Norm Howe's blog

Hidden in Plain Sight

This story comes from my friend, Jeff Veyera*, my co-host on the ASQ podcast “The Fearless Workplace”.  He tells it in his book “Culture is Everything”**.

Jeff was working for a large logistics company that handled auto parts among other materials.  One day he got an opportunity to visit a Toyota warehouse that had a function similar to one of their own.

When he got to the Toyota warehouse, he discovered some amazing facts!  The Toyota warehouse:

Putin’s Principles of Management

If you need more proof that fear in the workplace causes bad decisions, watch this video:Speak, speak plainly!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2022/feb/22/speak-plainly-putin-tense-exchange-spy-chief-ukraine-video

Sergei Naryshkin is the chief of Russia’s foreign intelligence service (FSB), a position of great responsibility and authority.  Yet here he is on national television quavering like a whipped dog in front of his boss.  The invasion of Ukraine was launched the next day.

Steam Explosion

dog - ashamedPerhaps I should first explain what a steam explosion is.  Then, the near destruction of my anticipated career might make some sense.

FDA Will be the Least of Your Problems

If you are in the drug, medical device, or dietary supplement industries and you do not follow Good Manufacturing Practices - GMPs, you can get in big trouble with FDA.  That’s a bad place to be because FDA can:

  • Send you a Warning Letter, which will be placed on fda.gov for all to see,
  • Seize your product,
  • Fine you or,
  • Indict you

However, there is something worse. 

Amazon’s New Dietary Supplement Requirements are Worse Than Nothing

Amazon has added new requirements for dietary supplement sellers on Amazon’s platform.  These changes are alleged to provide additional assurance to consumers that the products marketed on its platform are safe and are manufactured and labeled in compliance with Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regulations.

It Doesn’t Make Any Difference How Nice the Boss Is

Saturn devouring his children - GoyaDeming wrote his book, Out of Crisis, 40 years ago.  Why is it still so hard to convince managers that they must drive fear out of the workplace?  One problem is that managers, like all of us, are born into a culture of blame and most of them are never able to separate blame from accountability.  This is the story that I tell new managers to explain the difference:

Your Fifteen Years of Fame. Part 2

We are continuing our reviewing a recent FDA Warning Letter.  This WL is such a rich tutorial on what not to do, we are devoting two blog posts to it.  https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/allay-pharmaceuticals-llc-609023-01272021

Your Fifteen Years of Fame. Part 1

What happens when your company gets a Warning Letter from FDA?  Let’s hope it never happens to you.  But we’re going to explore that possibility in this post.  Then we’ll discuss how you should respond to FDA by reviewing a recent Warning Letter that you can see at https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/allay-pharmaceuticals-llc-609023-01272021

Be the Change You Want to See

be the changeOf course, Mahatma Gandhi didn’t quite say that.  The actual quote was longer.  But that’s what he meant.  He is pictured here right after he switched from western suits to the loin cloths of poor Indians.  He was communicating directly with his followers.

Beef Jerky, a Postscript to “Paperclips"

Recalling the Paperclips vignette allowed me to reflect upon a few other incidents from back in 1980, and the virtues of Japanese culture that enabled US and Japanese negotiators to artfully steer past an incident that might have seriously undermined sensitive negotiations.

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