One of my favorite insights comes from Harvard’s David Garvin: “Learning will always remain something of an art, but even the best artists can improve their technique.” I like it because it quite subtly highlights two different yet intertwined activities, learning and training.

Editor’s note: This continues Jack Dunigan’s series about unsung heroes in the workplace, and the 16 traits they all share.

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program includes employee empowerment as an integral part of its criteria. The word “empower,” or one of its derivatives, appears seven times in the criteria in reference to workforce development, yet it remains one of the most elusive elements to embrace.

In what may seem a contradiction, it was Gen. George Patton who was one of the most outspoken champions of his era about empowerment, embodied in this famous quote:

I always find the annual Baldrige Quest for Excellence Conference to be more than a mere gathering of people to discuss topics of common interest. It is an energy-rich experience. The 25th anniversary event was all that and more because of the combination of celebratory gala, Baldrige Award ceremony, and Quest for Excellence Conference.

You may occasionally encounter charts with two-sigma limits. The origins of this practice are not clear, and no real justification of this practice has been given in the literature. In this article, I will consider the theoretical and practical consequences of using two-sigma limits on a process behavior chart.

“Shall I compare thee to a standard normal distribution?

 Thou art more symmetric and more bell-shaped…”

 —Melvin Shakespeare (William’s lesser-known statistician brother)

The Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that symmetry was one of the primary elements of the universal ideal of beauty. More than 2,000 years later, emerging research seems to bear him out.

The seminal book on lean, The Machine That Changed the World (Free Press, reprint 2007), spent many words, tables, and figures on the subject of productivity—as well as, of course, quality. Why?

OK, brace yourself for a shocking disclosure that will revolutionize service businesses everywhere. Are you ready? The role of support areas such as human resources, IT, finance, and of course, management is to... wait for it... support the core business. And by core business I’m talking about those who deliver what customers want or solve customer problems.

What Do You Call Quietly Capable People Who Help You Succeed?
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