Dan Markovitz

xijian/iStock/Getty Unscheduled wandering isn’t good for you or your company. Dan Markovitz | Nov 12, 2019 Theodore Kinni argues in Strategy + Business that leaders must practice management by walking around (MBWA), a concept popularized by Tom Peters and Bob Waterman in their seminal book, In Search of Excellence. That’s the best way for them to stay connected to their businesses and understand what’s really happening with their customers.

MoMorad/iStock/GettyImages People might be more receptive if we just talked about good business practices. Dan Markovitz | Oct 22, 2019 Lean advocates—and I consider myself one—might do better if they stop talking about lean. Let’s face it: When executives and workers hear “lean,” not a lot of good happens. They think it’s yet another short-term management fad. Or a cost-cutting program that will lead to layoffs. Or some Japanese thing that only works for car manufacturers.

Wavebreakmedia/iStock/Getty Images Plus Don’t let the easily quantifiable metric substitute for the real goal. Dan Markovitz | Sep 17, 2019 I visited a company a few weeks ago that asks all of their employees to do a green belt project. It’s not mandatory, but completion of a project is part of their annual review. Not surprisingly, the management boasts that nearly everyone does a project. You know how many people do a second project? Less than 5%.