I have also been contemplating the best way to release more books and have been toying with the idea of having people write a nugget in the book and passing it along.  This would be great, except that I selfishly want to know what people learn, so I thought I would put the “book jacket” online and let people submit there nuggets here.

My key nugget:

Bring my passion to the job!

I am blessed to love what I do for a living, but still don’t always get to choose my “job”.  It’s to easy to hide behind sayings like, find what your passionate about and learn to make money doing it.  And while I think it’s great to be in this position, it’s easier to bring your passion to the job – it could transform not just you, but those around you.

If I look back at when I’ve done this well, I’ve turned “crap jobs” like scrubbing pots & pans at the local university, into timeless memories.  When I’ve done this poorly, the day(s) never seemed to end (“is it 5:00 yet??”).

There’s still discernment needed to know when to get out of toxic cultures and bad situations, but turn on your passion now, don’t wait — it’s likely the ticket to better and better opportunities.

Share your key nugget through the comments, good and bad alike.  I look forward to hearing from you…

Also, I’ve become friends with the interviewer (Chris Taylor) through Twitter and then in NYC at a Linchpin workshop — his company (Goose Educational Media) is doing a great job of making business books actionable — sign up for his “In-Flight” book reviews today!

From the Horse’s Mouth, vol 3: Mastery & Innovation from Goose Educational Media inc. on Vimeo.

Great session this morning – lots of Q&A… lot’s of value! Here’s the presentation Mike used — special thanks to Bill Muirhead, PMP of Alpine Electronics – who had a last minute conflict (and thanks to Mike for stepping up on short notice). Ed mentioned keeping the conversation going — feel free to comment and share with those who could not attend.

Handouts & Other Tools:

• Project Risk Threshold
• Risk Response Plan Template
• “Project Risk Management Bible” – Risk Management, Tricks of the Trade — Rita Mulcahy

Here are the slides for you to share with others, as well of a list of tools that people have been tweeting in to us…

Thanks to the speakers and others (@KMullet, @ScLoHo) for the resource list:

• mashable.com
• oneforty.com
• namechk.com
• social media today.com
• co tweet.com
• tweet funnel.com
• hoot suite.com
• kazle.com
• dandydid.org
• hellotxt.com
• hi.im
• twiping.com

tweet about this #TQMSM

Our culture loves the idea of revolutionary movements — perhaps because it was the foundation of our country?  Revolutions are powerful and from time to time necessary… but it is disruptive to everyday life as it shakes foundations.  Consider an alternative – “fast evolution”, “rapid proto-typing” or “iterative design” for designing new products, services and processes.  Listen to David Kelley of IDEO talk about this concept.

It’s no secret – companies often struggle to implement Lean. In fact, according to an Industry Week article, By The Numbers: Of all firms responding to the IW/MPI Census of U.S. Manufacturers less than 20% of companies report a major increase in performance generated from improvement initiatives like Lean.

A typical transition to Lean starts out just fine. Once the executive vision for Lean as a business strategy has been communicated, introductory training then follows. The training is usually effective – bringing exciting Lean ideas and concepts into view. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm often quickly fades when the first Lean activities begin. What’s the problem? Organizations frequently see standard implementation practices as potentially harmful. This perception of danger leads to a fast build-up employee resistance. Overcoming this “resistance to change” increases costs, weakens results, and decreases return on investment.

Organic Lean™ corrects standard implementation practices to fully deliver the benefits of Lean.

Vist the Systemental website for information about Organic Lean™ Services

I don’t suggest work has to be a playground, but engaged employees are more productive. Try a little, try a lot — and see if you can’t see a difference. Here are some great videos to fuel the fires of creativity.

Found something that’s worked? Share your ideas with others in the comments – or send them to craig [at] tqmnet.com

SOCIALTEXT ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE BRINGS MORE COLLABORATION TO THE WORKSPACE

Socialtext is creating new ways for business staffs to collaborate online through enterprise social software.  The Palo Alto, Calif., group was founded in 2002…

Let us know how this is impacting you.  Are you using this – Google Wave – Google Docs – SharePoint — something else??

Are you interested in getting more from your employees? Join us Friday, October 2.