Today a headhunter sent me the specs for a position he is trying to fill. One quick glance through raised more red flags than you’d see at a Chinese parade. The offending job description included these choice phrases:

“…looking for a process improvement professional… newly created position leading effort to streamline Sales and Marketing processes.”

Below, the company listed the must-have attributes for the new hire. The very first skill they are looking for? “Some kind of Six Sigma certification. BLACK BELTS WILL BE GIVEN PREFERENCE.”

In good conscience I could not recommend anyone in my network even consider a job like this, because the hiring company was making a huge, costly mistake:

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I discovered something called OLE when IndustryWeek asked me to deliver a webcast to their audience and Kronos decided to be the sponsor. Read on to see why I am intrigued by OLE. (Kronos is not a client and I do not receive any compensation from them for talking about their concepts and products.)

My clients and long-timer readers know I believe companies need to focus on Net Preference (NP), which is customers’ choice between you and the competition, taking everything into account. One of the challenges with NP is connecting all the activities inside the company to customers’ preferences outside the company. Behavior on the shop floor seems too far removed from the sale and internal processes are intricately interdependent.

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Got to love it when someone looks at a system everyone takes for granted then changes one assumption to create an excellent new idea. In this case, Bikestations goes to a core dynamic of American society – the automobile – and asks, “what system is in place to support the automobile that must be in place for bicycles to be used in a similar fashion?” See this Fast Company article: http://bit.ly/8L9QR

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The cover of this month’s Inc. magazine is graced by the smiling visage of Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. Why is Tony’s cute dimple on display and why do we care whether or not another youthful, high-tech zillionaire is feeling chipper? Because this executive’s sunny disposition, Zappos’ ascension to $1 billion in online sales, and the company’s place among Fortune’s top 25 companies to work for are all inextricably linked. Is a similar dynamic shaping your company?

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The most admired management sage today is without a doubt Jim Collins, author of Built to Last and Good to Great, and interviewee in this month’s Inc. While revealing an idea-rich landscape Collins mentions three important concepts, which I am taking the liberty of linking together: Corporate success – regardless of the size of the company - rests on entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship is a life concept reflecting the choices we make; Successful entrepreneurs choose to take action.
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