Quality Leadership Weblog :-)

Policy, protocols, rules sets, routines, “the way we do things around here,” refer to guidelines that are used to manage variability.
People take action. Action is taken via a process/system. Systems determine the majority of the result.  The majority of change typically results in no improvement.  How do you assess if the actions made things better [...]

Business and the Way of Democracy, By ANDREA BONIME-BLANC and MARK BRZEZINSKI, Published: December 26, 2009
The role that integrity plays in the private sector is similar to the role that democracy plays in the public sector.

Much like transitions to democracy over the past four decades transformed governments from mostly authoritarian to mostly democratic, we are [...]

Top British Diplomat Blasts ‘War On Terror’, (Washington Times)…UnattributedBritish Foreign Secretary David Miliband wants a rethink of the strategy against terrorism, calling the notion of a war on terrorism “misleading and mistaken.”
Britain To Attack Its Afghan War Allies, (Financial Times)…James Blitz, 14 Jan 09. John Hutton, Britain’s defence secretary, will on Thursday launch an attack [...]

Clinton Touts ‘Smart Power’ Use, (Washington Times)…Nicholas Kralev, Jan 14, 2009
Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged Tuesday to use “smart power” to reduce the military’s role in U.S. foreign policy and put a “civilian face” on America’s role abroad after the Bush administration’s heavy reliance on the use of force.

In Interview, Obama Talks Of ‘New Approach’ To Iran, (New York Times)…Brian Knowlton, Jan 11, 2009
President-elect Barack Obama addressed some of the most delicate foreign policy issues over the weekend, confirming that he intended to pursue a clear policy of engagement with Iran and to press immediately for peace in the Middle East.

U.S. Rejected Aid For Israeli Raid On Iranian Nuclear Site(New York Times)…David E. Sanger. Jan 10, 2009. President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage [...]

ARTICLE: Army’s New Manual: Peacekeeper Training, AP, December 17, 2008
The Army has released its first new training field manual in six years, highlighting the need for units to be ready to conduct stability operations after traditional combat has ended.
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The manual, titled “Training for Full Spectrum Operations” and written at Fort Leavenworth, explains what soldiers can [...]

Why China Helped Countries Like Pakistan, North Korea Build Nuclear Bombs
(U.S. News & World Report (USNews.com))…Alex Kingsbury, jan 2, 2009.
Former U.S. Air Force Secretary Thomas Reed knows nuclear bombs better than most people. For starters, he designed two of them when he worked at the Livermore National Laboratory as a weapons designer.
His new book The [...]

A Defensive Strike For Its Fighter Jet (Dallas Morning News)…Eric Torbenson, Jan 6, 2009.
Seven years ago, Lockheed Martin Corp. won a bitterly fought contract for what would end up being the world’s most expensive fighter jet program. Today, it finds itself in an odd position: having to defend the plane it won the right to [...]

On the issue of objective vs subjective information, you will always need the right balance of both.  I addressed a similar topic on the subject of militar’s  Effect Based Operational concept.
Did managers of risk outsmart themselves? Joe Nocera, New York Times magazine, Jan 4, 2009.

The story that I have to tell is marked all the [...]