Inventory Costs (part II on Cost Accounting)

Image By US Army Africa from Vicenza, Italy (Djibouti SARSS 2010Uploaded by Elitre) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsAnother problem with cost accounting is that it treats inventory as an asset. From an operational point of view, inventory is a liability, not an asset. Inventory is evil! But, sometimes it can be a necessary evil. Any amount of […]

Listen Speak and Speak While Listening

ListenSpeak™?Imagine knowing how to communicate verbally with just about anyone, confident that the meaning, what you want to say, is fully understood.  Listenspeak™ is the discipline of keeping whom you are talking to in mind as you talk with them; after all, it’s what they heard, not what you meant to say that matters. It is […]

Values drive “Un” Corporations

In very few areas of public life is the disconnect between what we are told and what really is so shocking as in business news. In fact, it’s easy to believe that the vast majority of business is done by big, greedy, publicly traded corporations, but it is wrong: very wrong. 19.6 million Americans work […]

Raw Milk Post-Pasteur

​Safe And Sane Food Policy: Fix The Causes To Fix The ResultsFrom my Column in the Cheese Reporter​Volume 141, No. 25, December 18, 2016 In my last column I shared how changes in food policy at the FDA are laying the foundation for a safer food supply. Science, prevention, managing risks, and improving processes, is the […]

Sensible Safe Food Policy

My Column From the Cheese Reporter for the Month of September, 2016

Another Door Opens

By Russell RuggieroWhen things are going well (e.g., rising stock markets, strong growth, etc.), the tide carries a wide-range of industries along for the ride. The expression “Riding the Wave” comes to mind and seems to describe this scenario perfectly. However, when life throws us a curveball, we must adapt or take a strike call. […]

Clean Your Supply Pipes

In the dark side of big business, cost accounting rules, and demons with pocket protectors lurk, ready to pounce, shrieking, cut, cut, cut! Despite ample evidence to the contrary, many privately held businesses think they have to follow the “common wisdom” too often repeated; “watch your pennies the profits will take care of themselves.” So they […]

5 Steps to Find What Matters Most in the Workplace

5 STEPS TO FIND WHAT MATTERS IN THE WORKPLACE THE VITAL FEW AND THE TRIVIAL MANY A RENAISSANCE IDEA IN TODAYS WORKADAY WORLDThe problem isn’t that people aren’t  working hard enough, it’s that they are working on the wrong things. How can you find the Vital Few hidden in the sometimes overwhelming, brassy and glittery […]

Aligning for the Future: leveraging technology for better communication with StratML

By Matthew Harang and Dan Strongin, in the Policy Tree Blog In many ways, communication is the cornerstone of civilization. After all, it is humans unique ability to communicate on endless levels that sets us apart from other species. In today’s fast paced world, information travels at the speed on light, or at least 100mbps; […]

Media Truth: Half our GDP is Uncorporations

In very few areas of public life is the disconnect between what we are told and what really is so shocking as in business news. In fact, it’s easy to believe that the vast majority of business is done by big, greedy, publicly traded corporations, but it is wrong: very wrong. READ the TRUTH

Building Wealth in the Digital Era

On “passive selling digital products” In everything, not just digital courses, there are the priveledged few and the suffocating many, and the big ones mostly sell empty promises: back of a comic book stuff like X-ray glassses and how to pick up a girl in 10 words. In online courses, how quickly the dream of […]

CHEESE AND MORE: MY INTERVIEW ON DBGOODEATS

http://dbgoodeats.com/ujuG7I was asked by DBGOODEATS.COM, a top food blog, to be interviewed about the food side of my professional career because of the release of my new course  CHEESE, How to Buy, Store, Taste, Pair, Serve and Enjoy, the fruits of a 30 years love affair with cheese. In it I discuss my connection with […]

IN LIGHT OF THE STARBUCKS BARISTA CONTROVERSY, A REPOST

​Ineptly implemented social conscience or genuinely clueless even if well meaning Corporate Speak Original published March 31 2011 on the now defunct Posterous, 17661 views, adapted for this repost.Contrary to the current religion of Lean, not everything in Japan is based on humanistic principles, after all, they are the ones who brought us dying on […]

Problem Solving Techniques: Digesting

After a good meal, you need to digest. And, after a good session of the Problem Solving Techniques SimplyLooking™ and Mapping, you need to digest what you observed.You have probably uncovered what some would call problems, but should call opportunities after a good session of SimplyLooking™. Choose one example that surfaced or emerged while observing, […]

5 Things You Need to Do to Manage Naturally

5 Things Management needs to do includes control, but not the way you think. Real control has more to do with making certain everyone has the training, the tools and the material that they need to carry out their duties, than ordering them around.

5 Ways to Learn to Manage Badly

Much of my early working life was spent wondering about the difference between what management thinks and says about itself,  and the chaotic reality all of the places where I was working. If you listen to management people, you would think that long ago we found the solutions to all the problems, that everybody’s practicing […]

Marketing Speak – do people really care?

Jus’ ’cause everyone says it’s so, it ain’t necessarily so! What we say when it is our brand, is very different that what we do with other peoples.  Consumers DON’T CARE… and only got to “pages” looking for discounts: forget terms like engagement, relationships, audience, social proof: LOOK OUTSIDE IN NOT INSIDE OUT! Nobody cares […]

7 OUT OF 10 READING THIS WILL LOSE THEIR BUSINESS

7 out of 10 reading this will lose their business: be among the 3 who succeed.That is why this blogazine exists, to help you succeed. Treading water is not success. Working day and night to survive by sheer will is not success. Success is generous, dependable profit, loyal customers, great employees, and time for yourself, […]

Effective Sell Sheets

Your name on the tip of their tongues  There are only 2 reasons a buyer asks for a sell sheet, but more on that in a minute. Is it our product or service, or the slick graphics that sells? Right or wrong, it is a lot more effective to try and say things in a […]

RUN CHART IN EXCEL

Weekly tricks of the trade: How to do a run chart in Excel to See Instantly and Understand Next Steps Start with a table of dataIn this case I downloaded the Department Store Inventory Price Index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2003 to 2013. Basically it is a formula that stores can use […]

A RUN CHART REVEALS MEANING IN NUMBERS

If you want to understand your numbers, the worst thing you can do is use a spreadsheet, best- a run chart. What am I saying? Have I lost my mind? Forget for a minute what everyone says is right, and lets think about it. Lots of data arranged in columns and rows is hard to […]

SWOT’S WRONG WITH A SWOT?

Use a Matrix Before it Uses YouWhy are SWOT’s so popular despite the weight of research clearly showing they not only don’t work, they can do real damage?  Definition A matrix is a tool for analyzing data. In math, a matrix is a rectangular array of quantities or expressions in rows and columns that is […]

SWOT NOT, USE A PROBLEM SOLVING MATRIX

Swot is up with that?I don’t know for sure what the mark of a really good analyzer is, but I know with the mark of a bad one is, and that’s making things more complicated than they need to be. The SWOT is a great example. Matrices are great for analyzing data, but can be […]

LETS DO MORE WITH LESS

MORE ENJOYABLE, MORE REWARDING If you feel you have the right to make work better, to work with dignity, then you are in the right place. I came up from the workfloor, got promoted and made every mistake, and had some success before I began to study the “Science behind the Art of Managing.” That made […]

BE RIGHT OR MAKE MONEY?

Do you care about profit? If comes down to appearing to be right or make money, how would you choose? Most people make the wrong choice. They care more about appearing  smart, right and in control, than curious about what they really need. Are you one of them?I had someone email me last week saying […]

5 Steps to Find What Matters Most in the Workplace

5 STEPS TO FIND WHAT MATTERS IN THE WORKPLACE THE VITAL FEW AND THE TRIVIAL MANY A RENAISSANCE IDEA IN TODAYS WORKADAY WORLDThe problem isn’t that people aren’t  working hard enough, it’s that they are working on the wrong things. How can you find the Vital Few hidden in the sometimes overwhelming, brassy and glittery […]

Listen Speak and Speak While Listening

ListenSpeak™?Imagine knowing how to communicate verbally with just about anyone, confident that the meaning, what you want to say, is what is understood.  Listenspeak™ is the discipline of keeping whom you are talking to in mind as you talk with them; after all, it’s what they heard, not what you meant to say that matters. […]

Listening Skills Responding Reflectively

Effective listeners are not born good listeners, they learn how to listen. In this post we will explore how responding reflectively is an important listening skill… not the way most of us do it, is it?Reflection, or reflective response technique, borrowed from counseling techniques, is designed to elicit as full a sense as possible of […]

Meetings Focus on the Wrong Things

The American Psychological Association completed a research project on the topic and found out what people actually think about during a meeting or a speech at any given time: 18% are really listening and are focused on the topic 25% have erotic thoughts 57% are thinking about something else You know who you are! We […]

Super Motivation Survey from Davis Balestracci

An excerpt from Davis Balestracci, owner of Davis Data Sanity dot com. To read the entire article just click on the “more…”His Website How true are the following statements as you perceive things in your work environment? 1 = Not true at all2 = True to a small extent3 = True to some extent4 = […]

Listening Skills Lead to Better Working

Effective listeners are not born good listeners, they learn how to listen. Listening is a skill, one of the basic building blocks of communication,and one of the most difficult to learn and practice. Hearing alone is not listening. You can’t listen and think about other things, or formulate responses before hearing them out, and hear […]

MANAGEMENT STYLES, NATURALLY

You live in the natural world. As a human being, your life is influenced by the interplay of natural law and human nature. THAT includES your working life. Even where you work, even on the workfloor itself, you cannot escape nature’s influence. The management styles you choose, or have chosen for you, need to work […]

Operational Definitions NOT Standards

Some of the confusion you face at work is created by you, some by others, but most of it comes from different people understanding the same words differently. To work together we need to define things clearly, in a way everyone agrees to and understands, in writing. Taking the lead from Science, as Dr. Shewhart […]

A Change Management Tool that Works

Change Management Made Easier: The Force Field Map What do I mean by a Force Field Map? A Force Field Map is a visual “map” of the forces driving and resisting change. DiscussionIf you are suffering like Sisyphus trying to drive Change Management, you need this tool: The Force Field Map. First you list the forces, […]

Why Training Matters and How to Train From Within!

I get why you say things at work like common sense isn’t that common. I used to think the same way… worse, I used to call “those kinds of people” lackeys. (I’m reformed)   But, do we really want workplaces run by a couple of heroes and a host of also-rans?  Wouldn’t it be better […]

Working Too Hard? You are Momentum Blind!

​Natural Laws are observable facts that explain our world. Newton was the king of putting them down. Alright, at the subatomic level, where Quantum rules, and I don’t mean James Bond, Newton may not be right, but in the material world, the one we live and work in, his laws are better than right, they […]

You are Working Too Hard ‘Cause You Forgot Newton’s Laws of Motion

​ Newton’s Laws of Motion and Managing When I was told that things are nothing more than organized energy, I felt cheated! And when my 10th grade science teacher taught me that things tend to fall apart unless energy is applied to keep them organized– that they cannibalize their own energy on unnecessary, chaotic things and […]

Infographic: SimplyLooking™ for Millenial Managers

SimplyLooking™ is easy to over-complicate, and can seem mysterious, but you shouldn’t. It is stunningly simple and really only helps us use the abilities we already have. What you will learn in the following info graphic may have roots in a host of ancient traditions, including Sufism, Zen and Chinese Buddhism, but it is nothing more […]

You are Drowning in Correlation Quicksand, just ask the Khan Academy

CORRELATION MAY GLITTER BUT IT’S NOT GOLD “The story with most businesses is they react when they shouldn’t, and don’t react when they should.” Alan Pippenger Click to Tweet With great embarrassment, I discovered early on in my managing career, that I am not really logical. Like just about everyone else, I am by nature […]

A Fishbone Diagram for Cause and Effect: Tricks of the Trade

​After a good session of SimplyLooking™ and mapping you need to digest. To ensure you consider every possible cause, make it visual; start with The Fishbone, or Cause and Effect Diagram. A Fishbone or Cause and Effect Diagram traces all influences that lead to a particular result: People, Processes, Inputs, Tools, Culture, Measures and Environment. […]

Tricks of the Trade: Visual Tools

There are simple visual tools and complex ones: ones for recording observations, for clarifying data, and ones to help us improve, by theory and testing. Not using them? You are flying blind! Charles Green Half of Tap Dance Phenoms Chuck and Chuckles Ain’t no maps on my taps! I have already posted three in my […]

Mapping: Tricks of the Trade

If you don’t “map” it, you won’t remember it. Visualizing then mapping what you observe at work will help you remember what you observed, to be able to share it with those you work work with. What is mapping? Nothing less than scribbling, or doodling, but instead of your imagination, you are drawing what you […]

Flavors of Thinking to Make Things Better

WARNING: KINDA SERIOUS AND INTELLECTUAL… READ AT YOUR OWN RISK… There are different types of thinking needed to understand and make things better, usually done by doing one then the next in order. Different Ideas: As many ideas as possible, sometimes brain storming, other times playing the devil’s advocate. It is a discipline that can […]

No Business As Usual: Dr. Deming in Action

As a special treat, this film on a project Dr. Deming did with Pontiac. In addition to the film, what follows is the beginning of one of the most important speeches in modern management history, given at the Hakone Convention Center in Tokyo, August of 1950, with 70% of all Japanese industrial leaders in the […]

How to SimplyLook ™

The Second in a two part post. The first explains why, this one how. For Part One click! Part of my job as a Chef was to stand at the front of the kitchen near the doors to the dining room during a banquet and inspect the plates as they left the kitchen. The waiters […]

Guest Post: Running a Business is like Hiking

From time to time I find Bloggers who pass the Uncorporate test, and have great points of view. This post comes from Ed Zimmerman from fastcasual.com ​ I live in one of the most spectacular areas in the country for hiking. Northern California is loaded with well-maintained hiking trails but the foothills of Mt. Tam […]

Blindsided by Nagging Problems? Simply Looking is the Key

The first in a two part post. Second part is linked at end of post.​The problem with using foreign words is that we tend to invest them with something magical, putting them out of our reach, or into the hands of paid experts, even when the concept is really very simple.Gemba is a Japanese word […]

Budgets and other stories…

Budgeting is a farce Budgeting, in cost accounting, is a farce, leading to decisions based more on the affect on the appearance of the balance sheet, than on operational effectiveness. If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck it must be an aardvark! What we need is a second set of principles […]

Concept Maps

A concept map is a way to clarify connections and relationships by making them visual. It can be a very useful tool when figuring out where to start when faced with a messy complex problem, and in planning and strategy to avoid the mistake of focusing on the parts and missing the whole. Visual tools help […]

Is it Nature or Nurture?

 Is it nature or nurture? A mother tiger lost her young and went into a depression. A clever veterinarian put tiger clothes on some piglets whose mother had just died. Thinking in Systems! Is it nature or nurture? A mother tiger lost her young and went into a depression. A clever veterinarian put tiger clothes on […]

Motivação Intrínseca e Futebol Brasileiro

Carlos Carvalho, the curator of FotoFest in Porto Alegre shared his wonderful post on Soccer and Joy in Brazil, including perhaps the most famous photo of Pelé doing his bicycle kick. This inspired me to share here:   Do introdução escrevi do livro “O Sistema Deming” de Rafael Aguayo, sobre motivação e Futebol Brasileiro. Usarei […]

How to Survive and Thrive in The Gathering Storm

Negotiators have yet to finalize a Doha round global trade agreement, but one thing they have agreed on was to end all agricultural export subsidies by 2013. The talks began in 2001, and are not yet concluded, as everyone angles to get the best possible deal for themselves at the expense of everyone else. SHORT […]

Weekly Working Secret: The Flow Chart

If it is all about FLOW, then this must be an important tool, but before we begin, lets agree on one thing: You cannot model reality in every detail. The beauty of the secrets I share are in their simplicity and elegance: only as complicated as is needed and no more. Simple Flow ChartsDefinition: A […]

Innovation According to Ricardo Semler

Ricardo Semler, the real deal! Author of the Seven Day Weekend! August 7 2010, 4:21 PM by Dan Strongin He walks the walk and talks the talk: Ricardo Semler. Watch it and weep! Why don’t we all work for him? 1836 views

Cash Flow Statement OOOPs, Part IV Cost Accounting Chokes

Since it models the flow of money through the company with an eye on she cash will be available to spend, the Cash Flow report is a system wide report and it is no small surprise to me that it is used widely more than any of the other reports by small business owners.Too bad […]

ETHICS IN BUSINESS?

Integrity is the quality that expresses ethics in action, but in business? According to the New Oxford, integrity is: The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.The state of being whole and undivided.The condition of being unified, unimpaired, or sound in construction.Internal consistency or lack of corruption in electronic data. To live by moral […]

INTEGRITY AND ETHICS IN BUSINESS

Ethics, Integrity, and surviving the Long TermRecent history is thick with hot-shot companies that flame out in scandal, but we rarely hear about the survivors. J.E. Rhoads and Sons, for example. Founded in 1702, it was sold to a corporation in 1995, only to be rescued by a former employee, who started working at the plant […]

Checksheets are not checklists

​ Check Sheets Definition: A checksheet is a simple form that makes gathering data easier. They are different than checklists, that help us remember things. Simple and yet very useful, they can be used lots of ways to help make things run better. They are best used by the same person at the same location […]

Inventory in Cost Accounting Blocks the Flow (part II Cost Accounting Chokes)

Image By US Army Africa from Vicenza, Italy (Djibouti SARSS 2010Uploaded by Elitre) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Another problem with cost accounting is that it treats inventory as an asset. Inventory is a liability, not an asset. While skype®ing with Louis Schultz the other day, he said: “Inventory is evil.” I couldn’t agree more, […]

Information Technology is slipping….

​ These are serious times. It may well be crunch time for the planet, and it is certainly crunch time for the economy. Serious times merit serious discussions. (reposted from May 2010 from my once and past posterous blog) While in New York to make a presentation at the Fancy Food Show, I had dinner […]

Cut Costs: Go with the Flow Rather the Focus Only Locally

Sometimes the little things, the daily do’s, are more interesting than we give them credit for. If we change our glasses and look at them, we can catch things that have much bigger implications. Last night I was putting the dishes into the dish machine. It was about half full so I decided to wait […]

CULTURE WARS

A reprint of an article written a number of years ago for the cheese industry. Traditionally, before the widespread use of laboratory cultures, cheese dairies would begin the season with no culture at all; allowing a culture to develop from the microbes in the environment, what we would call today, sour milk. Culture was seen […]

Checklists –remember every time!

IN A NUTSHELL People tell me they think checklists are for dummies. In fact, they are for smarties. Checklists shine for any repeatable process that is important and repeated, or for things you do every once in a while, to help you remember.  My First ChecklistThe first checklist I ever saw on the job was […]

Lenny Bruce and the Truth

A great short video from the master of social humor himself, Lenny Bruce, on truth. About as uncorporate as you can get.

The Man Who Sniffed Meaning Like Dog

It didn’t take long for John’s parents to realize he wasn’t a normal child. Before his first taste of mother’s milk his nostrils spread double the normal size, and to the amazement of everyone attending, he took a long deep breath, like a sigh, and only then began his first meal, and when he cried, […]

Incentives and Performance Reviews: Cruelty as a PseudoScience

Employee Incentives and Performance Reviews are resented by most people, and the evidence quoted in support is pseudoscience. You can’t make a Fendi out of a sow’s purse, or something like that. Dressing up data to look scientific is to be expected from those trying to prove that aliens have landed, the Mayan prophecies are […]

The Selfie at Work Challenge

LETS SHOW WHAT WE REALLY DO FOR WORK! SELFIE-AT-WORK CHALLENGE! I am issuing a #selfieatwork challenge. Everyone who takes a selfie of themselves at work, and posts it on my facebook page Manage Naturally with a caption saying what kind of work they do, AND LIKE MY PAGE, will get a link to a FREE copy […]

Leaders Don’t Bribe, They Lead

Leaders Needed for a World of Willing Workers The pig-headed, self-serving and childish notion that it is against our national character to work together is cited as the root of the perceived need for measuring performance, and rewarding or punishing accordingly. Of course, to a point, money is important, we have to live. But once […]

Quality, Where Frankenstein Monsters Meet Werewolf Branding

The Only Kind of Money I am Interested in Is the Kind I can Put in my PocketThe world is enamored with lingo and acronyms and get rich quick on the internet through social media promises. One prospect told me they had been guaranteed a savings of a million dollars, or get their money back. […]