Tools and Tactics for Operations Managers (Collection)

18. Back to the Future: A Retrospective

What It Looks Like When It All Works

There’s an exercise in positive psychology where people are asked to imagine themselves in their own future and to describe in as much detail as possible what they see and how they feel. Borrowing from that exercise, I summarize High Performance Operations in a similar way.

You’re at the helm of a high performance operation. It’s Tuesday, and you arrive at the office at 10:37 a.m. No one is surprised to see you at that hour. Your smartphone is buzzing with text messages from your teenage daughter updating you on something terribly important—to her—something about stained clothes. You deliberately take the long way to your office so you can take in the vibe of the day. ...