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Aim and Stats Now in our sixteenth year of operation for our "OD" sessions and the fourth year for our "TTA" sessions, the aim of both is to continue to foster an appreciation of InThinking within an emerging network that is developing inside Aerojet Rocketdyne and beyond. Dates for future "OD" and "TTA" sessions along with additional "thinking" opportunities for 2015 can be found in this announcement. OD + TTA Stats
For an update on OD and TTA statistics, this month's invitation is going out to 2,000+ partners in the U.S., as well as fellow InThinking partners in Australia, Austria, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Chile, Dubai, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the U.K. Taken together, these individuals represent over 600 organizations in this list of nations, from elementary schools and senior high schools to colleges and universities, from one-person consulting firms to GenCorp, United Technologies, GM, IBM, General Electric, NASA, Bechtel, Kuwait Energy Company, Philips Electronics, and The Boeing Company. |
Welcome First Timers
Your names have been added to this announcement list by virtue of your attendance in our series of InThinking Roadmap seminars, workshops, and overviews within Aerojet Rocketdyne, or attendance at the annual In2:InThinking Network Forum, through a personal request, from you or a friend. Welcome to our thinking networks.
Click either link below to send me the name(s) and e-mail address(es) of anyone you would like to have added to this mailing list, or let me know if you would like to be removed. Thanks!!!
ADDITIONS DELETIONS |
Meeting Notice Service - OD and TTA If you'd like to receive meeting notices on your Microsoft Outlook schedule for upcoming Ongoing Discussion conference calls and Thinking Together About... webinars, reply to Bill Bellows at william.bellows@rocket.com and your name will be added to our meeting notice list. |
International Participants
Our conference call sessions are toll-free within the U.S. and Canada. Several international participants have been able to connect toll-free using Skype for a VOIP connection, which we now recommend to others calling in from outside (or inside) the U.S. and Canada.
First, you'll need to establish a Skype account at www.skype.com. Once Skype is set up and functioning correctly the only thing that is different when connecting with our "InThinking Roadmap" conference call sessions ("OD" or "The New Economics Study Sessions") is the use of a pass code and security code. For our "OD" sessions, these numbers are provided once the "participant survey" is completed. For the "The New Economics Study Sessions," these numbers are provided in an email from Tim Higgins, who hosts these calls. In either case, when prompted by Skype to enter these codes, use the keyboard not voice option and be sure to turn off the computer's microphone, otherwise the numeric keys don't function. If the microphone is left on when the codes are entered, Skype's automated operator will reply with "number not recognized," as no number has been transmitted. Also, please note that the "pound key" in the U.S. (#) translates to the "hash key" in the U.K. New users of Skype are encouraged to perform a conference call test in advance of the scheduled "InThinking Roadmap" conference call. Contact Bill Bellows to arrange for a test call. |
Additional Reading Beginning in 2009, a series of articles have been prepared for the Lean Management Journal (LMJ) to share InThinking insights with the Lean community. This month's feature LMJ article, This month's feature LMJ article, from September 2013, The Last Straw, offers insights on lessons from Dr. Deming. Contact Bill Bellows with questions, comments, or observations about this article. |
| Good morning from the Los Angeles campus of Aerojet Rocketdyne, located in Canoga Park, California, on the western end of the San Fernando Valley. Aerojet Rocketdyne's InThinking Network welcomes David Auda, from Hagerstown, Maryland, to lead our seventh Ongoing Discussion conference call of 2015 on July 30th and 31st and also our 187th session since we began in January 2000. As for a topic, David has selected Decision Governance - Thought, Meta Cognition, and Emotional Sabotage in his first time with us as a Thought Leader. 
I was introduced to David by way of his frequent participation in the Ongoing Discussion conference calls and Thinking Together About webinars. After connecting with him further, we shared insights from our common interest in improving awareness of our thinking and actions, both individually and organizationally. From here, we made plans for David to share insights from his thinking journey with us in this month's Ongoing Discussion.
David begins his Thought Piece with these words,
To begin with, there is the obvious question; "which way are you going with your decision making capability?" You are born, grow, learn, experience, age and then die. I think that most people will agree that within these boundaries there may be a peak, and it is probably a short lived peak where highly profitable decision making is a feature or consequence of the life experiences that we are immersed in. No argument on the fact that when we are young we are poor at it, and when we get old, we again lose the cognitive agility required for it and we regress. David's Thought Piece continues with these ideas, Thinking is the essential element in this quest to develop a more effective and profitable decision making process. In doing that I will loosely align the structure of this thought piece with Edward de Bono's "6 Thinking Hats" which promotes lateral thinking. That is lateral thinking as opposed to vertical thinking. For those who had trouble determining which way that bus in figure 1 is going, it is probably because they are habitual vertical thinkers. Lateral thinking is thus very much about standing back, looking at the big picture and understanding concepts. It also requires that you focus in on the parts that have perhaps been overlooked, challenging assumptions, and seeking alternatives. To be more simplistic: * vertical thinkers - choose
* lateral thinkers - change
* vertical - looks for what is right
* lateral - looks for what is different
* vertical - one thing must follow directly from another
* lateral - makes deliberate jumps
* vertical - concentrates on relevance
* lateral - welcomes chance intrusions
* vertical - moves in most likely directions
* lateral - explores least likely directions This 6 Hats approach employs positional thinking with a unique twist in that the positions taken are pre-established. It should come as no surprise to anyone reading this paper that they have already taken a position on this material and on me as a thought leader as well. It is a good exercise to take a moment to discover what that position is. If your immediate response is that you are bias free so far, you may want to sound an internal alarm, because that is not the way we are wired. The lateral thinking exercise will demonstrate the usefulness of what could be termed structured positional thinking. Using 6 Hats it's necessary to begin by establishing the meta-rules for the investigation. The 6 Hats are as follows; Blue Hat for the rules that govern the exploration, White Hat to explore the data/evidence, Black Hat to explore all the negatives, Yellow Hat to explore the positives, Red Hat to explore the emotional elements and finally the Green Hat to explore innovative paths for advancement, overcoming hurdles and navigating around barriers. This will force some meta-cognition, some thinking about our thinking. Link here to download David's Thought Piece. Link here to register to attend. Contact David by e-mail at david.auda@volvo.com with any questions or comments you would like to share with him in preparation for this OD session.
David is the senior Reliability Engineer on Corporate Quality staff at Volvo/Mack truck located in Hagerstown Maryland. An ASQ Validated trainer and frequent presenter at international symposia and conferences, David has delivered workshops, trainings and papers on a wide variety of topics that serve Reliability and Quality practitioners as well as those in management and leadership positions. David is an ASQ certified Reliability engineer and a Certified Quality Manager. David's academic credentials include an AAS in Electrical Technology and a BS in Electrical Engineering, with honors, from the Rochester Institute of Technology, David did his graduate level study at the prestigious John D. Hromi Center for Quality and Applied Statistics, RIT. David holds leadership positions with the ASQ Reliability Division and the Society of Reliability engineers and is active in supporting the further development of tools and practices to enhance the capabilities of practitioners in these disciplines. Coming next is our Thinking Together About... (formerly known as Better Thinking About...) webinars next month, with a focus on Dr. Deming's System of Profound Knowledge, hosted by Mike Tveite on Thursday, August 13th, from 11:30-1pm Pacific Time. Link here to register to attend in advance of the announcement, coming during the first week in August.Cheers...
Bill |
| Memories of and from Russ Ackoff  The one and only Russ Ackoff served as our "January" Ongoing Discussion Thought Leader on four occasions between 2006 and 2009. In addition to these "visits" with us from his home in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, he also traveled to Canoga Park every year, from 2003 through 2007, to deliver half-day and full-day lectures in our Leadership & Learning Center (picture above), as well as in Boeing's Conference Center in nearby Huntington Beach. In doing so, he inspired us with his countless "systems" stories, from his chance visit to AT&T's Bell Labs to experience the account of the "overnight destruction of the Bell telephone system" (and his discovery of their use what came to be known as the Idealized Design process) to the tale of a cost-cutting paper company client, who continued to offer sales of a paltry amount (think "loss leader") of specialty photographic paper to Claire Booth Luce, whose husband's company, Time magazine, was their number 1 customer. One of these stories, plus many more from his career in the U.S. Army, stationed in the South Pacific, to his lengthy career as a management consultant, is told by Russ in the first of two recent posthumous publications by Triarchy Press, titled Memories. Follow this link for more details on this book, in addition to news of the second book, Differences That Make a Difference. To view a 10-minute video of John Pourdehnad's fond memories of Russ, follow this link on YouTube. Link here to download a 90-page transcript of a video with Russ Ackoff and W. Edwards Deming. The conversation took place in l992 and was edited and released as Volume 21 of The Deming Library series in l993. It is called "A Theory of a System for Educators and Managers" and is available from the W. Edwards Deming Institute at this link. Link here to find a 1949 article in the Detroit Times about Wayne University's pending decision to drop Russ Ackoff from their faculty over a dispute within the Philosophy department. |
The W. Edwards Deming Institute's Fall Conference, September 18-20 Next Generation LeadershipShaping the Future September 18 - 20, 2015
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa
New knowledge for breakthrough performance Join us to hear and meet industry leaders who are shaping their businesses and industries by breaking performance barriers often thought impossible. They did it through the adoption of a management and leadership philosophy that transformed them as individuals as well as their organizations. Their stories will inspire you to learn more and begin your own journey, whether you are a student or early in your career, a small business owner or executive. Come explore the new knowledge and unique approaches these leaders have embraced to dramatically improve their organizations. Link here to find out more, including details on scholarships. |
Podcasts from The W. Edwards Deming Institute Beginning in 2014, The W. Edwards Deming Institute has recorded podcasts on a monthly basis, featuring 20 to 30-minute interviews by Tripp Babbitt with members of the Deming Community who are advancing the use and explanations of Dr. Deming's ideas. This week's Podcast features Louis Altazan, President of AGCO Automotive Corporation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Louis discusses his introduction to Dr. Deming and his philosophies, his "aha" moment, and the long-term thinking and trust that must be established to succeed.
Louis starts with a brief introduction of AGCO, and his feeling that the automotive industry could be doing better. After toiling for 10 years with various philosophies, it was the 1980 NBC documentary "If Japan Can, Why Can't We" that hit home with him. He picked up the phone and called Dr. Deming. And as they say "the rest is history."
Louis began implementing Deming's 14 points right away. His biggest "aha" moment was that "I was the problem." Once he realized this, he called a meeting to apologize and things started to get better right away. Louis removed everyone from the "flat rate" pay system and put them on salary. This helped his staff change their focus from short-term thinking and profits to long-term thinking and trust.
Louis warns that you can't apply some part of Dr. Deming's philosophy and not others - that "it's a cohesive system that all works together." Done this way you will start seeing improvement almost immediately, but the real benefits will be felt about 20 years down the road.
Link here to find the podcast with Louis. Link here to find the previous podcasts, featuring Bob Mason and Clare Crawford-Mason, Paula Marshall, Bill Bellows, Bob Browne, Kelly Allan, Kevin Cahill, Andrea Gabor, Steven Haedrich, David Langford, and Dan Robertson. Link here to find these podcasts on iTunes. |
Leader of One, by Gerald Suarez "Endorsements like these are seldom needed. Heed this one, read, study, and learn. Gerald Suarez is the future." Russ Ackoff 
Gerald Suarez, our inaugural "Better Thinking About..." in February 2012 on the topic of Leadership, has released his first book, titled "Leader of One: Shaping Your Future through Imagination and Design." Find it on Amazon at this link. Link on the book image to learn more about Gerald.
With endorsements from two of his mentors, Stephen Covey and Russ Ackoff, Gerald has fulfilled his dream of "writing a book that reflects my philosophy and experiences in the White House, the boardroom, and the classroom and to pay tribute to the major influences in my thinking." This 18-chapter book offers a 4-phase "methodology" that consists of a cycle of activities that "work together in a holistic fashion"; Contemplation, Desire, Design, and Creation.
Gerald offers this advice at the outset:
Becoming a "Leader of One" and taking on the challenge of shaping your future is not easy. Transformative efforts never are. The task ahead will feel overwhelming, but commitment to initiate and sustain action, no matter how small, will move you closer to a new and desired reality.
There are no short cuts. Every building begins its steps upward with a single brick, every marathon race with a single step, and every book with a single word. The same can be said for every minute of your life, so seconds count. The first steps are always the most difficult, but each one will bring you closer to "there." |
July 30th - 31st OD Details Please join us for one or all of this month's series of OD conference calls. As always, you are invited to participate for as long, or as short, as you can in one or more of these sessions, Options 1-4. Note that these conference calls are "conversations, not presentations," which vary from session to session, due to a variety of causes, such as who participates, what questions are asked, and what learning transpires. This diversity is captured every month, as the calls are recorded, with links to these audio files shared with all who register to attend. Option - Date/Time (Pacific Time); 1 - Thursday, July 30th, 12:00-1:00pm 2 - Thursday, July 30th, 1:00-2:00pm
3 - Friday, July 31st - 12:00-1:00pm
4 - Friday, July 31st - 1:00-2:00pm The agenda for each option will be: Opening 15 minutes: Call in and Introductions Next 40 minutes: Ongoing Discussion Last 5 minutes: Farewells and Close
Please reply to this note by noon, Pacific Time on Wednesday, July 29th to confirm your plans to participate in one (or more) of these options. If you do plan to attend, please complete the OD PARTICIPATION SURVEY by using the link below...
PARTICIPANT SURVEY Telecon lines (including a pass code and a security code) have been arranged for those who cannot join us in a conference room at our Canoga Park facility and are provided upon completion of the participant survey.
As always, please forward this announcement to anyone we missed who would also like to participate.
Regards...
Bill |
Future Ongoing Discussion Conference Calls Mark your calendars - future Ongoing Discussion conference calls will be held on the following dates (subject to slight changes), from 12-1pm and 1-2pm Pacific Time.
Month, Dates, Thought Leader(s), Topics (link on each session to register): |
Future Thinking Together About... Webinars
Mark your calendars - future Thinking Together About... (formerly Better Thinking About...) webinars will be held on the following dates, from 11:30-1pm Pacific Time. Details for how to participate in this webinar series are provided upon registering using the participant survey for each event.
Date, Presenter, and Topic (link on each session to register): |
InThinking Together Seminar Description: This seminar explores the philosophies of a variety of management theorist, including but not limited to Russell Ackoff, W. Edwards Deming, Edward de Bono, Tom Johnson, and Genichi Taguchi, among many others; as they apply to the management of organizational resources, including ideas, innovation, knowledge, money, equipment, and space. Among the topics of discussion will be the concepts of "better thinking about thinking" (InThinking) and Purposeful Resource Management as well as Purposeful Resource Leadership. The seminar will introduce you to these ideas through a series of questions that are specially selected to create awareness of a new approach to working together, learning together, and thinking together. Registration Fee: there is NO fee to attend Prerequisites: there are NO prerequisites Format: two 4.5-hour sessions over two days, offered as an in-person event Presented by: Bill Bellows Schedule for InThinking Together classes in Canoga Park, CA for Aerojet Rocketdyne Class #CP-2015-07, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Canoga Park Part 1 - 30-Jul - 7:00-11:30am (Pacific Time) Part 2 - 31-Jul - 7:00-11:30am Class #CP-2015-08, College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita Part 1 - 27-Aug - 7:00-11:30am (Pacific Time) Part 2 - 28-Aug - 7:00-11:30am
Register to attend InThinking Together |
The New Economics Study Session Description: A group of participants assembles, some in-person and some via teleconference, for this 14-hour series. Participants discuss W. Edwards Deming's last book, The New Economics, in which he introduced his concept of a "System of Profound Knowledge." The group reads specified chapters before each session and discusses the meaning and application of the ideas, as well as personal reactions to the ideas. Supplemental reading material become part of the conversations, as do reactions to video tapes of Dr. Deming. Registration Fee: there is NO fee to attend. In addition, this is a toll-free call from the United States and Canada. International participants are welcome to join in as well, provided they do so at their own expense for the conference call. Aerojet Rocketdyne attendees will be given copies of The New Economics. Non-Aerojet Rocketdyne attendees can purchase copies on Amazon at this link, with used copies selling for $15 and Kindle copies available for $15.95. Prerequisite: there are NO prerequisites
Format: seven 2-hour sessions over three and a half weeks, presented as a teleconference event Presented by: Tim Higgins Schedule for The New Economics Study Session Class #CP-2015-03 Starting on 14-Sep, seven sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 3:00-5:00pm, Pacific Time (ending on 5-Oct) |
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