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- CEOs Plundering Corporate Coffers - "far too few people that see the obscene behavior of CEOs and their brooks brother bureaucrats as unacceptable. The behavior of many of them has been similar to that of dictators looting the coffers of their country as the country sinks into despair."
- Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel - Now that is some cool engineering: a bridge that becomes a tunnel. It is a four-lane bridge-tunnel composed of bridges, trestles, man-made islands, and tunnels under a portion of the Hampton Roads harbor (see photos by following the link)
- Six Sigma v. Common Sense - many things are sensible, but are not sensible when looked at in isolation (sub-optimization). Six sigma can assist those in the organization to evaluate from a larger context than they normally do.
- 401(k)s are a Great Way to Save for Retirement - "401(k)s are a great way to save. Yes, today those that have been saving money have the disappointment of bad recent results. But that is a minor factor compared to the major problem: Americans not saving what they need to for retirement"
- Crisis May Push USA Federal Deficit to Above $1 Trillion for 2009 - "Just as someone that lived far beyond their means, with excessive debt, debt on multiple credit cards… we have continually elected politicians that had our government live beyond our means"
- Financial Market Meltdown - "On personal finance I still believe the same smart personal financial decisions last year, or five years ago are wise today: avoid credit card debt, have an emergency fund of 6 months of expenses, save for retirement, have proper health insurance, don't buy what you don't need and can't afford..."
- Why is it Colder at Higher Elevations? - "at higher elevations the air pressure is lower (molecules and atoms under less pressure move more slowly which means the temperature is less)."
- Motivate or Eliminate De-Motivation - "Parties can set the groundwork that can then be used to tie people together and make it easier to build a sense of community that can lead to people being motivated to help their colleagues. The danger is not in calling such things motivation. The danger is so many managers think in a theory x way. That is the attitude that needs to change."
- Warren Buffett Webcast on the Credit Crisis, quotes: "The major institutions in the world are all wanting to de-leverage", "I don't like what is going on with executive compensation", "AIG would be doing fine today if they never heard of derivatives"...
- Leverage, Complex Deals and Mania - "It is not a shock that financial markets do irrational things. They do so very frequently. Anyone who has not read, Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises, should do so."
- Wind Power Provided Over 1% of Global Electricity in 2007 - 19,696 MW of capacity were added in 2007, bringing the total to 93,849 MW. Europe accounts for 61% of installed capacity, Germany accounts for 24% and the USA 18%.
- Manufacturing Employment Data from 1979 to 2007 - Manufacturing hours worked decreased for all countries in the period of 2000-2007 (UK has had the largest decrease 3.9% annual average decrease, the USA in next at 3.1%). All countries increased manufacturing output over the same period.
- Does the Data Deluge Make the Scientific Method Obsolete? - I am not at all convinced that a new method without theory ready to supplant the existing scientific method. Tools will allow for new ways to search for insights but I see no reason to think those will supplant the scientific method.
- Top 12 Manufacturing Countries in 2007 - The USA's share of the manufacturing output of the top manufacturing countries in 1990 was 28%, 1995 28%, 2000 33%, 2005 30%, 2007 27%. China's share has grown from 4% in 1990, 1995 7%, 2000 11%, 2005 13%, 2007 16%.
- Webcast on the Toyota Development Process - Kenji shares a presentation he attended earlier this year by Nobuaki Katayama, a former Chief Engineer at Toyota, and the lessons he learned from him.
- Ignorance of Capitalism - The idea that government regulation of markets is interference is equivalent to saying police interfere with freedom by enforcing laws against violent crime. Yes the watchmen must be watched. You can have bad policing and bad regulation; but the idea that policing the free market, in itself is wrong, is ignorant
- New Management Truths Sometimes Started as Heresies - The true power of the new ideas are still adopted in a very small number of organizations. Thankfully small initial steps are being made but there is much more to be done, before we can think of these ideas as accepted.
- Nepalese Entrepreneur Success - Great example of my hope for using capitalism to improve the standard of living for people around the globe... My biggest wish for this blog is to get more readers listed on that page.
- Future Directions for Agile Management - Build systems that cope well with uncertainty and allow for constant continuous improvement of processes
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John Hunter has experience in management improvement (customer focused continuous improvement, process improvement, systems thinking) 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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