All paths Leeds to goal, the traveler is the issue !!

A very famous and near to my heart poem of Dr. Hrivansh Ray Bachhan “Rah pakad too yek chala ja pa jayega madhushala” meaning all paths leads to goal you choose any one and keep on going to get the goal. How wonderful thing!! The Indian Literatures in Vedas and Upanishads thousands of years ago have pronounced the same aspects for life. And felt amused when I realized that is pretty true in our business life as well. In the professional life In India we are pretty much confused on the ways to run a business. See in our companies today….they are adopting ISOs, they are doing 5 S, they are taking TS, they are going for 6 sigma, TQM, Lean and so many. No surprise at all there are many companies who has adopted all the systems known to them. But what is the out come ????? rejection is high, waste is high, customers are not happy…business results are disappointing. Where is the Gap???

 

                                                         6 sigma  a proven methodology saved millions of dollars in Motorola and GE and win business and customer satisfaction of uncountable scale what happened to it in India (leave certain outliers)?. The same story is about all the quality philosophies which has revolutionized rest of the word is failed in our country. Whether philosophy or the people are the problem?? In my opinion the people are real problem. The answer also lies in above lines. The attitude makes a difference. If apply with religious or if I say in my language with all the quality values to any philosophy in the work place there is no reason of failing in achieving the goal. A renowned consultant of Japan shared a story while his sessions in the India. He said that India is knowledge hub, the peoples know every aspect of management if you ask them how many have you applied ….it is zero. The real problem of the country lies here. We learn....learn…..learn and keep on learning, knowledge without application. Japanese may not know the concepts but you can witness it in the work place applied religiously. Knowledge without application has no value.  

                                                  What we really need is the application, what ever we know… what ever we learn not matters really unless we apply it. What India needs today is application of the knowledge. Fortunately we have the best knowledge resources of the world. We can jointly make wonder in all the fields by religious application of the learning’s and knowledge….lets do this!!!!

 

Yours truly,

 

Mahesh Singh

Hello Friends !!

Best wishes of Raksha Bandhan !!

Be safe and celebrate the happiness !!

will come back with new post soon !

Yours

Mahesh




































 

Quality values 3,4 and 5 !!

Continuing to my earlier post today we will discuss about remaining quality values 3; 4 and 5.

Quality Value 3: Religiousness towards work – work is worship!


Work is worship is very old saying with which we all have grown-up from our childhood. The approach of religiousness towards work means the same type of madness which fundamentalist person’s shows towards their views. Unless one is fundamental towards quality and quality management systems the improvement will always remain as oasis. We remain very cautious while worshiping but while working? It’s very amazing that we remain very tender and cautious while in temple where in actual we get nothing but at work place? Where we get everything basic for life we remain always in silly approach of “chalta hai”. “Chalta hai” approach is the mindset which is prohibiting India from revolutionary transformation.

If we really care about ourselves, family,

country and world we have to have religious

approach towards all the tasks we perform.

We have to put 100 % of ourselves. Otherwise we

Cannot achieve a state of dreams. Every day when we come for work place we should have no less feeling than going in a temple. Dealing with process should give us the same pleasure like chanting and “dhoop -arti” of god’s statue. How amazing it is that without knowing the meaning of many mantras and prayer songs we keep on chanting. What is that driving force which forces to do this? Of course a desire to improve from current situation or state. Here it never matters whether you know the meaning or not what matters is how religiously you chant and follow the worshiping process. That religious approach brings the confidence. Same is with your work and factory as well. If you have religious approach you will develop your own system, irrelevant to whether you know the ISO, Lean and so called management tools or not. What matters is your religious approach towards change. While doing this you will develop and achieve a process and product which will not only satisfy but delight your customers and stake holders.

Quality Value 4: Customer is God!

The customer is always right, you agree or disagree. He is the only who gives you food cloth and shelter not your boss or your company. If we see the brand valuation in the market, brands who shown the loyalty to customer became the

Popular one. In our Indian tradition saying “Guest is god

(atithi deo bhava)” is also applied same way on “Customer is god”

In both ways in terms of getting livelihood and prosperity both are

dependent of customer satisfaction. If we think deeply the prosperity

and piece only can be achieved through customer satisfaction irrelevant to

to whether it is professional life or social and personal. If every individual adapts this concept and focus on his own customer satisfaction the world will prosper and grow like anything. Mahatma Gandhi has given the most powerful thought on customer satisfaction which is based on the philosophy of guest is god. He says “A customer in our premises is the most valuable and auspicious guest. By serving him we are not doing any help to him, rather he is giving you the honor to serve” what an amazing thought. It is not a debate or bookie principle. It is practicable and real. Entire Indian philosophy is centered towards this concept.

On a customer complaint what is our normal reaction? Believe me our success in business or as a person is very result of that reaction. Customer is always right. He never complaints wrong. It may be in certain cases due to certain situations but still it is awakening sign to rethink on customer satisfaction strategy. What we really need is the approach of customer is god (which he really is). While dealing with customer we need to put ourselves in his position, the moment we do this our attitude and reaction will change. These principles may seem not practicable but in fact they are as practicable as anything else. The companies and persons who understand and adapt this they get success and prosperity in same ratio. When we start thinking this way the organization automatically becomes customer oriented and problems start eliminating, prosperity and growth begins.



Quality Value 5: Products are idols of god

What a powerful concept. Imagine (as Gandhi Ji wrote) a hotel owner should treat the customer as his own relatives, and serve them accordingly as it is done in India. The entire culture of that hotel will change. The customer satisfaction will result in greater way, and business will grow to any scale without limit. Many hotels who have adopted this concept (though very less they were able to digest) has written a remarkable success story. Even many organizations that brought in culture to do “Namaskaram” in Indian style has witness greater customer satisfaction than their competitors. I use to get amazed that many of Indian traditions fit very well in today’s business scenarios if adopted suitably and effectively.

Imagine if every employee treats the services or products of the organization as God, what will happen? Off course I am not indicating about the situation that they will start worshipping and stop the work, instead the entire value system and vision will change. What a greater saving organization will realize by reduced waste generation, handling issues and finally the infusion of Quality and value in the product will bring everything what an organization vision about. Quality and trust are not mechanical things. More than concepts they are values, culture and tradition to be inherited. Why organizations world over suffers? As Shiv Khera somewhere rightly said that “there is no business problem in the world only ATTITUDE problem”. Very true statement! “Either we want to do or we don’t, there is nothing in between”. What is an attitude is all about? a burning desire to perform and contribute creatively. But very important question is from where this belief will come? It can never be bought out or taken from outside it is always germinates from within. The thought that products are idol of god will create that attitude; will empower a performing and contributing culture.

This model is developed to organize TQM principles in these three boxess. In my opinion If we manage these trhree boxes creativly and efficiantly the business will sustain prosper and grow. Do you agree with me? your opinions is invited to refine it further. I will write in detail about all the components captured in three boxes in my next post.

How to Create a Quality Management Plan

In today’s competitive global marketplace, a company’s quality management plan can help identify gaps in customer expectations, determine where corrective action is necessary and provide a system for continuous improvement.   While some departments, such as operations or production may have strict controls and inspections, others may operate “on the fly” without any documented procedures or work instructions.  An integrated total management system brings all departments under the same total quality management (TQM) umbrella.

Creating a total quality plan involves everyone in the organization.  TQM is not a function of the Quality Assurance department alone.  Developing a quality management plan begins with the senior management team.   They must be the driving force, providing resources, support and motivation to the quality team.  The following steps will help develop a quality  management system tailored to your organization:

Develop a Quality Baseline

Dust off the policy and procedures manuals and any quality data reports currently in use.  Gather information on returns, rework or lost productivity.  Examine customer feedback, surveys, emails and social network posts to gauge what your customers say about the quality of your product and/or services.  Look at previous audit reports, and the frequency and extent of warranty work or corrective actions.  Get a good picture of where you stand now.

Find Out What Your Customers Want

If you are already gathering customer feedback, take note of what they like.  Why do they buy your products or services over the competition?  Conduct a survey or invite customers and suppliers to participate in focus groups to gather feedback on your current product and service quality.  Look for patterns in customer feedback, sales orders or returns.  Do some benchmarking with competitors or the “best in the business” to determine what best practices could apply to your organization.

Conduct a Gap Analysis

Compare your baseline information to your customers’ needs.  Identify the gap between where you are now and where you want to be.  Create a quality team from a cross section of departments and levels, and have them observe work in progress.  Talk to the people doing the work–in operations, production, customer service, accounting, and logistics—to further understand where quality needs improvement.

Gather All Your Quality Data and Identify Weaknesses

Gather your data and information, and identify the weaknesses in your current quality management system. You can compare your system to an established industry quality system, such as ISO 9001.  Whether or not you adopt those standards, it will help identify any missing or weak elements in your quality system.

Brainstorm with Your Quality Team

Use the quality team to brainstorm ideas for quality improvements based on the gap analysis findings.  You may have discovered the company has outdated procedures and inadequate documentation.  You may not have an internal audit system or adequate training for new production employees.  The findings and recommendations for quality improvement become the quality management plan reported to senior management for implementation.

Total Quality Management

At the core of Total Quality Management (TQM) is customer satisfaction. Sure, there are many other valuable reasons for heading down the TQM path, however, without the improved customer satisfaction, it is difficult to justify a full blown total quality management effort.

TQM has developed over several decades and has evolved into a system of processes and technologies. Yes, there are different approaches but most businesses follow the ISO requirements to achieve the goal of improved customer satisfaction. And, of course, along with customer satisfaction comes improved sales and profitability for the corporation.
The History of Quality Management
The history of quality management can be traced all the way back to The Middle Ages. Work completed by journeymen and apprentices were evaluated and inspected by the skilled worker to ensure that quality standards were met in all aspects of the finished product, ensuring satisfaction of the buyer. And while the history of quality management has gone through a number of changes since that time, the end goal is still the same.
What is Total Quality Management?
The concept of Total Quality Management, or TQM, is single-minded in its purpose:  To improve customer satisfaction.  As simple and as obvious as that may sound, it has taken many decades for the process to evolve to what it is today.  Even now there is not unanimous agreement as to how to achieve this one simple objective, although most businesses follow a similar model that has been fine-tuned over many years.
Benefits of an Integrated Quality System
This article provides a real life story that demonstrates the value of an integrated quality system. In business things go awry and often management takes it out on the employees who run the processes.  Deming said that employees were the cause of problems only 15 percent of the time, while the processes were the true cause the rest of the time.
Designing a Quality Management System
When in comes to creating a quality management system, managers often do not understanding where to begin.  This article covers the basic steps to implementing a quality management system and how to define roles and responsibilities in the process.
How to Create a Quality Management Plan
A company’s quality management plan can help find differences in customer expectations, determine what corrective action is required and provide a system for continuous improvement.   While some departments may have controls and inspections built into their processes, others may operate without any documentation. An integrated total management system gets all areas on the same page.
What is Quality Assurance and How Does it Help Your Business?
If you have no systems in place to control your process or measure customer satisfaction, you are merely guessing at what the customer expects. Every business can benefit from a quality assurance program. The detail to which it is applied is entirely up to the leadership of the company, but the more robust it is, the higher the chances are that a business will survive and even thrive in today’s economy.
The Greatest Quality Management System Failures in History
A quality management system is only as effective as management’s dedication and insistence to adherence and accountability. Here we examine the greatest quality management system failures in history.

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.