On Authority Magazine: 5 Things You Should Do To Become a Thought Leader In Your Industry   Thank you for taking the time to speak with us! Our readers are eager to learn more about you. Could you provide some background information about yourself?   I’ve founded or co-founded 5 companies, actively invested in 30, served on multiple boards of directors, and consulted for advised over 300, ranging from Amazon to Intel to Fidelity. I’ve had the pleasure of writing two books, have been a paid columnist for two different publications, and have hosted or co-hosted different podcasts. I fe ..read more

  In this episode of the People Solve Problems podcast, host Jamie Flinchbaugh is joined by Patrick Elwer, a Senior Principal Engineer at Intel Corporation. Patrick brings over 34 years of experience to the table, with a significant portion of his career dedicated to improving Intel’s work processes using lean product development principles and agile software development practices. The conversation centers on operationalizing problem-solving within a large-scale engineering culture, highlighting the methodologies and challenges faced in such an environment. Patrick begins by sha ..read more

Episode 47: “Decriminalizing Medical Errors, Mouse Jiggling, and New (to us) Bourbons”   In Episode 47, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh attempt another experiment in format, covering a range of quick-hit topics in the news rather than a single deep dive. As always, we welcome feedback. Before we got to that, however, our whiskey theme was also new, or new to us: we each picked a whiskey we hadn’t tried before. Jamie’s pick was Four Walls Irish American Whiskey, a celebrity whiskey from a group of stars from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, including Rob McElhenney, who famously co-own ..read more

In the latest episode of the People Solve Problems podcast, host Jamie Flinchbaugh sits down with Art Byrne, the retired CEO of The Wiremold Company. Art’s profound influence on the lean community is well-known, having introduced lean principles to over 30 companies from his positions as CEO and author of seminal works such as The Lean Turnaround, The Lean Turnaround Action Guide, and The Lean Turnaround Answer Book. Art’s journey with lean management began during his first General Manager role at General Electric Company. He later introduced lean to the Danaher Corporation as a Grou ..read more

On Forbes: Why More Employees Should Learn Hanlon’s Razor Hanlon’s Razor isn’t part of any company’s new employee orientation, but maybe it should be. It can make you a more effective employee and also make the organization better, especially in tricky situations. But before I explain further, we should probably delve into what Hanlon’s Razor actually means.   Read the article here  The post Why More Employees Should Learn Hanlon’s Razor appeared first on JFlinch ..read more

In this episode of “People Solve Problems,” Jamie Flinchbaugh hosts Frank L. Douglas, CEO of Safe Haven Dialogues. Frank brings a wealth of experience as a former Executive Vice President and Board Member of Aventis, now Sanofi, and shares insights from his storied career in the pharmaceutical industry and beyond. Currently, Frank leads Safe Haven Dialogues, an organization dedicated to addressing issues of discrimination and conflict through their innovative Reframing Methodology. Frank discusses his recent book, “Until You Walk in My Shoes: A Reframing Methodology to Overcome Syste ..read more

I recently rediscovered a great quote from President John F. Kennedy. It was during Lehigh University’s commencement, where I was observing my daughter Emma’s graduation. The original quote is from Kennedy’s commencement speech at Yale University on June 11th, 1962, and was echoed by Lehigh’s President Joseph Helble in his remarks. The core of the quote that was shared is this: “We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” This is one of those lines that can really strike you as profound and timeless. Here’s the full context of his remarks around that quote: “For the gre ..read more

  In this episode of People Solve Problems, host Jamie Flinchbaugh welcomes Lee Moore, Director of Foundry and Fab Materials at Qorvo. With nearly 25 years at Qorvo, Lee is deeply committed to developing a culture of proactive problem solvers within the organization. His role not only involves negotiating capacities and prices with external foundries but also leading teams to tackle issues effectively and foster continuous improvement. Lee discusses his approach to collaboration, emphasizing the need to clearly identify the problem, understand who it affects, and determine who h ..read more

On Forbes: When The Big Picture Can Be Counterproductive Sometimes, the big picture can be overwhelming. When it is, it leads to doubt, delay, overthinking and other counterproductive behaviors. Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, who we could call Marcus the Practical, offers some helpful advice in this regard: “Remember—your responsibilities can be broken down into individual parts as well. Concentrate on those, and finish the job methodically.” Read More The post When The Big Picture Can Be Counterproductive appeared first on JFlinch ..read more

When someone utters the phrase “problem solving”, what is the first image that comes to mind? For most people, those words immediately take you into problem solving tools and templates. This is because many of us have gone through training program after training program to learn various tools. For myself, just some of my tools-based learning includes my various engineering degrees, Kepner-Tregoe, TQM, Six Sigma, A3, TRIZ, Design Thinking, and more.  It is worse when leaders adopt this perspective. How do you earn “credit” for problem solving? In most organizations, you only get credit if ..read more