First Friday Book Synopsis

JUNE 15, 2011

Jennifer Prosek is the founder and CEO of CJP Communications (CJP), where she leads many of the firm’s key accounts. Under her leadership, the firm has become a leading international public relations and financial communications consultancy with offices in New York, Connecticut and London.

Public Relations 80

Public Relations Consultative CEO Leadership 80

Harvard Business Review

MAY 23, 2011

The challenge is that, at both a philosophical and a practical level, the Hierarchy (with its management processes) opposes change. In a sense, the crowning accomplishment of the Hierarchy and its management processes is the enterprise on autopilot, everyone ideally situated as a cog whirring on a steady, unthinking and predictable machine.

Organization 17

Organization Kaizen Budgeting Short-term 17

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 4, 2017

In research for our book, Time, Talent and Energy, my co-author Michael Mankins and I found that such investments do indeed pay off: The top-quartile companies in our study unlocked 40% more productive power in their workforce through better practices in time, talent and energy management. For knowledge workers, time is incredibly scarce.

Human Capital 15

Human Capital Kaizen Agility Energy 15

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 4, 2013

It has a more rigorous organization structure that divides responsibilities between the innovation team and development team, and strengthens management around the opportunity pipeline. These teams have disciplined processes to get the technology to market, generally with a one- to two-year product horizon. Executing on Innovation.

Technology 9

Technology Innovation Kaizen Chief Executive Officer 9

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 9, 2012

Instead of simplistic, one-note fixes, smart managers consider broader improvement plans, such as these: Set a cohesive sales strategy that focuses sales effort on the right customer segments with a compelling value proposition. Set sales force goals that are challenging, fair, and well-understood by the sales force.

Kaizen 8

Kaizen Incentives Market Segmentation Efficiency 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 29, 2017

The Japanese employees, while already fluent with Japanese concepts such as kaizen (improvement) and omotenashi (hospitality), struggled to become proficient in English. In some sectors, the global market demands for English-speaking workers makes a global career quite attractive. It consists of five key actions.

Succession 15

Succession Globalization Tacit Knowledge GDP 15

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 30, 2016

Effective executives understand the productivity and customer loyalty future depends as much on motivating and managing their machines as inspiring their people. Should the contact center manager look to their best customer care representatives to fix the problem or look to technologists?

Review 8

Review Kaplan Performance Review Kaizen 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 5, 2016

Aggravated and depressed by the decline of their core memory business in the 1980s, Intel’s top management struggled for strategic clarity. Stagnant growth in its core PC market recently led Intel to announce layoffs of roughly 12% of its workforce. But the past is merely a prologue. Delightful user experiences are delightful.

Levitt 8

Levitt Disaggregation Kaizen Call Center 8

Lead Change Blog

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

We got our black belts in six-sigma; words or acronyms like Kaizen, PDCA, TQM, QC and ISO became everyday parts of our work language. We learned the quality lessons of Edward Deming, Joseph Juran, and Phil Crosby as well as the lean thinking lessons of James Womack. The benefits were significant.

Six Sigma 150

Six Sigma TQM Airlines Wilde 150

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 2, 2013

This week''s merger announcement between Omnicom and Publicis, two ad and marketing agencies with a combined 2012 revenue of $23 billion, involved glasses of champagne. A Manager''s Moral Obligation to Preserve Capitalism Working Knowledge. Kaizen, Japanese for "continuous improvement," is Toyota''s self-described business model.

Banking 11

Banking Henderson Kaizen Advertising 11

Innovation Excellence

MARCH 19, 2025

A Kaizen Approach to Market-Driven Innovation GUEST POST from Dr. Matthew Heim In todays competitive business environment, companies are under constant pressure to innovate, streamline processes, and improve product quality. By viewing […]

Kaizen 104

Kaizen Productivity Products Management 104