Oct., 2007 E-zine

Time is running out to register for the Measuring what Matters Innovation tour on November 12th. You won't want to miss the opportunity to network with many of the world's leading measurement experts. Learn more in this E-Zine. In this E-Zine we share our experiences at the Motorola Innovation Tour. If you were unable to attend-we video-tapped the speakers for you. We announce the launch of our new websites for the Scanlon Foundation and Scanlon Consultancy. We introduce you to our newest Board member, John Schmidt and we share our latest podcast-featuring Business Hall of Fame Recipient and Scanlon Steward---Max DePree.

World Class Experts to be at Measuring What Matters Event on November 12
	The Measuring What Matters for Growth and Innovation event to be held on November 12 in Baltimore is shaping up to be perhaps a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to learn from a long list of world class experts in business measurement and innovation. In addition to the presenters, Jahn Ballard, Praveen Gupta, and Thomas Hood, there is an increasing list of experts who will be present, including Robert (Doc) Hall, the founder of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME). The concepts from Dean Spitzer's book Transforming Performance Measurement will be an integral part of the presentations, and he will be on hand at the event. Spitzer is a researcher and major thought leader for IBM on measurement. Transforming Performance Measurement is the current leading book on measurement. You will receive a copy of the book at the event. What will you receive at the event? You will learn how to measure and explain the most important financial and operational measurements of your business. You will receive tools that provide big picture financial reality checks that non-financial folks can understand and think about in relation to their responsibilities. You will receive software to do these things and you will use this software on your own numbers in the afternoon of the event. You will also see software that has been developed based on Gupta's extensive study and application of innovation, Six Sigma, and related scorecards. This software, i-nexus, will provide the infrastructure that enables strategy mapping, cascaded scorecards, corporate objective alignment and strategy execution. Steve DuBrow, President and Managing Director of the Americas Region of i-nexus, will be conducting the hands-on session of the workshop on this software. As Gupta states, "Many businesses focus on either profitability or growth, but few focus on both." Sustained profitability requires a focus on both aspects, but we are most often blind to some major elements. These tools will help remove those blind spots. Tom Hood, our host in Baltimore, will share his story of turning around the Maryland CPA Society over the last eight years. As Chair of the American Institute of CPAs Vision 2011, and a frequent member of the 100 Most Influential People in the accounting profession, Tom found he needed support to think about his business challenges in new ways, both financially and operationally; and engage his people to think with him. By doing a quick, whole systems financial analysis using the Integral Operations Finance Toolkit developed by Ballard, Hood and his staff were able to think in new and practical ways that have made their organization a national leader. Ballard and Doc Hall recently presented their groundbreaking concepts and practices at the Lean Accounting Summit in Orlando. (The Scanlon Leadership Network was a sponsor of the event.) I had the opportunity to attend their presentations and see first hand how the "lights came on" for many of the high level financial people present. The concepts presented in Orlando will be even more refined for the Measuring What Matters event. Be ready to go to a whole new level of Identity for your business. And, the breakthrough awareness you are likely to gain will be directly applicable through tools and instruments you will experience and receive at the event. The Lean Accounting Summit was highly enlightening about where industry is moving in relation to Lean, Lean Accounting, and much more. It was a very hopeful and exciting message. Much of the enlightenment found there will be presented to you at the Measuring What Matters event. Who should attend? Preferably, a delegation from your company representing strategy, finance and operations. Sales and marketing would also be useful to be represented. Together, they will be able to build a much clearer picture of your company. Scanlon companies have consistently performed head and shoulders above their competitors, while continuously looking for new and different ways of improving. The Scanlon Leadership Network always seeks experts and tools that will help its members. Measurement is a crucial component of all gainsharing, goalsharing and profitsharing systems. It is fundamental to the Scanlon Principles of Identity and Equity. Paul Davis, President of the Scanlon Leadership Network, recently said "Never have so many experts, practitioners, and tool developers in the area of measurement been brought together in one place for the benefit of our members and guests. Baltimore will be a once in a lifetime event. Don't miss it."
	To download the Measuring what Matters registration as a pdf file...

Motorola Innovation Tour About Connecting
	Scanlon Leaderhship Network's innovation journey continued this past month with a tour of Motorola in Schaumburg, IL. The purpose of the Motorola tour was to learn about innovation, and start practicing innovation. The agenda for the tour was rich and the presenters insightful and powerful. Presentations were provided by Praveen Gupta, Adam Hartung of Spark Partners, Bill Grundstrom and Pat Iaconetti of Dell, Bob Carlson of Illinois Institute of Technology, Mary Clark of Winning Workplaces, Scanlon Leadership Network's own Paul Davis, and of course staff from Motorola. Majel Maes, Director of the Network facilitated the tour of the Motorola Innovation Center along with the Motorola staff. Praveen Gupta conducted an innovation survey and reported on the results at the event. He indicated that there is still a long way to go to improve innovation knowledge and systems, with 20% of the respondents implying that the field of innovation is yet to mature. One of the points highlighted in his presentation was taken from Bill Gates's presentation at Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year. Gates emphasized that building better customer relationships is critical to drive business innovation, operational excellence, and supply chain management. Business innovation must be deployed to meet growing customer needs. Adam Hartung highlighted an organization's success formula as often its biggest barrier to innovation. Everyone likes to perpetuates the success formula that has worked in the past, but it may discourage innovation. Therefore, "white space" is needed. This is an opportunity to innovate something totally new outside the current organization or system. Bill Grundstrom, Director of Dell's Business Process Improvement, shared Dell's infrastructure, strategy, tactics, and processes which have led to over $1B growth per year. At the request of Michael Dell, the company recently launched their Customer Idea Storm and Employee Idea Storm to enlist their customers and employees in pushing the innovation envelope. The idea management process is now Six Sigma methodology. Prof. Bob Carlson shared how IIT is collaborating with the industry through its IPRO initiative. Multi-departmental student teams tackle real-world problems with corporate sponsorship and develop innovative solutions. These solutions are then used by the sponsoring corporations. Mary Clark, Executive Director of Winning Workplaces, shared benefits of being "Winning" organizations. These organizations are similar to the Fortune's Best Companies to Work for in America, and outperform the S&P index in many areas. Interestingly, the Best Companies tend to be more innovative, deliberately. They focus on growth, human relations, innovation, and recognition. Paul Davis presented a white paper summarizing what the Network has learned so far about creating a culture of innovation. The white paper lays out concrete practical proven steps any leader in any organization can take to increase innovation. The white paper along with videos of all the innovation presentations are available for members from the Network Office. The Motorola Innovation Center has multiple pods where guests can see the technologies Motorola is developing to help people connect, including first responders, at home and recreation, and in third world countries. The purpose of the innovation center is not only to share some of Motorola's history of innovation, but also to focus on the future and what Motorola is doing to help to shape it. Becky Fulgoni of Scanlon corporate member Landscape Forms was impressed with the Motorola event. She found it both thought provoking and validating. She stated that she and Landscape Forms will be able to directly apply much of what she learned. For example, she says they will be able to innovate not simply as totally new ideas, but also to approach innovation as taking a very different perspective of past and proven ideas. They will also be able to avoid "lockins"; practices that prevent you from doing things differently than you have in the past. Fulgoni found validating the information on the Best Small Companies to Work For. Landscape forms has developed and integrated many of these practices over the years of applying the Scanlon Principles. She said, "The Scanlon Principles provide a culture and foundation to build on for innovation." Scanlon Leadership Network's innovation tours have done a great job of raising awareness of innovation. Praveen Gupta states, "The enthusiasm about innovation in this network of companies speaks highly for the Scanlon principles, which are about helping everyone in a company understand the reality they face while building personal, professional and organizational competency."

Scanlon Network Launches Consultancy and Foundation Websites
	The Scanlon Leadership Network has been a successful organization since 1964. However, through the ongoing exploration of "What day is it for Scanlon Leadership Network?", it has became apparent that the Network's focus needed to be expanded. Thus, the Scanlon Foundation was established in 2003 to create services and opportunities not available to the Network. Now Scanlon Consulting has been launched. These two organizations overlap, and work in parallel, with the Scanlon Leadership Network. The Scanlon Foundation is "Where the Best Ideas are Nurtured and Grown." The Foundation is actively preserving Scanlon related writings and developing new books on Scanlon thought. The Scanlon Foundation was created to carry out the charitable aims of the Network. It provides memberships to individuals so they can become part of the greater Scanlon movement. It accepts donations so we can continue to carry on the dream of the steelworker, Joe Scanlon. The Foundation's mission is to disseminate information on the Scanlon Principles and practices with a central focus of supporting educational opportunities for leaders interested in helping organizations realize their full human potential. The Scanlon Consultancy was created to be "Where the Best Ideas Come to Life." The Scanlon Consultancy works closely with the Scanlon Leadership Network and the Scanlon Foundation to create personal, professional and organizational change. Scanlon Consulting provides a wide range of services from executive coaching to designing gainsharing systems. Services are available to Network members and to clients outside the Scanlon Network. The Network has been delivering consulting services for the last three years on a limited basis. This has given staff an opportunity to work with different consulting experts and to test the system. According to Scanlon President Paul Davis , "The Scanlon Consultancy will allow our members and guest clients the opportunity to work with proven, cost effective consultants who understand Scanlon Principles and practices. We welcome the consultancy to the Scanlon family of supporting organizations."

John Schmid-New Scanlon Board Member
	John Schmid of Smith Dairy is the newest member of the Scanlon Leadership Network Board of Directors. With ten years of experience at Smith Dairy, a wealth of prior experience, and a strong set of people values, he brings a lot of good. John spent a number of years as a teacher on a Blackfoot Indian reservation. When asked how the experience has affected him, he said, "It gives me insights on human behavior I wouldn't otherwise have. It also provides me with a level of compassion and empathy." John is a strong, and humble, advocate of the Scanlon Process. He went through the implementation process at Smith Dairy and said he "believes strongly in the Scanlon concepts." While he says they haven't "arrived" with the maturity of their Scanlon Process, he said, "We have heart." They are definitely on the Scanlon path. What does John bring to the board? He describes himself as an "idea person with an open mind." In addition, the Scanlon values are in direct alignment with his personal values. Humbly, he says he thinks he has more to gain than give. He looks forward to the learning he is likely to achieve from working closely with a group of top-notch people on the board. He said he is "honored to be joining the board." Welcome to the board, John!
	To learn more about Smith Dairy....

Max DePree Podcasts Now Online
	The latest addition to the Scanlon podcasts, two interviews with Max DePree, are now online. Each interview is based on one of DePree's best selling leadership books, Leadership is an Art and Leadership Jazz. This is an opportunity to learn, for free, from one of the Scanlon "giants." DePree, the former CEO of Herman Miller, is a Scanlon Steward and a member of the Business Hall of Fame. The Scanlon podcasts are produced by Ron Duffy. Duffy has unique skill in gleaning the best information and insights from his guests. Of the DePree interviews Duffy said, "In his books, Max uses real life stories from his business and personal experiences to demonstrate key attributes of effective leadership. Max is a master storyteller. My goal in the Scanlon Leadership interview was to have Max share stories from his books. I believe this was accomplished. The experience of interviewing Max showed me why he is such a good leader. Max allowed me to lead the interview PROCESS, while he led the INTERVIEW in offering the richness and depth of his leadership experience."
	To listen to the podcast click here and then on the podcast logo...