Volume 11 Number 10 - October 8, 2013

The Finish Strong^® monthly e-newsletter is for business leaders who recognize Operations as a strategic function that creates competitive advantage, profitability and brand loyalty to the marketplace.

These brief articles, list of events, and amended quote will make you think.
Go ahead: test us

VIDEO GAMES CHANGE OUR WORLD

Think those kids playing video games are wasting time? The ones that are lazy probably are, but no more than I am watching football on Sundays. But the curious ones are developing skills that change our world.

Augmented reality (AR) has entered the sales and marketing arena, and is showing great results. Whether it's an app that shows what you would look like with that hair cut and color you've been considering, or one that let's you see how your kitchen would look with that new wallpaper, the technology is embedded in common buying decisions.

AR is changing education in ways that could have made me somewhat interested in chemistry, and that's a real accomplishment! One tool shows the periodic table elements as blocks. As the student brings blocks together, the chemistry experiment takes place on screen. We can see what happens without endangering the entire neighborhood.

Would it help the user of your product if they easily could see how it fits, works, processes, etc.......? Maybe one of those gamers is going to change how you train employees or sell. As AR thinking moves into Operations, it may not only change what the market expects of your product, but how you design, make, ensure quality, store, and ship it.

Grand Theft Auto V, anyone?

LESSONS FROM THE SHUTDOWN

There are many things we can learn from the current government shutdown. I don't enjoy political arguments so let's focus on your company.

If you were furloughing all non-essential employees, who goes? Is what they do important but not urgent? Or not even important? Could that work effectively be done with a better process and fewer people?

If you can't pay the employees deemed essential, would they show up on time and perform their work anyway?

We don't need the heat of impassioned argument, nor an extreme test of loyalty engendered by crisis to ask ourselves basic questions.

Are we working on the right things?

Do our processes ensure that we are effective in doing those things?

Do we have the right people to be successful?

If the answer to any of these is "no," address the problem now. If your company is going to be the lead story on the national news, ensure it will not make you look stupid and irritate everyone who hears it.

FINISH STRONG^®

The Starting Pistol
John F Kennedy:
“Let us not seek the Republican answer, or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”

The Tape
Rebecca Morgan:
"Let us not seek the Sales and Marketing answer, or the Operations answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future."

If you know a company — customer, supplier, friend, or your own — that could benefit
from improved operations, let us know.

Your best interest is our best interest.

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