Achieving Class A Business Excellence: An Executive's Perspective

12

KICK-OFF …

We’ve discovered that our planning process is broken from the top to the bottom.

 

Now is the time for you to either get on the train or decide you don’t want to be part of the journey and get off, because the train is leaving the station this morning!

 

 

 

 

 

Greg was preparing an e-mail message to Susan, updating her on the meeting and requesting her participation at Thursday’s dinner when he heard “You’ve got mail.” Ironically, the incoming message was from Susan asking him to attend a 10:00 A.M. meeting in her office on that same Thursday. With some reluctance, Greg phoned Susan to request a special dispensation and also to request her appearance at the dinner. Susan agreed that his workshop was too important for him to miss and changed the date for her meeting. She also enthusiastically agreed to be his keynote speaker. Susan ended the conversation by once again encouraging Greg to do whatever was necessary to make Cosmetics Products successful.

On the following Thursday, Roxanne, Dan, and Tom met Greg for an early breakfast at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis to get to know each other and review the agenda. At 7:55 A.M. they went into the ballroom where nearly 50 invited participants representing Sales, Marketing, Demand Management, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, Engineering, Logistics, Purchasing, Finance, Product Development, Technical Services, Human Resources, and the full Leadership Team had assembled. Greg stepped to the podium precisely at eight o’clock, ...