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Selected Posts: April to June 2009

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• Blame the Road, Not the Person - Is a situation killing 40,000 people in the USA a year a health care issue? It sure seems to me it would be. It probably isn’t a disease management issue though... I think this is one, of many examples, that shows that we have a disease and injury management system not a health care system.
• Baking in Quality to Software Development - The switch to using Ruby coincided with the beginning of many improvements to our software development practices that have continually improved over the last several years.
• Bond Yields Show Dramatic Increase in Investor Confidence - From April 2009 to July 2009 the yield spread decreased by 213 basis points, showing investors have moved away from government bonds and into Baa corporate bonds.
• When Performance-related Pay Backfires - Managers need to eliminate de-motivation in the work systems not try and find bonus schemes to motivate behavior. Eliminating de-motivation and improving the system is often much more work... You have to manage. But if you are a manager you shouldn't be afraid to actually manage the system and make it better.
• 12 Stocks for 10 Years (July 2009 Update) - The portfolio is beating the S&P 500 by 5.2% annually, the largest holdings are Google (up 105%), Templeton Dragon Fund (up 80%) and PetroChina (up 78%)
• Akio Toyoda's Message Shows Real Leadership - Toyota continues to show they are an exceptional company that doesn't waver due to short term pressures. They know the management system they have in place is excellent. They always try to improve, but with constancy of purpose.
• The Long-Term USA Federal Budget Outlook - Saying you cut taxes when all you actually do is postpone them is dishonest. Cutting taxes and increasing the debt either is increasing taxes in the future to pay for spending today (just like putting charges on your credit card and saying I cut the amount I pay this year - because I didn't pay I just took out debt instead).
• Zappos and Amazon Sitting in a Tree... - Amazon is acquiring the unique company - Zappos... The letter from Tony Hsieh, the Zappo's CEO, to employees is fantastic. This is a CEO that respects employees. These (Tony and Jeff Bezos) are leaders I would follow and invest in (and in fact I am glad I do own Amazon stock).
• Narcissistic Cadre of Senior Executives - It really is a shame that the executives leading so many companies are so moral, ethically and managerially bankrupt. We need to stop allowing such people to become executives in organizations.
• The Calorie Delusion - "According to Geoffrey Livesey, an independent nutritionist based in Norfolk, UK, this can lower the number of calories your body extracts from a meal by anywhere between 5 and 25 per cent depending on the food eaten."
• Science Knowledge Quiz - The question most often answered correctly is "Which over-the-counter drug do doctors recommend that people take to help prevent heart attacks?". The least often "Electrons are smaller than atoms," a true or false question fewer than 50% of people got right.
• Loan Default Rates: 1998-2009 - real estate default rates exploded in 2008. In the 4th quarter of 2007 residential default rates were 3.02% by the 4th quarter of 2008 they were 6.34% and in the 1st quarter of this year they were 7.91% (471 basis points above the 4th quarter of 2007). Commercial real estate default rates increased 366 basis point increase during the same period.
• Peter Scholtes died peacefully in Madison, Wisconsin on the morning of July 11th - we shared the desire to make the huge amount of time people spend working a much more rewarding experience. Making progress in that vein requires not just a wish to do so but the ability to learn and effectively apply ideas to bring about real improvement. He was exceptionally gifted at this difficult task

John Hunter has over 15 years experience in Deming management, management improvement, customer focus, process improvement and related areas. Since 1995, I have used the internet and internet technology to improve the results of management improvement efforts.

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