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Stop Decorating the Fish

Stop Decorating the Fish

By: Kristen Cox
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Become a better professional, a more confident manager, and a much more effective leader.All rights reserved Economics
Episodes
  • Episode 18: Confusing the means with the ends

    Episode 18: Confusing the means with the ends
    Nov 8 2023
    It's so easy when we have a problem to presuppose we know the solution and start down a path where we get far too prescriptive, far too detailed, far too soon. As a result, we cut ourselves off from some very creative, possible solutions.
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    8 mins
  • Episode 17: Thinking like a good steward

    Episode 17: Thinking like a good steward
    Oct 19 2023
    In this episode we walk through two, important ideas: always keeping the opportunity costs in mind, and a simple but effective way to calculate the proposed return on investment (ROI) for your next initiative. When we combine these two concepts, we create very strong business cases and start thinking like a good steward.
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    17 mins
  • Episode 16: The emotional maturity needed to be a leader

    Episode 16: The emotional maturity needed to be a leader
    Aug 10 2023
    Being a great leader, an effective leader, is not just an exercise in being book smart or how well you know your field. It's just as much about your emotional maturity, how well you know yourself, and how well you can work with others. In this episode we dive into our emotional blind spots, doing something wrong without being wrong, self-trust, knowing your limitations, being vulnerable, having emotional courage, and the importance of authentic community.
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    26 mins
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If you're like me there's few things more frustrating than sitting an a meeting and being told by the company owners to do a bunch of busy work to launch a new initiative that will magically fix all the companies problems, knowing full well it won't do anything to move the needle. Over and over again at my job I hear things like "oh we are upgrading our HR's onboarding system, then we will have more employees" or "Once our new software is complete, we will never be behind again."

There are countless examples of fluff in the workplace. Kristen, a master teacher, gives a parable about how we often spend most our time in business decorating a fish and expands how to cut the fluff, or how to stop decorating the fish and focus on getting results by leveraging the theory of constraints, lean management principles, true leadership, and more!

After taking a class from Kristen last year, my crews and I began transforming our warehouse processing systems using these principles, I worked with my assistants and supervisors to stop decorating the fish and focus on outputs. We improved overall company revenues by around 30% in less than one year, an increase of $15 million!! The previous years goal was a tiny 5%. There is so much value to be had in this teachings that I hope you will find the time to really apply it in your own area of expertise.

Thank you Kristen for all you've taught me this year!

How to jump from 5% growth to 30 and 40% growth

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