Quality Value NO. 2: Dissatisfaction in status quo!

Continuing to my earlier post on quality values we will discuss now most important value for continual improvement that is dissatisfaction in status quo. A burning desire to reach at ideal situation. One may question is it possible to reach at ideal situation? If not then what is the meaning for aiming so?

                                                                          It has a great meaning to target an ideal condition. Someone has said if you want to become an ideal person, imitate Jesus.  Unless we aim something lofty, we will not get inspired. No one can reach to ideal situation off course but aiming so we can reach to a more rewarding and convincing situation.  Dissatisfaction is the fuel for change; it is the energy for new advancements and improvements.

                                                                       There is always a scope to improve and to do something new.  Compare the initial versions of computer to current beautiful and handy models of that? The initial versions of automobiles and those eye catching ones? Does these improvements would have been possible without the “dissatisfaction in statutes quo”? Of course not. One who is keeping a close eye on the performance indicators and relevant benchmarks in the world will grow to any scale. Change is only constant. Technologies and achievements which seems incomparable today, sooner they are going to be replaced by better versions. That’s the way nature works. If we want to maintain our existence and grow it further the only way is it maintain dissatisfaction in side and thrive for continual improvements in each and every aspect of business and life.

                                                                      To improve processes we need to monitor the outcome and their performance indicators. They will provide a scope to reflect on the process and to improve it to further level. Improvement scopes always can be identified by reviewing the indicators comparing to benchmarks and setting lofty visions.

                                                                                     Off course in the last but not least everything depends on the ATTITUDE!

Japan Quality Medal Winners From India !

Year	Company	Division	Business
2002	Sundaram-Clayton Limited	Brakes Division	Brakes for automotive sector
2007	Mahindra & Mahindra Limited	Farm Equipment Sector	Tractor
2011	Rane TRW Steering Systems Limited	Steering Gear Division	Power Steering Systems for automotive sector

Deming Prize Winners in India !!

Year	Company
1998	Sundaram-Clayton Limited, Brakes Division
2001	Sundaram Brake Linings Limited.
2002	TVS Motor Company Limited
	Hi-Tech Carbon GMPD
2003	Brakes India Limited., Foundry Division
	Mahindra and Mahindra Limited, Farm Equipment Sector
	Rane Brake Lining Limited
	Sona Koya Steering Systems Limited
	Birla Cellousic, Kharach-A Unit of Grasim Industries Limited (India)
2004	SRF Limited., Industrial Synthetics Business
	Lucas TVS Limited
	Indo-Gulf Fertilisers Limited
2005	Krishna Maruti Limited, Seat Division
	Rane Engine Valves Limited
	Rane TRW Steering Systems Limited, Steering Gear Division
2007	Asahi India Glass Limited, Auto Glass Division (India)
	Rane (Madras) Limited (India)
	Reliance Industries Limited, Hazira Manufacturing Division (India)
2008	Tata Steel Limited (India)
2010	National Engineering Industries Limited (India)
2011	Sanden Vikas (India) Limited
2012	The Deming Grand Prize
	Tata Steel Limited (India) Mr. H M Nerurkar, Managing Director
	Rane (Madras) Limited (India) Mr. L Ganesh, Chairman Lucas-TVS Limited (India) Mr.T. K. Balaji, Managing Director
	Deming Distinguished Service Award for Dissemination and Promotion (Overseas)
	Mr. Janak Mehta Chairman & Managing Director, TQM International Pvt. Ltd.
	The Deming Prize
	SRF Limited, Chemicals Business (India) Mr. Roop Salotra, President and CEO Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, Farm Equipment Sector, Swaraj Division (India) Mr. Bishwambhar Mishra, Chief Executive

You may also vist http://www.juse.or.jp/e/deming/95/ for complete list

Quality Value NO. 1: Madness towards Process Approach!

Seems little awkward but very relevant. You need to be fanatic about developing the process and adherence to them without any deviation. The madness towards process approach! This need to be in blood of every process owner and employees involved with. Designing a good process before launching the production is firm foundation for fulfilling customer commitments and reliable service. Unfortunately companies put almost negligible effort in developing the process and waste much time in postmortem. In India it is true! Unfortunately. If we study the project success ratio in different countries India ranks the poor off course. We lack the madness the fanaticism which required towards adhering the quality values, towards developing the process. Following chart is explaining the process of setting a firm process flow:

Voice of Customer: Relevant data from customer to understand the product.

Imaginary process planning: Utilize previous experience and customer data

Actual pilot lot run and corrections

Freezing the work flow diagrams and work instruction.

Quality Values to adapt!!!

There may be many values of good quality leader who inspired quality values across the organizations. In the modern scenario when competition is threatening every day the QA department is becoming a vital part of the organizations. QA department in a organization is not only a ‘guard of customer specs’ but has a crucial role in ensuring complete customer satisfaction. In modern industries QA plays a very important role in right from designing a component to designing the process till customer delivery.


There is huge literature available on modern quality management practices and deferent dimensions of it. Much has been discussed about quality and management system but incidentally the all discussion is about only product or process quality aspects. Probably this is the time to discuss the human side of quality, the human dimensions of quality. Ultimately all the system depends on human attitude. No good system can remain good for longer time without good people.

Quality plays a very important role in building the organizations image, and growth path. However unfortunately this is the most neglected area in many of the Indian organizations. Still a large no. of companies has got this traditional approach. Though due to market forces they are forced to establish a QA department but they fail in digesting the principles and values. “In my experience, most companies relate Cost of Poor Quality with internal scrap, rejects and external customer returns. However, the biggest prices of poor quality we pay are by the way of lost opportunities; for our companies, our industry and our nation”. Most highly successful businesses are founded and sustained on the basis of Quality and Trust. The trust is vital aspect to sustain growth. To inspire trust we need quality values to be embedded in our organizations DNA. The 5 major quality values in my opinion are:

1. Madness towards process approach

2. Dissatisfaction in status quo

3. Religiousness towards work

4. Customer is God

5. Products are idols of god

In the next post we will discuss on detail of these values till then happy learning !

How to Calculate OEE !!

A lot of time and effort can be wasted collecting data and analyzing the results. Fortunately, Overall Equipment Effectiveness, or OEE, is one of those metrics that is easily calculated and can be applied to any process, department, or the entire organization.


OEE is comprised of three factors: Availability, Performance, and Quality. While calculating these factors is fairly straightforward, it is important to recognize that a standard industry definition for OEE does not exist. It is important to understand the assumptions you are making to make sure that you understand the final OEE result. This is increasingly more important when attempting to compare the results of one department or plant against the performance of another.


OEE measures how effectively TIME is used to produce a quality product. We have established the following definitions of TIME to be used to calculate OEE:


1.Scheduled Production Time or Planned Production Time

2.Planned Down Time: Scheduled down time events

3.Unplanned Down Time: Unscheduled down time events

4.NAT = Net Available Time (Scheduled Production Time – Planned Down Time)

5.NOT = Net Operating Time (Net Available Time – Unplanned Down Time)

6.IOT = Ideal Operating Time (Time to Produce All Parts at Rate)

7.LOT = Lost Operating Time Due to Production of Scrap or Non-Saleable Product.

Although we will provide examples of these calculations, the following formulas are used to calculate each of the OEE factors and overall OEE:


1.Availability % = NOT / NAT * 100

2.Performance % = IOT / NOT * 100

3.Quality = (IOT – LOT) / IOT * 100

4.OEE = Availability * Performance * Quality

You will notice that a quick way to check your OEE result is to calculate the time required to make good parts divided by the Net Available Time:


OEE = (IOT – LOT) / NAT


A word on Availability:

Availability is based on the actual “scheduled production time”. Assuming a production process is scheduled to run over an 8 hour shift or 480 minutes (60 * 8), the following definitions are applied for planned and unplanned downtime.


Planned Downtime:


1.Scheduled break times.

2.Scheduled clean up at the end of the shift.

3.Scheduled Preventive Maintenance.

Unplanned (Process/Equipment) Downtime:


1.Setup / Tool Changes

2.Material Changes

3.Material Handling

4.Quality Concerns

5.Process Downtime

6.Equipment Failures

7.Personnel Relief

While it could be argued that setup or tool changes are planned events, they are considered part of the overall production process. If tool change or set up events affect equipment or capacity utilization, then an effort to reduce these times will reflected by improved availability and an increase in available capacity. It also makes capacity utilization much easier to calculate. Again, knowing what is in the definition is important. The purpose of establishing OEE is to drive improvement in your organization. For example, Quick Die Change, or SMED, programs are specifically geared to improve the change over process. If a separate program is used to manage the change over process, then you may so choose to leave this activity as a separate entity.


A word of caution! OEE is a metric, not a program. Use existing systems and processes wherever possible to manage or support your OEE activities at launch. New initiatives often fail because they are introduced in isolation and are often accompanied by “new ways” of doing business and tend to disrupt other existing work flows. A true improvement or initiative that saves the company time and money will stand on its own merits. This same initiative can be acted upon regardless of whether an “OEE Improvement Plan” exists.


Calculating OEE: A real life example

An 8 hour shift is scheduled to produce three parts as shown in the schedule below. The shift has two 10 minute breaks and a 5 minute clean up period.

Production Schedule:

•M/C: A Part #: A123, Cycle: 10 (seconds), Produced: 2240, SCRAP: 50, Unplanned Downtime: 32 minutes

•M/C: B Part #: B456, Cycle: 45 (seconds), Produced: 450, SCRAP: 25, Unplanned Downtime: 18 minutes

•M/C: C Part #: C789, Cycle: 70 (seconds), Produced: 229, SCRAP: 11, Unplanned Downtime: 22 minutes

Lets start by calculating our time factors for each machine:


Net Available Time: Since each machine is scheduled to run for the full 8 hour shift, the Net Available Time for each machine is calculated as follows:


1.Scheduled Time = 8 hours = 480 Minutes (8 * 60)

2.Planned Down Time = 2 breaks * 10 minutes + clean up 5 minutes = 25 minutes

3.Net Available Time (NAT) = 480 – 25 = 455 minutes

Machine A

1.Unplanned Downtime = 32 minutes

2.Net Operating Time (NOT) = Net Available Time – Unplanned Downtime

3.NOT = 455 – 32 = 423 minutes

4.Ideal Operating Time (IOT): 2240 total parts * 10 seconds = 22400 / 60 = 373.33 minutes

5.Lost Operating Time (LOT): 50 scrap parts * 10 seconds = 500 / 60 = 8.33 minutes

Machine A: OEE Factors are calculated as follows:

1.Availability: NOT / NAT = (423 / 455) * 100 = 92.97 %

2.Performance: IOT / NOT = (373.33 / 423 ) * 100 = 88.26%

3.Quality: (IOT – LOT) / IOT = (373.33 – 8.33) / 373.33 * 100 = 97.77%

4.OEE = A * P * Q = 92.97% * 88.26% * 97.77% = 80.22%

We could also have calculated OEE using the Quick Check as shown below:

Time to produce good parts ONLY: 373.33 – 8.33 = 365


OEE = (IOT – LOT) / NAT = (373.33 – 8.33) / 455 * 100 = 80.22%


Using the same formulas as above the time factors for Machines B and C follow.

Machine B

1.Unplanned Downtime = 18 minutes

2.Net Operating Time (NOT) = Net Available Time – Unplanned Downtime

3.NOT = 455 – 18 = 437 minutes

4.Ideal Operating Time (IOT): 450 total parts * 45 seconds = 20250 / 60 = 337.5 minutes

5.Lost Operating Time (LOT): 25 scrap parts * 45 seconds = 1125 / 60 = 18.75 minutes

Machine B: OEE Factors are calculated as follows:


1.Availability: NOT / NAT = (437 / 455) * 100 = 96.04 %

2.Performance: IOT / NOT = (337.5 / 437 ) * 100 = 77.23%

3.Quality: (IOT – LOT) / IOT = (337.5 – 18.75) / 337.5 * 100 = 94.44%

4.OEE = A * P * Q = 96.04% * 77.23% * 94.44% = 70.05%

We could also have calculated OEE using the Quick Check as shown below:

Time to produce good parts ONLY: 337.5 – 18.75 = 318.75

OEE = (IOT – LOT) / NAT = (337.5 – 18.75) / 455 * 100 = 70.05%
Machine C

1.Unplanned Downtime = 22 minutes

2.Net Operating Time (NOT) = Net Available Time – Unplanned Downtime

3.NOT = 455 – 22 = 433 minutes

4.Ideal Operating Time (IOT): 229 total parts * 70 seconds = 16030 / 60 = 267.17 minutes

5.Lost Operating Time (LOT): 11 scrap parts * 70 seconds = 770 / 60 = 12.83 minutes

Machine C: OEE Factors are calculated as follows:
1.Availability: NOT / NAT = (433 / 455) * 100 = 95.16 %

2.Performance: IOT / NOT = (267.17 / 433 ) * 100 = 61.70%

3.Quality: (IOT – LOT) / IOT = (267.17 – 12.83) / 267.17 * 100 = 95.20%

4.OEE = A * P * Q = 95.16% * 61.70% * 95.20% = 55.90%

We could also have calculated OEE using the Quick Check as shown below:


Time to produce good parts ONLY = 267.17 – 12.83 = 254.34


OEE = (IOT – LOT) / NAT = (337.5 – 18.75) / 455 * 100 = 55.90%


Our next post will show you how to calculate a truly weighted OEE based on the examples given here.

Top Management Guru's to follow !!

If you want management news, ideas, debate and updates quickly and at your fingertips, then you might rely on Twitter to deliver. If you follow any one of the top management gurus worth following on Twitter from our list below, you can tap into the best individual gurus, organizations, institutions, news and tools immediately.


Individual Gurus

1.Chris Abraham: Chris is an expert in social media and digital PR and president of Abraham Harrison, LLC.

2.Daniel Ariely: A psychology professor who focuses on behavioral economics at Duke University and a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight (MIT).

3.Ken Blanchard: Ken is a speaker, business guru and author of over 50 books, including The One Minute Manager.

4.Stephen R. Covey: Steven is the author of the international bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

5.Peter Drucker: A well-known management thinker, Peter Drucker is the premier business consultant mind of our times.

6.Cornelius Fichtner: Cornelius is a project manager, PMP trainer, host of The PM Podcast, public speaker and a “gummi bear addict.”

7.Umair Haque: Umair Haque is Director of the Havas Media Lab and author of The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business.

8.Alexandra L Harris: Follow Alexandra for insights into the Delphi Leadership Institute’s inspirational leadership education and research.

9.Joan Henshaw: Joan is a managing employee performance coach who helps business owners and managers improve employee performance.

10.Roberta Hill: Roberta is a global leadership OD change consultant, master certified coach and assessment guru.

11.John C Maxwell: John is a bestselling author and speaker on leadership with over 220,000 followers.

12.Mike Morrison: Mike is a training, L&D, coaching and OD professional out of London, with over 12,000 followers.

13.Josh Nankivel: Josh is helping new and aspiring project managers reach their career goals including gaining experience, education, PMP certification, and more.

14.Tom Peters: Tom is a noted author, speaker and “professional agitator.”

15.Daniel Pink: Daniel is the author of Drive, A Whole New Mind, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko and Free Agent Nation.

16.Michael E. Porter: Porter is Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School and director, Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness.

17.Fiona Talbot: Fiona helps companies and their leaders across the globe with her word power expertise, book series and e-support.

18.Mark Walsh: Mark, an “embodied training manager with over 17,000 followers,” offers useful, funny and challenging Tweets about HR, leadership, stress, time management, team building and communication.

19.Daniel K Wentzel: With over 35,000 followers, Daniel has made his mark as a skills development coach for management and ICT systems.

20.Mary Wilson: Mary is a career coach, HR/OD consultant and trainer, “working to make the world a better place.”

Organizations and Institutions

21.AMA: American Management Association is the world leader in management development, advancing your skills to boost your business success.

22.APM Project Management: This is the professional body for the project management industry in the UK.

23.CIPD: The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development is Europe’s largest HR & development professional body.

24.Common Purpose: This registered charity runs leadership development courses internationally from the UK.

25.Ethical Corporation: Nick Johnson and Toby Webb Tweet about CSR, sustainability and anti-corruption opinion, news and events from the UK.

26.Leadership Institute: The Leadership Institute trains and places conservatives in politics, government and media and, in the process, hopes to increase the effectiveness of conservative activists.

27.Management Tip: Get quick and practical management tips and ideas from Harvard Business Review.

28.PMI: With over half a million members and credential holders in over 170 countries, Project Management Institute is the leading membership association for the project management profession.

29.Project Management: Integrated Process Developers, Inc. offers project management tips, training and networking.

30.TED News: Get your fill of all the news from leaders at TED, including TED Talks, TED Conferences, the TED Prize and more.

31.The Fraser Institute: This is the account for Canada’s leading public policy think tank and its commumnications department.

Guru Tools

32.Blanchard LeaderChat: Program director, David Witt, compiles this conversation for the Ken Blanchard Companies.

33.Business Wire: Monika Maeckle, VP/New Media and Amy Yen, Marketing Specialist are helping BW celebrate its 50th year as the global leader in press release distribution.

34.ExecTweets: Follow the top business executives on Twitter, thanks to Microsoft.

35.Focus: Focus is an online resource where professionals can freely access the research and expert advice they need to make better business decisions.

36.HBR Exchange: Engage with business pros throughout the Twitterverse — create, debate and foster cutting-edge ideas through a service provided by Harvard Business Review.

37.MeetTheBoss.Tv: Become the complete executive with exclusive video and audio lessons from the world’s most innovative and influential business leaders.

38.OPEN Forum: This is the official American Express OPEN Twitter account, where you can tap into the collective ingenuity of other business owners.

39.Team Builders Plus: Team Builders Plus leads engaging team building and leadership development sessions.

40.Twitter Business: Get great management and leadership ideas from this account, designed for business, community groups, government organizations and schools.

Publication Gurus

42.Businessweek: Bloomberg BusinessWeek stories and blog posts on business, finance, technology and more.

43.Fast Company: Fast Company empowers innovators to challenge convention and create the future of business.

44.Guardian Business: Latest financial, market and economic news and analysis from the Guardian’s business desk.

45.McGraw-Hill Business: Global publishers of content for professionals in finance, marketing, six sigma, quality and management.

46.McKinsey Quarterly: The goal is to offer new ways of thinking about management in the private, public and nonprofit sectors.

47.New Business Books: Tweets about new business book releases on the day of their publication.

48.NYT Small Business: A place where small-business owners can compare notes, ask questions, get advice, and learn from each other’s mistakes.

49.The Economist: Official site for The Economist. Follow for article postings, updates and events.

50.WSJ Business: The Wall Street Journal provides timely business news coverage.

Top 25 Qualities of a Good Manager !!

Do you work well with others? Are you a leader? If you have these qualities, you might make a good manager. However, you need just more than these two qualities to be a good manager. There are a number of factors that play into whether or not you would make a good manager.


The good news is that you don’t have to rely solely on natural, inborn traits. It is possible to develop the qualities good managers possess. You can complete a management program to learn some of the necessary characteristics, and you can also develop many desirable qualities on your own. As you prepare for a job in management, keep in mind these 25 qualities and characteristics of a good manager:

Personal Characteristics

There are items that can help you improve yourself, and enhance your interactions with others. Desirable personal characteristics make a manager someone that others can look up to, and feel comfortable following:

1.Self-Motivation: An effective manager can’t motivate others if he or she can’t self-motivate. Self-motivation, the ability to get yourself going, and take charge of what’s next for you, is a vital personal characteristic for a manager. You have to keep yourself going — and motivate those who work with you.

2.Integrity: People trust a good manager because they know he or she has personal integrity. Workers need to know that you will fight for them, do what you say, and follow the rules.

3.Dependability/Reliability: As a person, you should be dependable and reliable. Your superiors, as well as your subordinates, need to know that you can be counted on. Others in the organization should be able to rely on you.

4.Optimism: Do you look to the future with hope? An optimistic attitude can help build morale in your employees. Your positive attitude can inspire others, and help them feel good about getting things done.

5.Confidence: Do you have confidence in yourself. You need to be able to make decisions in confidence, and show others that you are capable of making good decisions. Your confidence will rub off on others, and can be of benefit.

6.Calmness: As the manager, you can’t afford to break down when the pressure is on. The ability to remain calm and do what needs to be done is essential in a good manager.

7.Flexibility: A certain amount of flexibility is needed by a manager, since he or she may need to adapt to changing situations.

Business Characteristics

Some level of business acumen is important when you are a manager. While you may not need to be on the level of a professional dealmaker, familiarity with basic business principles and practices can be helpful.

8.Industry Knowledge: What do you know about the industry you are in? It helps understand your industry so that you can answer questions and perform your work more effectively. Workers may not need industry knowledge, but a manager should have some.

9.Know When to Delegate: An effective manager knows that some tasks need to be delegated. You should be able to identify workers who will do well, and give them tasks they can succeed at — while helping the project.

10.Organization: You need to be organized in order to be a good manager. Keep track of projects, employees and assignments so that you are on top of what needs to happen in the business.

11.Basic Money Management: Understand basic financial concepts so that you understand how to manage money as part of a project you have been given.

12.Business Hierarchy: You should know how the hierarchy works at your business, and follow the chain of command. Make sure that you understand your duties, and to whom you report. You should also know how the organization affects your subordinates.

13.Legal Implications: While you don’t need to be a law expert, you should have a grasp of the legal implications of sexual harassment, proper hiring and firing practices, confidentiality, and more.

Communication Qualities

A good manager needs to be able to communicate effectively. You might be surprised at the different qualities there are related to communication. Make sure that you develop the ability to communicate as part of your efforts. Here are some qualities to possess if you want to be an affective communicator as you fulfill your management duties.

14.Written Communication: Learn how to communicate effectively in writing. A good manager should be able to write professionally and with correct grammar, expressing him or herself in email, memos, and thank you notes.

15.Public Speaking: As a good manager, you should know how to speak publicly, annunciating your words, and concisely communicating your ideas, whether in an interview, or addressing workers.

16.Constructive Feedback: Learn how to provide feedback in a way that is helpful to workers and others.

17.Active Listening: One of the most important communication skills is listening. Make sure you are listening to your workers, superiors and customers, and that you acknowledge them.

18.Specific: When giving instructions, be specific in what you want, and in expected outcomes. Make sure your employees understand what should happen.

19.Organize Your Presentations: Organize and practice your presentations before giving them so that you are clear and concise, and so that your presentation flows well.

Relationship Qualities

Your characteristics as you build relationships matter when you are a manager. You will need to know how to manage relationships between yourself and your subordinates, as well as manage the relationships among those who work under you. You should also know how to develop relationships with your superiors, and coordinate relationships between those above you and below you in the hierarchy.
20.Customer Service: You might be surprised to discover the customer service is a relationship quality. However, it is. You need to be able to build good relationships with customers if you want to be a good manager. Learn how to relate to customers, and see things from their perspective.

21.Mediator: Do you know how to make peace? Often, a good manager needs to be able to act as a mediator between workers, between a worker and a client, or between a superior and a worker. Brush up on your mediation qualities, and learn conflict resolution techniques to be a good manager.

22.Team Player: Are you part of a team? You need to be able to function as part of a team if you want to succeed as an effective manager. Make sure that you are willing to work with others, and that you will hold up your end.

23.Respect: You need to be respectful of your workers if you are to have respect as a manager in return. It’s up to you to set the example and build relationships of respect.

24.Collaboration: You’ll need to set up collaborations with others, and with your team. You should also be able to work well with others, and understand how to integrate ideas and personalities.

25.Value Others: A good manager helps employees feel valued. Surveys show that employees want recognition from their superiors, and you need to make sure to recognize contributions from your workers.

Steev Job's 12 rules of Success !!

Steve Jobs was one of the most successful entrepreneurs of our generation. His success story is legendary. Put up for adoption at an early age, dropped out of college after 6 months, slept on friends’ floors, returned coke bottles for 5 cent deposits to buy food, then went on to start Apple Computers and Pixar Animation Studios. He stated 12 basic rules of his legendary success:



1. Do what you love to do. Find your true passion. Do what you love to do a make a difference! The only way to do great work is to love what you do.
 
2. Be different. Think different. "Better be a pirate than to join the navy."


3. Do your best. Do your best at every job. No sleep! Success generates more success. So be hungry for it. Hire good people with passion for excellence.


4. Make SWOT analysis. As soon as you join/start a company, make a list of strengths and weaknesses of yourself and your company on a piece of paper. Don't hesitate in throwing bad apples out of the company.

5. Be entrepreneurial. Look for the next big thing. Find a set of ideas that need to be quickly and decisively acted upon and jump through that window. Sometimes the first step is the hardest one. Just take it! Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.


6. Start small, think big. Don't worry about too many things at once. Take a handful of simple things to begin with, and then progress to more complex ones. Think about not just tomorrow, but the future. "I want to put a ding in the universe,” reveal Steve Jobs his dream.


7. Strive to become a market leader. Own and control the primary technology in everything you do. If there's a better technology available, use it no matter if anyone else is not using it. Be the first, and make it an industry standard

8. Focus on the outcome. People judge you by your performance, so focus on the outcome. Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected. Advertise. If they don't know it, they won't buy your product. Pay attention to design. "We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them." "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."



9. Ask for feedback. Ask for feedback from people with diverse backgrounds. Each one will tell you one useful thing. If you're at the top of the chain, sometimes people won't give you honest feedback because they're afraid. In this case, disguise yourself, or get feedback from other sources. Focus on those who will use your product – listen to your customers first.

10. Innovate. Innovation distinguishes a leader from a follower. Delegate, let other top executives do 50% of your routine work to be able to spend 50% your time on the new stuff. Say no to 1,000 things to make sure you don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much. Concentrate on really important creations and radical innovation. Hire people who want to make the best things in the world. You need a very product-oriented culture, even in a technology company. Lots of companies have tons of great engineers and smart people. But ultimately, there needs to be some gravitational force that pulls it all together.

11. Learn from failures. Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.

12. Learn continually. There's always "one more thing" to learn! Cross-pollinate ideas with others both within and outside your company. Learn from customers, competitors and partners. If you partner with someone whom you don't like, learn to like them – praise them and benefit from them. Learn to criticize your enemies openly, but honestly.