New: Curious Cat Gadget Blog

  • Oil Consumption by Country 1990-2009 - The USA consumed 18.7 million barrels of oil a day in 2009. Only China was also over 5 million barrels, they reached 8.2 million in 2009. Japan is next at 4.4 million...
  • 401(k) Options - Seek Low Expenses - "The .47% added expense isn't much to miss for 1 year... It isn't very sexy to get .47% extra every year but it is extremely rewarding. $200,000 at 6% for 25 years grows to $858,000 while $200,000 at 6.47% for 25 years grows to $958,000 - a $100,000 difference.
  • Build an Environment Where Intrinsic Motivation Flourishes - 50 years after Douglas McGregor's classic, The Human Side of Enterprise, too many managers still have not learned that using extrinsic motivation is not an effective way to manage complex human systems (organizations)
  • How to Manage What You Can't Measure - "when the data is lacking it is even more important to take a systemic approach to making management decisions. Falling back into using the numbers you can get to drive decision making is a recipe for trouble."
  • Auto Manufacturing in 2009: USA 5.7 million, Japan 7.9 million, China 13.8 million - In 2007 the USA produced 10.8 million cars and light trucks, Japan 11.6 million, China 8.9 million. In 2008 USA 8.7 million, Japan 11.6 million, China 9.3 million.
  • The Problem is Likely Not the Person Pointing Out The Problem - I believe the focus should be on "broken systems are unacceptable." I would prefer problem solving to address the issues but a culture of ignoring issues and seeing those that don’t as being negative is often the real problem (not the person that points out the problems).
  • Wind Power Capacity Up 170% Worldwide from 2005-2009 - Wind power is now generating 2% of global electricity demand. The countries with the highest shares of wind energy generated electricity: Denmark 20%, Portugal 15%, Spain 14%, Germany 9%.
  • Building on Successful Improvement - "I firmly believe you learn lean best by doing lean. So getting quick successes is great training - better than classroom training. But in doing so, you do want to focus on making sure people understand how the quick fix is a process they can repeat to improve other areas."
  • Involve IT Staff in Business Process Improvement - "I don't think organizations should cram their processes into designs required by off the shelf software. Instead I believe they should design processes optimal for their organization and using off the shelf software often does the opposite..."