Keep your mission to yourself! Your vision too, for that matter! And I don't want to hear about your values either.

As a customer, I'm sick of all the words. I prefer evidence.

Give me good value, helpful service, on-time delivery, and a reliable product or service that fits my needs well, and I will be back. Furthermore, I will tell my friends.

But tell me how great you are, and how great you are determined to be, and I will just wish you spent all of that talking-time answering my questions, getting the job done, and preventing problems.

Deliver on your mission! Doggedly pursue your vision! Live your values! And then you won't have to tell me about them. I'll be able to tell you.

If you would like help moving beyond words and creating a clear direction with subsequent action, give us a call at 413-527-3737.

Some companies get expert help for major process improvements, like my recent client, Hitachi. Without help, many struggle. The reason? Most process improvements are not improvements. In fact, most process improvements create more problems than they resolve. And most create more work too.

Protect yourself from such folly by asking these 3 questions:

• Do we know the cause of the problem, and are we eliminating that cause?
• Would our customers willingly pay for the activities we are adding?
• Have we thought about the problems we might be creating?

Many "solutions" address the effects of the problem, but not the cause. Furthermore, most "solutions" add effort. The goal of any business should be to focus resources on efforts for which the customer is willing to pay. Everything else detracts from value creation and simply adds cost.

Have the courage to reflect honestly on these questions and you will avoid creating more problems than you solve.

If you would like expert assistance, give us a call at 413-527-3737.

You can concentrate on the pain of failure or the lessons it teaches. It is totally your choice. I recommend the latter!

Best regards,

Ann Latham

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© 2008 Ann Latham. All rights reserved.