Jim McLaughlin's Blog

Timeless Stories for My Brain and Yours

Blog

  • Slow Down

    Note to self:  Situations are rarely simple.  Slow down and understand things before determining a solution or acting. Read more

  • A Thought on Basic Laws

    The book, Ishmael, which my son had to read over the summer for school, pointed out that there are certain laws that we are trying to avoid through our implementation of civilization, but that we are doomed to follow.  One of those laws is that life and death are natural events and that both provide Read more

  • Thoughts on Risk

    Reading “The Six Mistakes Executives Make in Risk Management”, HBR, October 2009: The risks of not succeeding in the mundane tasks that are part of our operating plan are far more significant than what might happen in some outlying situation.  Things happen and we need to do what we can to insure for the consequences, Read more

  • Thoughts on Performance Management

    Reading “The Five Traps of Performance Management”, HBR, October 2009: Great article.  Highly recommended. 1. Metrics should be derived from external sources whenever possible to avoid the bathwater and self-serving/self-replication problems.  When no external standard exists, ask your customer — and everyone has a customer. 2. Measure against your future, not your past. 3. Check Read more