is led from the very top of the organization.

 

 

 

 

 

Greg and David arrived in plenty of time to select the best seats but sat near the back, reflecting Greg’s subconscious uncertainty about the event. There was a book on each seat. Greg just read the word “checklist,” and put it to one side. At the beginning of the seminar, they learned that their hosts for the day, Stan Stevens and Mary Medford, were part of the same consulting group, Effective Management, that published the case studies Greg and David had read. They also learned that Mary had been working closely with Holwarth. That fact rekindled Greg’s skepticism about finding the answers he needed from an engineering firm. The agenda promised some input on business excellence principles from the hosts and some presentations by “real people,” as Greg saw it, from industry.

As the seminar began, Stan and Mary described their backgrounds and work experiences in a number of industries. They had each worked as employees of companies that used Effective Management to help turn around declining business results. Before being invited to join Effective Management, Mary had been an operations manager and, later, the Supply Chain Director for a pharmaceutical company. Stan had ...