Remove Commitment Remove Industry Remove Innovation Remove Six Sigma
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6 Silent Productivity and Profitability Pitfalls, part 4 of 7

Strategy Driven

While this might have been the most efficient way to train assembly line workers during the Industrial Era, human capital is now the greatest resource for most companies. In other words, we’re paying people to think, to innovate, and to collaborate with others to produce the best possible results. Lock in and Engage Top Talent.

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How to Prioritize Your Innovation Budget

Harvard Business Review

Leaders and organizations are under more stress than ever to do two things simultaneously: deliver on today’s pressing commitments by troubleshooting and refining processes; and find and invest in innovation opportunities that will create tomorrow’s success. The problem is, this instinct crowds out longer term, innovative thinking.

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Mind the (Skills) Gap

Harvard Business Review

People across industries and job segments need hyper-specialized skills to thrive in this environment, and both white and blue-collar jobs will need to innovate to remain relevant. This will shorten the educational time commitment, thereby lengthening the time an individual has to actually master the skill on the job.

Skills 17
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Building a Software Start-Up Inside GE

Harvard Business Review

It made a massive investment (more than $1 billion) to build a software “ Center of Excellence ” in San Ramon, California to manage the data explosion created by the increasing intelligence of its industrial machines. Together, these constituted radical moves for an industrial company headquartered on the East Coast.

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Cutting Costs Without Cutting Corners: Lessons from Banner Health

Harvard Business Review

Cost cutting is difficult in any industry, but it’s particularly challenging in healthcare, where organizations are simultaneously undergoing a major transformation to improve care and the patient experience. Banner’s leaders made a conscious choice to eschew industry benchmarks in the cost initiative. Leading Health Care Innovation.

Cost 8
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The 5 Requirements of a Truly Innovative Company

Harvard Business Review

Can you think of any business topic that’s been hotter for longer than innovation? In a McKinsey poll , 94% of the managers surveyed said they were dissatisfied with their company’s innovation performance. And yet when it comes to innovation, the gap between aspiration and accomplishment seems as big as ever.

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The Key to Change Is Middle Management

Harvard Business Review

I studied large-scale change and innovation efforts in 56 randomly selected companies in the high-tech, retail, pharmaceutical, banking, automotive, insurance, energy, non-profit, and health care industries. Many change leaders use Six Sigma , Kaizen , and Lean for continuous improvement. Implementing the change.