“Across almost all sectors and regions, [organizations] face unprecedented disruption.  The competitive advantages that once gave [organizations] a defensible position – their product lineup, scale, or legacy position – are no longer as secure as they once were.  In the face of this volatility and complexity, most [organizations] must transform, meaning a comprehensive change in [...]

Last week, baseball lost a legend.  Yogi Berra participated in 18 All-Star Games and 14 World Series (winning 10 of them, the most in baseball history).  He was a three-time MVP (most ever for a catcher), had a lifetime .285 batting average, hit 358 home runs, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame [...]

People are overworked.  Maybe it’s because the post-recession “New Normal” is forcing all of us to do more with less.  Maybe it’s because 10,000 Baby Boomers are retiring EVERY Day, forcing all of us to do more with less.  Maybe it’s because wages really haven’t kept up with inflation the last 30-40 years, forcing all [...]

Earlier this month, we celebrated our 239th birthday as a nation.  Most of us probably had a picnic with family, enjoyed a parade, or watched fireworks with friends.  But all of us enjoyed the freedom – the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness that has made this country strong for nearly a quarter millennia.  Let’s [...]

A recent Wall Street Journal article captured the challenges most organizations face in trying to be innovative.  Authors Drew Boyd (a former J&J executive and current professor at University of Cincinnati) and Jacob Goldenberg (a professor at Hebrew and Columbia University and author of “Inside the Box: A Proven of Creativity for Breakthrough Results”) reveal [...]

2014 MN Performance Excellence Awards Presented at PENworks 2015 Conference; Coach Jerry Kill Offers Remarks; Governor Celebrates Excellence in Minnesota ST. PAUL, Minn., April 30, 2015 – The Performance Excellence Network (PEN), formerly the Minnesota Council for Quality, today honors six recipients of the 2014 Performance Excellence Award (formerly the MN Quality Award), five from [...]

Everywhere you look, standards are rising.  In business, in sports, in education, in healthcare – really in all aspects of human and organizational achievement – what is considered world class continues to increase.  For example… It used to take 72 hours by plane to cross the Atlantic (1913); it now takes just over six.  The [...]

I remember the call distinctly: it was the summer of 2007, when the Superintendent of Duluth Public Schools called, seeking benchmarking partners.  He was looking for other school districts that were more advanced at using data to make decisions and to manage and improve performance.  I gave him two or three districts from which I [...]

As winter winds down (eventually) and spring approaches, many sports enthusiasts have moved from the gridiron to March Madness.  But football season is not quite over for the Performance Excellence Network, as we are pleased to announce our fifth and final keynote speaker at PENworks 2015: Jerry Kill, head coach of the Minnesota Gophers! [...]