Here are three points of advice to help you stay focused on continuously improving yourself, your people and your business without sacrificing your personal values:
1. Create a Constancy in Purpose. At home, Schireson found he had a higher calling that created a more purposeful life. While not every leader may feel the same calling, having a purpose for employees can help chief executives achieve the same objective. Brief, but meaningful activities—in Schireson’s case, being there to take care of his kids when they get sick, for example—can have an enduring impact.
2. Adopt a Philosophy of Quality. Just as Deming taught the Japanese decades ago, American consumers can no longer live with the levels of quality they once tolerated. Variation, masquerading as wasteful activity, must be driven out of our businesses. As continuous improvement strategies spread around the globe, it will only make it more difficult for us to compete if we don’t adopt the same principles. By engaging employees in quality improvement activities to find the most common causes of variation, we increase throughput rates, expand capacity—which gives us more time to innovate—and create more jobs.
3. Lead from the “Gemba” (a Japanese term meaning “real place”). Schireson decided his real value to humanity was to lead from home. Being with his children meant more to him than anything else. That’s value-added activity, not waste. By seeing, watching and understanding the needs of his kids, he’ll be able to help influence them going forward, giving real value to them as they become the world’s next generation of leaders.
The key lesson here is not to quit your job and stay home with your family: it’s to step down from the corner office and spend more time in the field. You will not only learn more about your people and your processes, but you will be able to more effectively influence them as well.
(1) Four Days With Dr. Deming (p. 56) (by William Latzko and David Saunders)
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1:00 - 5:00 pm
Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
10:30 - 5:00 pm
General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.
