There is in fact a consensus out there. The consensus is that health care costs are too high, and rising too rapidly. But the consensus evaporates with the question of how to fix it. One man who has thought a lot about this is Atul Gawande. Dr. Gawande is a surgeon, he teaches surgery at… Read More Fixing Health Care by Learning from the Cheesecake Factory – Atul Gawande’s Latest
Getting the steps right is proving brutally hard, even if you know them. Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto —————- This week, I am presenting synopses of Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath and Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization, both to law enforcement professionals. (And my colleague Karl Krayer is… Read More Getting the Basics Right (Like Communication, and Team Building) – It is Still, and Always, Hard To Do
What do we do when the experts simply can’t figure it out? Here’s a simple question: are there failing companies? Yes. Are there less-than-excellent organizations? Yes. Do you do everything you could do, should do, as well as you possibly could – as well as it needs to be done? The answer, I’m pretty sure,… Read More The Experts Can’t Figure It Out – Now What Do We Do? (We Still Don’t Know What Caused the Financial Crisis of 2008)
I’ve been thinking about business, preparing for the expected, and then facing the unexpected… Many products have faced delays in delivery of products due to the earthquakes/tsunami in Japan. And now, the tornadoes that have sliced through and devastated portions of cities, specially in Alabama… What will that do to the economy? (Of course, the… Read More What if the Worst Happens? — What Then?
Discipline is hard – harder than trustworthiness and skill and perhaps even than selflessness. We are by nature flawed and inconstant creatures. We can’t even keep from snacking between meals. We are not built for discipline. We are built for novelty and excitement, not for careful attention to detail. Discipline is something we have to… Read More Are We Truly A “Flabby Lot?” – In A 10,000 Hour Rule World, Why Are We So Flabby?
In Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto, he reminds us that checklists are needed because: Every day there is more and more to manage and get right and learn. And defeat under conditions of complexity occurs far more often despite great effort rather than from a lack of it. Recently, someone asked me just what all… Read More Management Practices and Processes – 2 Lists from Gary Hamel
Here’s what I’m trying to say: we don’t yet know how to do everything we are trying to do. And that can be a real problem. The totals are now beyond what most of us could have only imagined — and feared. The total number of gallons of oil that have spewed into the Gulf… Read More Let’s Call It The “We Can’t Keep Up” Syndrome
Slate.com has a terrific interview up with James Bagian. It is in their The Wrong Stuff: What It Means To Make Mistakes series. This interview is titled: Risky Business: James Bagian—NASA astronaut turned patient safety expert—on Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz. Mr. Bagian was scheduled to be on the Challenger mission, and his crew was… Read More What Went Wrong? – A Question Worth Asking (wisdom from James Bagian)
I mentioned to a group this week that I think The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande is the most important book I have ever presented. Not necessarily the best book – but the most important book. I think about its principles, such as that our age is an age of great complexity, with nearly every… Read More “We Don’t Know It” & “We Blow It” – Two Paths to Potential Disaster
Things were simpler when we knew less. As I think about the books I have read, and especially the books I have presented, I always ask myself: “what is the best book of the whole lot?” I have presented synopses of a minimum of one business book a month for over 12 years. There are… Read More What Did We Miss? What Did We Forget? – Dr. Gawande Keeps Reminding Us Of Our Fallibility
First Friday Book Synopsis 