SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS ALERT

By Paul Scicchitano 

As Nigel H. Croft assumes the reins of the international subcommittee charged with drafting future editions of the world’s most widely used quality standard, his top priority is to help make the ISO 9000 toolbox of standards less bureaucratic and more user-focused.

“We need to find a mechanism by which we can preserve that technical integrity but at the same time make them easier to understand and implement among the users and other stakeholders,” explains Croft, who has been at the center of efforts to boost the credibility of ISO 9001 certification for years.

Croft was recently named to replace John Davies, who retired from the post as chair of Subcommittee 2 (SC2) of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 176.

By Paul Scicchitano

So you haven’t lost your home, job or business in the great recession. How is your mojo holding up?

Not the mojo popularized by fictional super spy Austin Powers — or even the Marvel Comics’ super villain of the same name. There’s a very different kind of mojo that is an essential ingredient to business and personal success, according to New York Times bestselling author Marshall Goldsmith.

The 61-year-old executive coach defines mojo in his latest book as the moment when we do something that's purposeful, powerful, and positive — and the whole world recognizes it.

“When I talk about mojo, I’m talking about simultaneously finding happiness and meaning at work and at home,” explains Goldsmith during an exclusive interview and recorded Webinar with Sustainable Success Alert on February 8 (watch free).

By Paul Scicchitano

MIAMI GARDENS — If you were one of the 151.6 million viewers who tuned into Super Bowl XLIV, chances are you couldn’t peel away from the laser- and pyrotechnic-packed half-time show featuring The Who.

Perhaps the legendary rockers took you back to another time and place. Or maybe you just wanted to see if Roger Daughtrey would suffer a wardrobe malfunction like Janet Jackson. 

No matter why you watched, we can all learn a lesson in project planning from the people who pulled together the 2010 half-time show — one of the most watched television events on the planet.

By Thomas Pyzdek and Paul Keller

The following article was excerpted from the third edition of The Six Sigma Handbook with permission from The McGraw-Hill Companies.

All organizations have systems designed to ensure stability and to protect against undesirable change. Often these systems also make it more difficult to make beneficial change; perhaps you encountered an example or two while pursuing your Six Sigma project!

Still, once you’ve created an improved business system these “anti-change” systems can be your friend. Here are some suggested ways to protect your hard-won gains:

By John Bingman

Over the past year or so, comments have been made to management system auditors that amount to a giant warning sign: 

“I hope you understand that I'm new at this management representative thing and I’m not sure I’m aware of all the standard- and certification-body requirements,” confessed one executive tasked with making sure that their company’s corporate quality initiative is effective and working as planned.

“I’m the third management rep in two years and I don’t know anything about the standard,” confessed another executive in a similar position.

By Kimberly Douglas

Editor's Note: This is the second of a two-part article.

In the last issue we brought you five of the 10 worst meeting pitfalls and how to avoid them.

In this installment, we'll look at the last five pitfalls, including everone's favorite: how to handle people that simply love to hear their own voice.

What's that? You missed Part 1. Click here.

By Dr. Michael J. Dreikorn

Some people are thought of as visionaries. They have an ability to apply foresight far in advance of others, while maintaining relevance. 

The reality is that we are all visionaries to one extent or another. Vision is seeing the relevant opportunities that are emerging and giving others a larger vision or purpose for which to strive. This involves seeing the future and anticipating its impact. 

When times are good, leaders with good vision anticipate the downturn; when times are hard, leaders with good vision anticipate the next growth trend.

By Paul Scicchitano

An estimated 10,000 AS9100 certificate holders may begin upgrading their certifications to the latest edition of the space, defense and aviation quality requirements starting on April 30, 2010.

Revision “C” of the standard was published in 2009 as AS9100 in the Americas, JISQ9100 in Asia-Pacific and EN9100 in Europe. A companion checklist intended for third-party auditors still had not been released as of early October, which resulted in a delay in the start of certification.

The absence of the checklist had effectively put thousands of certificate holders — many of whom are contractually bound to achieve and maintain certification to the standard by major aerospace and defense customers — in a kind of certification holding pattern, which has now been effectively lifted.

By Clyde Brewer

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a series of articles by Clyde Brewer, who reflects back on his more than 50-year career in quality.
 
In 1978 another government agency concluded that quality should be mandatory. A new transfer from the aerospace industry who had worked for the government was instrumental in this action. You may recognize this person as Marshall Courtois who went on to establish the Independent Association of Accredited Registrars (IAAR), which was intended to boost credibility among third-party quality certifiers. He also would be my future partner.