Episode 155 – Events for Leadersights and 579 Leaders

Good morning, I'm David Veech and this is Elevate Your Performance. 

I want to share some other ideas I've had about 579 Leadership and share a couple of events that I'm planning. 

First, I'm starting to record episodes for a podcast I'm simply going to call Leadersights, after my book.  It'll be a mix of me telling stories of the things I've learned about leaders and lean systems and conversations with leaders about overcoming problems and setting goals.  Those leaders might be CEOs or they might be Team Leaders from a manufacturing plant.  The key is to share some insight. 

I'll have discussions with each of them about 579 leadership, which, as I hinted at yesterday, is about the application of the Leadersights of Love, Learn, and Let go.  So I'll want to hear their stories about each of those and share them with you. 

My target length for a Podcast episode is going to be 579 seconds, twice.  579 seconds is 9 minutes and 39 seconds, and twice that will be 19 minutes and 18 seconds; which should be plenty of time for a good conversation. 

I hope you'll share with me some of the things you are looking for in a podcast so I can keep making it better.  I'm going to launch the podcast on my birthday, August 22 with the first 3 episodes, then release a new episode every week. 

Second, in September, I am launching a new mastermind study group that will focus on 579 Leadership.  Here, the members will be the stars as we share the things we discover about leadership in every situation you can imagine.   

Here's what I'm planning: 

Members will complete an application for the program, committing to a 579-day-long program (1 year, 7 months, and 4 days). Our key objective will be to become more effective as leaders, coaches, parents, team members, business owners, etc.  

Individually, I'll work with each member.  We'll have a 360-assessment done and together we'll set goals and build your action plan to become a more effective leader.  We will complete a few other assessments or diagnostic instruments for your business and set goals and build actions plans to improve there as well.   Members will get an hour of coaching with me every two weeks, plus additional access if you're working a particular problem or goal.  Members will also have access to exclusive materials I've created just for the group. 

The group will meet virtually every two weeks for 86 minutes and 51 seconds (or there abouts) which is 579 seconds times 9.  This will largely be in a Lean Coffee format where members will bring issues and we'll discuss those issues and try to help you take action to solve a problem or drive an improvement. 

Once a quarter (six times in the 579 day cycle), we'll meet face to face for 579 minutes (9 hours and 39 minutes).  We'll meet in different spots for everyone who can make it.  I hope that the members will rotate hosting in their companies and invite us in for a Genba walk while we're there and let us work on a problem they're wrestling with.  I'd like to have an agenda that includes the genba walk, focus time on a problem or lesson, a guest speaker, open networking and discussion time, lunch, and end with dinner and drinks - 9 hours and 39 minutes is a long day – so we'll make it as valuable as we can. 

Twice a year (three times in the 579 day cycle), we'll have a retreat for 3 days someplace we decide we'd like to see.  I hope all members will be able to make at least one of these, as we'll have some special recognition activities in addition to guests, tours, and cases to study. 

Once a year, we'll take a vacation – pushing us to have some balance.  So I'll book a cruise or a resort for us to take our families to and we'll spend a week or so just enjoying each other's company and taking in some cultural aspect of wherever we go.  I have Japan, a European River cruise focused on wine and beer, a Mediterranean cruise focused on culinary delights, and the Bourbon trail in mind. 

I'm still working on a pricing structure that will reflect the value of the program.  For the first cohort, I'm thinking about $15,200 for the 19 month program if paid up front, or $894 a month if paid monthly but committed for the program.  I promise we'll get much more value that that from the journey.  Of course the travel will be extra, but I'll get the best rates I can for wherever we go and offer them to the group through our partner travel agency, Clandestine Travel.  Part of the fees will contribute to a partner charity that I'm sorting through now so we can also give back to our community. 

I'll release the application which will include schedules for the 19 months on July 26th.  I'm limiting the size of the mastermind to 28 people per cohort.   

I'm pretty excited about both of these events – the podcast and the study group.  I've been thinking about these for a long time.  Let me know what YOU think. 

Have a great day, and I'll see you next time. 

Episode 152 - Plans

I’m David Veech and this is Elevate your performance. 

After taking June off from making videos, I figure it’s time to get back at it, especially since it was one year ago today that I made the first of these.  I managed to run a pretty good streak then.  When I broke the streak, I broke that momentum.  As with everything else, if you’re running a streak and something breaks that momentum, it’s very tough to get back to it, so the videos got more and more sporadic. 

Because of that, I’m hesitant to commit to getting back on this horse, but I do need to make some more and spread some more joy and knowledge.  Let me share some plans with you that I’ve been working on and thinking about. 

I did a short workshop on Fearless Teams for the NK Institute for Human Advancement.  It was a blast and got great feedback.  In my consulting engagements, building effective teams is a major focus area.  We all need teams to WORK.  I’m also building a couple of additional workshops we will offer in the future. 

Fearless teams lead to fearless culture.  Any change you’re trying to make in your workplace, whether it’s new software, or something from the Lean Six Sigma toolbox, if you don’t address the culture change needed, that initiative will fall short of your goals.  I help companies bridge that gap.  While your lean consulting group is doing their thing, or your software implementation team is doing theirs, I work in the space between the technical change and the people to bring about a culture change.  That’s the sweet spot for my coaching work. 

3 other big things I’m planning to launch in the next several weeks: 

First, I want to offer a mastermind study group through the NK Institute that will focus on High Speed Problem Solving.  This will be an ongoing membership-based group that will take lots of deep dives into techniques and skills for problem solving.  We’re still working the details, but I want to meet virtually every couple of weeks and face-to-face about once a quarter with one of the participants hosting at their workplace.  While we’re there, we’ll do some specific work on their specific problem. 

Second, I’ve had this nagging idea about a new leadership study group where the focus is on balance.  I’ll be writing some more on this idea in the future, but this group will be developing more effective leadership behaviors to drive change, build wisdom, and work in cycles where we define a challenge, work to meet that challenge, then set a new one in an upward spiral elevating performance for everyone. 

The third is a podcast.  I’ve been wrestling with this one because producing a podcast is a lot of work, and marketing it to get any followers is real heavy lifting.  But I think I can do this and tie it to the leadership study group.  I want to talk to leaders about balance, about learning, and about problem solving.  Be watching for more information about this.  I’ll need at least 10 episode in the can before I can launch, so I guess I need to start on that very soon. 

I guess I’d better get to work, huh?  Thanks for listening.  Subscribe to get updates and let me know if you’re interested in participating in any of those three projects.  And if you need help developing teams and problem solving skills for your employees, reach out.  I’d love to work with you. 

Have a great day and I’ll see you tomorrow. 

Episode 147 - Kiichiro Toyoda's challenge to his team

I’m David Veech and this is Elevate your Performance.

Post WWII, Japan was under the control of the US Military.  Our objectives were to remove war-making capability from Japan, and to restore it’s economy so it can rejoin the world in open trade.

Dozens of measures were put in place that would freeze prices on most commodities, and remove subsidies the government had been paying for critical raw materials and resources like coal and iron.

These economic controls, along with breaking up of Holding Companies in an Anti-monopoly measure, had a devastating impact on Japanese manufacturers, and Toyota was no exception.  This move effectively stripped Toyota from its sales organization.  To keep people working, including the returning soldiers, Kiichiro launched several other businesses, from a chinaware franchise to fish paste, to clothing and dry cleaning. 

To relaunch the automobile business, Kiichiro first had to study what was happening elsewhere.  They had time, since Japan was not allowed to produce cars immediately after the war, and the volume of trucks and busses it was allowed to produce was too low to fuel any growth.  He sent people to the US and to Europe to study the post war automobile business and learned that they would need to improve productivity significantly to stay in that business.  His 4-point plan for recovery included:

1. In order to repair and renew machinery that has undergone heavy use or deteriorated, establish a Temporary Reconstruction Office to comprehensively promote the restoration of the plant's equipment.

2. Change the company's parts manufacturing policies to establish and develop a specialized parts plant equipped with independent capacity.

3. Implement improvement and remodeling of the company's vehicles (which was stagnant during the war), plans for design changes, and establishment of a system for the steady supply of previous model parts for repairs.

4. Change from a company that supplied and maintained automobiles under a controlled economy to establish a sales system that will better and more fully reflect users' wishes, requests and opinions.

The overwhelming concern Kiichiro expressed was toward the livelihood of his people.  His efforts to create work for people and to focus on food, clothing, and shelter, produced some moderate effect and some businesses that still linger - including a business that makes prefabricated components for concrete houses.

All this effort still nearly failed completely when the Dodge Line came into effect in Japan.  This strict austerity initiative to control spiraling inflation, sparked a deflationary trend that resulted in some devastating decisions Kiichiro would have to make.  

More on that when I see you tomorrow.

Episode 139 - Recap, Reset, Relaunch

I'm David Veech and this is Elevate your Performance.

I have to apologize for letting this series slip.  I've been letting a lot of things distract me from this project.  I really enjoy making these short videos and sharing them with everyone, but the most value I get is simply focusing my thinking for a short period of time each morning and that actually has helped make my day a little smoother.  So it's important for me to get back into this groove.

Let's recap a little with recent episodes.

A few months ago, I reset my production schedule to parallel the outline I have built for a new book on problem solving.  That started back in October 2020.  

I did short video episodes on Why I think problem solving is so important, then some videos on yesterday's, today's, and tomorrow's problems.

I did episodes on the scientific method and the Shewhart cycle, then a few episodes working through my own C4 process including how to use the C4 cards, the C4 worksheet, and a C4 Master Presentation file.

In November, the video schedule really started to slide. After recording 22 episodes in October, I only did 8 in November, 3 in December, 6 in January, 5 in February, and this is just my second one in March.

Since I did that review, I also discovered that I had missed a numbered episode early on, so that my episode numbering scheme was off. My last episode, on March 8th was actually 138 instead of 135.

I am currently designing the capstone course for the Masters of Engineering Management program for the Department of Engineering at The Ohio State University.  That course will be 100% online so I have a bunch of videos I need to record for that.

I have 30 years of course contents that I've organized into a structured library that I want to create online courses and programs for.  I've been making the production of these way too complicated and that has kept me from making the progress I know I need to make on them.

I want to make a series of short How-to videos and give restricted access to these for clients. 

What I'm doing now is building a synchronized schedule that will allow me to get these projects done over the summer.  That's pretty ambitious for me, so I could use your help.

If, when you see one of these videos on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube, I hope you'll just take a second to send me a little note of encouragement.  Even if you don't watch the whole video, leave me a comment or even a quick like.

Thanks in advance!  

Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow.

Thinking about 2021

After the new year, I'm planning to get back into the daily video business.  I've been spending these past couple of weeks focused first on family, then on developing some new ideas.

Neither of these are really new ideas, but I'm mustering up some energy to get them going this time around.

First is a concept around a high confidence culture.  This is based on what I think is the most significant factor in a successful culture of engagement: self-efficacy.  I've been talking about self-efficacy for years and sometimes it seems like I'm the only lean guy who does.  Self-Efficacy is the confidence we have about our own ability to do a particular task.  It could be a particular job at work, or an entrepreneur's marketing efforts, or my confidence that I can take a train from one part of DC to another.

Self-efficacy isn't something that just happens. Leaders can help shape this in team members, and I believe this fundamental understanding of how to build confidence in team members, and then to let it flourish is the first step to becoming a more effective leader.

The second idea is to build a more focused practice on coaching others.  I intend to take on clients who want to become more effective leaders and build engaging, high-confidence cultures.  I need to keep it oriented toward leadership in organizations, since it's that culture piece that we want to employ to create a better work environment for as many people as we can.

I guess I'll end up with three tiers of membership.  

    Tier 1 is individual, one-on-one coaching.  It'll start with a 360 degree assessment.  I use the LifeStyles Inventory (LSI) from Human Synergistics.  It'll also include an organizational assessment for profitability using the Quantum Profit Science Profit Model and will show how your organization compares with its industry averages.  We'll build a personal development plan and a roadmap to more engagement and we'll connect once a month for an hour to help you with accountability.

    Tier 2 is individual, one-on-one coaching as in Tier 1 but with 2 sessions per month, plus access to a weekly group Zoom call that will use lean coffee dialog techniques to discuss issues that participants bring to the table, rather than a set agenda.

    Tier 3 is the big Kahuna.  It includes the same individual one-on-one coaching as at Tier 2, and this group'll get their own weekly Zoom call.  But for this group, we add a specific project for participants from their own workplace.  Every 6 to 8 weeks, we will have a 3 to 4 day workshop focusing on a deep dive into a familiar topic, or an introduction to something completely new.  Finally, twice a year, pandemics notwithstanding, we'll meet face-to-face as a group in a place where we can learn, reflect, and relax.

What will the coaching focus on?  I'm glad you asked.  As the author of a book on leadership and another book on problem solving, it's a good bet that we'll be spending a lot of time on both of those topics.  But they will always be discussed within the framework of the high confidence culture.  Lots of lean systems thinking, principles, practices, tools and techniques with a special emphasis on standardized work (no, it's not the same thing that you're familiar with), workplace organization, visual management systems, and problem solving systems.

What's it going to cost??  I haven't figured that out yet.  I do know that I'm capping tier 3 at 16 people so I can provide a proper level of attention to achieve their learning and performance objectives.  What would you be willing to pay to get one or two of your key people into a focused development group like that?  Let me know.  

If you want to know when we're going to start and how you can be first in line, send me an email (david.veech@leadersights.com).  If you're ready to take that plunge now, go to https://calendly.com/davidveech/15min and schedule a 15 minute video chat with me.

All the best and Happy New Year.

David

92 - Measuring Personal Performance

Do you ever have days where you have a plan to do something in particular, but when you start to work on it, you think maybe there's something different you should be doing?  That's me this morning.  More on that in a minute but first...

I want to wish my son, Matthew, a Happy 30th Birthday today.  He's on his way to Texas to get lost at big Bend National Park with his little brother.  I know they'll have a blast and I wish I could have gone with them. 

Other than that, I'm struggling a little with what to talk about this morning.  I had planned to wrap up a conversation I started last week about visual management systems.  The plan was to talk about measuring quality and cost at different tiers, but I made the mistake of stepping on the scale to measure my own weight and was disappointed with the result. 

Since the pandemic began, I've managed to gain about 15 pounds.  This despite being home most of the time; despite still walking a bunch.  Sadly, I've also eaten voraciously with lots of delivered and take out food - often not the healthiest.

Part of my initial strategy for this webcast was to mix up topics with leadership, lean thinking, travel, and personal development.  I've pretty much left off the personal development piece, so I think I'm going to fix that starting today and ask a big favor from all of you.

I'm going to set a target weight of 190 lbs.  I have an app that actually says my "normal" weight is between 132.2 and 178.6, but I in 2018 I managed to get as low as 186 and I thought I looked like I was a patient dying of something horrible.  What I will ask of you is encouragement and accountability.

Just like with what you measure at work, you have results metrics and process metrics.  I usually use weight loss as an example of the difference.  My target weight is set so that's my result metric.  I don't expect to hit that target for about 6 months.  So I need an intermediate target that will make this more manageable. 

The intermediate target is 1.5 pounds per week.  So I'll get on the scale every Friday and check to see if I've lost my 1.5 pounds.  But that's not a process metric, it's still an after-the-fact result metric.  If all I do is weigh myself, I can't see making much progress - same applies at work.

The process metric involves how I plan to lose this weight.  I don't ever stick to fad diets, so the rule is simply, consume fewer calories and burn more calories.  Eat Less.  Move more.

So I'm working on the details of those daily targets, particularly with walking because I want to get back to my half-marathon challenge as soon as the pandemic is over.

Help me stick to it, please.  I've done this 3 times before in private.  I know exactly what works, but the mind games work hard on me so I really think I need your help this time around.

Thanks in advance!

Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow!

56 - Mastery - Improving your confidence

How can you boost your confidence at work?

More specifically, How can you improve your self-efficacy toward a particular job or task?

Self-efficacy is task-oriented.  

We can be self-confident overall, but still lack confidence for something.  For example, I'm pretty confident about speaking to groups and teaching, but my self-efficacy about making videos was pretty low.  

Until recently, I haven't done much video work.  Getting lighting and angles right, editing software, where and how to post and cross-post on social media just seemed like a lot to learn. 

Keep in mind that low self-efficacy toward a task doesn't mean a fear of doing it, it just means that we have to be more deliberate about doing that kind of work.  It helps when the circumstances force your hand and offer a challenge!

To meet the challenge, you have to find the way to achieve it - you have to define the process.  I’ve been doing videos since the start of July.  Some of the early ones were rough.  My first one was actually sideways.  I'm still not an expert, but I'm on my way.  My self-efficacy is high, even if my skills haven't reached that mastery level.

To build self-efficacy then, the first step is to set a challenge.  Next, build your experience by trying lots of different things to discover the best way for you to do the job.  Then practice, measuring each attempt against your process and your goal.  That repetition and accountability is crucial.

Mastery of the task will make you more confident about the task and that will translate to other tasks.  Start small and build consistently with a series of small successes.  Each time you'll learn something and take one more step toward Mastery.  

Don’t forget, Lean Coffee discussion at noon tomorrow and my webinar on navigating change is Thursday at 2 pm eastern.  I hope I’ll see you then!   -DV

Do you know how much a trillion really is?

Do you know how much one trillion really is?

Yesterday Apple's market cap broke $2 trillion.  That means investors think the company is that valuable - that's the value of their outstanding stock.  

What's really remarkable is that it took 42 years to reach $1 trillion valuation, then doubled that in just 2 years.  Yes, I wish I had 10,000 shares!

But what's the difference between a million, which used to be considered a lot of money, a billion, which is today's target for being rich, and a trillion, which is the realm of Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Saudi Aramco, oh, and our National Deficit?

Tony Robbins shared the difference using time in his book Unshakeable.  1 Million seconds equals 277.78 hours, or 11 and a half days.

1 billion seconds equals 31.7 YEARS!

1 trillion seconds equals 31,709.79 Years.  That's how old we homo sapiens are!

If it were distance, using the length of dollar bills at 6.14 inches long each, a million bucks would get me from Columbus to Blue Ash, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati.

A billion bucks would get me around the world at the equator 4 times.

A trillion bucks would get me to Mars and back with loads to spare. 96.9 Million miles

We throw billions and trillions around and we have become desensitized to these huge numbers.  I think it's great that our economy is able to produce that kind of wealth. 

But How can we have that much wealth and still have kids going to bed hungry?  

How can we have that much wealth and still have sex slavery? 

If we want to be great, let's make things great for the least of us.

-DV

Encouraging words: Going Places

April 14 Encouraging Words: Going Places

I’m thinking today of traveling.  I’ve got a big trip to Greece next month that we’ve been planning for a while and to be honest, while I’m excited about it, I’m also pretty nervous.  Have I finished making all the arrangements?  Have I thought through all these different contingencies?  What if something happens to disrupt the trip?

I guess those misgivings and second guesses are human nature and of course they apply to everything we do, not just travel.  Every time we set a goal or a new target, we’re picking someplace new to go.  If it isn’t making you a little nervous about it, it’s not aggressive enough to drive ideas and improvement.  Push it.  Set a target that forces you to ask your teams “What really needs to change in order for us to achieve this new target?”  Then you’ll be going places.