Leadership Is The Art Of Accomplishing The Impossible. So, What Is No One Has Ever Done It Before

Leadership Is The Art Of Accomplishing The Impossible. So, What Is No One Has Ever Done It Before I worked for a large company that had a large plant. The plant was separated by a major state highway that split the production areas from the distribution warehouse area. The company had put an enclosed tube with a case conveyor over the highway connecting the two highway divided facilities. The cases would right through the tube into the distribution center. The company was expanding and room was needed for two major production lines and more storage space. At first the company went to their local state representative asking for permission for the state to consider closing the highway and rerouting traffic. The plan was to put a new complete building the highway and add more production lines and storage space. Both buildings would now be connected to a new building in the middle. The state representative objected and cited all sorts of hurdles that had to be overcome to close the highway. He stated that it would be impossible and that local opposition might be fierce. We were however undaunted by his pessimism. I was directed to develop a plan for the new building, the layout and estimate the cost. We knew we had a very difficult task ahead of us. We developed blueprints for the building but I suggested that we create an interior model of the building and three-dimensional pictures of how the building would look when finished. We put together a presentation of the building in a small folding three ring binder. We contacted the state governor and office of business development to engender more support. The business development office was enthusiastic. Next, we built the interior model of the building to scale and put it on a large table in a large conference room. Then we invited our own employees to visit the conference room with the scale model, play with the layout and make suggestions. We received many helpful suggestions that we immediately deployed in the model and the building plans. The employees continued to give us unsolicited ideas. We then personally visited each house along the route that the highway was going to be diverted to and explained the concept and what the building was going to look like. We invited them to take a personal tour of the plant and most of them toured the plant. There were no objections from the home owners. Within a month the state business development office informed us that closing the highway had been approved by the state transportation department. Our next step was to get approval from corporate for capital funds. Capital money was tight that year, so we created a plan that only showed half the building and its layout. We did bring the plan of the whole building with us and the cost estimates. The capital committee was so impressed with the building layout and the work that we had done that they asked to see the layout of the entire building. They approved the money for the entire building. Yes, we did invite the state representative who said it would be impossible to reroute the state highway to the ribbon cutting ceremony. Leadership is the art of accomplishing the impossible so what if no one Has ever done it before. Lessons Learned 1. Do not give comfort to naysayers and pessimism. 2. Always involve people who actually do the work. 3. Create models whenever feasible. 4. Visit and personally talk to all the stakeholders. 5. Be prepared for good fortune. 6. Never reject any suggestions or ideas out of hand. Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

Always Always Walk the Process

Never neglect details. Walk the process. Do it yourself to learn how to do it. I had just reported into a new organization and was given a huge orientation packet with a three-page checklist. When I asked individuals how long it would take to complete the check-in process the answers varied from 4 hours to two weeks. There were four different types of employee groups but just one check-in process and a single type check list. Each new person had a sponsor. I asked my sponsor if I had to complete all of the checklist items and he replied yes I did. There happened to be another new employee reporting on the same day as I did, so we decided to partner up and do the check-in together. Both of us inquired about certain aspects of the check-in and orientation process and soon discovered that we got different and wildly different answers on the check-in process. As a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt I decided to document the check-in process along with my partner and record data on the actual process. We started off both with clipboards and I actually used my smartphone’s pedometer to record our steps and the time spent at each check-in station. We soon discovered that often the person who was supposed to check us in was not present to perform the check-in. We had to then come back when they were present. There was no coordination between check-in spots and much of the check-in requirements were rather unnecessary. Often a department head would just initial our check-in sheet. Some would just hand us documents to read later and sign the sheet. Some would update their databases so we asked to watch them do this process and we observed. Bottom line by walking the process we found out how inefficient it was and soon determined what stops were actually value adding or useful. Much of the check-in process was only relevant to a particular employee group (the organization had four of them). We both completed the check-in process in seven business days and presented our check-in sheets to our boss. We had at least an hour discussion with him about the process and recommended forming a kaizen team, which would have members from all four employee groups, to try and improve the process. He agreed to our suggestion and both me and my partner were appointed Kaizen co-leaders. We did a complicated process map and then greatly simplified it. We had instant credibility with the team because we had just actually walked and completed the check-in process recently. We brainstormed ideas to improve the process and again talked to all the department heads about their needs and concerns. After two weeks of work with the team and other team members walking the check-in process again, we reduced the check-in time to two business days or less for each employee group. In a year after putting much of the check-in process online we reduced it to one business day. More importantly, from a morale and first impression aspect to a new employee the organization appeared well organized and competent. Never neglect details. Walk the process. Do it yourself to learn how to do it. Lessons Learned 1. Always walk the process first hand and verify it personally not on the “word” of other people. 2. Challenge what others see as important and develop a criterion to judge importance. 3. Do not procrastinate kaizens. Implement the new process as quickly as possible. 4. Ask people directly in person about their needs and concerns. 5. Make sure safety items are clearly covered. Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

The Billion-Dollar Boys and Mega-Negotiations Story By Dr. Tom DePaoli

The Billion-Dollar Boys and Mega-Negotiations Story By Dr. Tom DePaoli I and a supply management colleague had been working diligently for a year to try and standardize MRO (Maintenance Repair and Operating) parts to include pumps, pipes and valves, electrical and operating supplies. We divided the storeroom parts into these four bucket areas. These were storeroom related parts for a major process chemical company. We used a market basket sourcing approach. We had conducted numerous strategic sourcing cross-functional teams and had worked hard to get our engineers to select standardized parts for our plants. These sessions were long and arduous. We had reduced the number of suppliers or OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) in many categories to one or two. Our goal was to gradually replace the existing parts as they wore out with the new OEMs and strive for standardization in the MRO arena. We had a systematic well thought out plan for doing this and had negotiated contracts with the OEMs and distributers. We were approximately 80% complete which was quite an accomplishment for the fifty North American plants. Then the company suddenly announced that they were in the initial stages of planning a five-billion-dollar expansion in the United States. The winning five plants had already been selected. Some of the expansion was to be entirely new plants and the others were major rebuilds. The capital expansion was to start in six months. We were faced with managing a major capital expansion and a significant spend in the MRO area. We met with the Vice-President of engineering and decided to have a strategy session with him and the five selected plant engineers. We decided to have a one-shot bidding meeting with our preferred suppliers in Louisiana. We had a very good idea about the dollar amount of spend in the various buckets for the expansion. The capital job estimates had already been done and approved. We had four bucket areas in MRO: mechanical, electrical, piping and valves and operating supplies. We already had cost plus pricing contracts for 80% of our MRO. We did however still have at least two preferred suppliers in almost every major component MRO area like pumps. I suggested that we leverage the hard work that we had already accomplished. We would announce the capital expansion at a preferred supplier meeting and give an approximate future dollar spend in each of the four buckets (areas). We obviously had a lot of leverage and many of the bucket dollar numbers were huge. We had fairly accurate data from recent expansions and the capital job estimates. We then established these ground rules for the bidding process: 1. There would be only one round of bids. We urged the suppliers to give the bid their best shot. There would be no second bid rounds. We did not have the time to manage multiple bids. 2. We announced that we would in many cases narrow down the areas where we had two preferred suppliers to one, unless we had a good business reason for keeping two. 3. Although we had negotiated some significant total cost of ownership savings in the current contracts, we were open to enhancements from the suppliers and distributers. 4. We told the suppliers that we would not accept their standard spare parts packages like we had in the past. We would challenge their typical spares packages but would be especially open to creative ways of them controlling and managing the spares at minimal or no cost to us. 5. OEMs could work with distributers to propose any additional creative services to provide us. Quite frankly we had no idea how this mega-negotiation process would work. Fortunately, we had done a lot of supplier consolidation before this process. We had not had the time to even predict cost savings or eventual outcomes. We just did it. As the bids rolled back in, it was obvious that our suppliers had done their homework. All told the cost and other savings amounted to 20% of the 5 billion dollars or 1 billion dollars! We were stunned. For the next year, I and my supply management colleague, had to endure the “handle” or nickname of “the billion-dollar boys”, whenever we entered a meeting. Yes, we were good and worked hard, but we were also very lucky. The fact that the company was spending that much capital at one time when we were transforming to supply management really helped our leverage and savings potential. Lessons to share: 1. Hard work and building relationships are sometimes more important than analytics. 2. Engineers do not like to be proven wrong on a decision 3. Luck also helps savings. 4. Pre-work is always better than afterwards cleanup work. 5. Endurance and persistence count.

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More Broken Windows Management Tips

More Broken Windows Management Tips (3) By Dr. Tom DePaoli See my book Broken Windows Management on Amazon for more tips. Find Out What Really Bothers Employees. One of the things that bothered my employees was the fact that many of the meetings they attended were totally disorganized and useless. Teach basic meeting protocol to people. Make sure meeting leaders have an agenda, take minutes and conduct the meeting in a professional manner. Have clear deliverables and explain the expectations of the meeting. Then enforce your parameters. Fix It the Right Way. Too often management takes the ideas of the employees to make jobs better and does a slipshod job of fixing them or just appeasing the employees. Why not fix it in the very best way possible the first time. Make sure that it never comes back or reemerges as an irritant to the employees. This tells the employees that management actually listens to them and wants to fix things permanently. Fix Parking Space Story. One of my stories that illustrate what's important to employees is a project that I did on employee parking. I had a project to reconfigure the employee parking areas and to see if I could get more parking spaces in the plant area. I managed to get 250 more parking spaces and the spaces were auctioned off and the money donated to charity. The employees were very grateful for the additional parking spaces which obviously made their walk to where they work much shorter and much more enjoyable. They also avoided paying for off-site parking. Do not underestimate employee concerns about parking and other issues. Solve them quickly. Fix Things in Real-time. Do not spend an inordinate amount of time designing systems and paperwork to fix things that can be fixed immediately. Cut through the bureaucracy and make sure that when the employee voices a complaint it is answered as soon as possible and in real time. Systems don't impress people, getting things done does. No one gets really impressed with a fancy work order system. Fluffy Recognition Doesn't Work. Employees know when praise is really shallow and not worthwhile. Stop praising peoples' tasks that are supposed to be part of their job. You would be better off fixing something in their job and making it easier for them to cope with. Praise certainly has its place. However, do not overdo it. It soon becomes discounted. Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom) is currently an independent management consultant, the Principal of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, global sourcing and negotiating. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, pharmaceutical, IT, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of eleven books all available on Amazon. He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children. https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli = Dr. Tom’s Amazon author’s page http://www.apollosolutions.us = website of Apollo Solutions his business drtombooks.com = more information on Dr. Tom’s books http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-thomas-depaoli/0/736/6b3/ = LinkedIn home page https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/more-broken-windows-management-tips-3-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

Some Tips for Process-Improvement Meetings

The most common and most egregious mistake that the various process-improvement team leaders make is not hav¬ing a meeting agenda. The agenda must be published before the meeting and distributed to team members. Team members need to anticipate what to expect in the meeting and what the intended results are—by this, I mean the deliverables. Minutes of each meeting must be taken and published before the next meeting. Minutes must be approved and/or corrected at each subsequent meeting. Always try to have a facilitator and a per¬son taking minutes. Maximize the visibility in the meeting; make sure all pro¬cess maps are visible to everyone. Insist that team members get at least introductory training in the methodology. Trying to train team members on process-improvement tools at the same time that you’re trying to improve the process is very difficult. If meetings last more than two hours, the leader is not organized, and the members won’t be able to function very well. Always set a goal of finishing at least two deliverables or mile¬stones for each meeting, and push to have them get completed. End the meeting with asking the members what went right and what went wrong. For more tips check out my book on Amazon: Kaizen Kreativity. https://amzn.to/33beOS3 Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

Two New Leadership Books Available on Amazon. Dark Side and Authentic Side. Interview with Dr. Tom DePaoli Author of Two New Leadership Books

Two New Leadership Books Available on Amazon. Dark Side and Authentic Side. Interview with Dr. Tom DePaoli Author of Two New Leadership Books Dr. Tom the titles of your new leadership books intrigue me, how did you pick them? I wanted two leadership books. One would explore the dark side of leadership and the other the authentic or good side. Unfortunately, I had more stories about the dark side and many were just awful. The authentic side stories are not as numerous. The stories are all authentic and real life based for both books. I myself or my colleagues actually experienced them. They are only slightly changed to protect the identity of some of the leaders. The dark side was maybe a little too dramatic. It does have some redundant and repetitious stories. This is not my fault or an editing fault. Dark leaders are not very creative. Many use the same tired and sorry tactics. However, the situations were even more dramatic and uncomfortable for the followers. Boogeyman Leadership: How to Turn Your Employees into Listless Zombies describes all too common leadership tactics that numb employees into becoming animated drones. I urge the reader to not read it from start to end but to jump around in the book. The other book Leadership by Storytelling: The Best Way to Learn Good Leadership Principles is peppered with uplifting and inspirational leadership action. Good leaders, who care, will learn much from the authentic stories. Both are available on Amazon. Why did you author the two books at once? I have been on the receiving end of much poor leadership in my careers. I worked in various organizations such as business, non-profit, the military and academia. Unfortunately, I experienced many more poor leaders than good. Much of the leadership training I experienced was ineffective. I learned leadership principles by observing good leaders. There was no shortage of leadership stories that I experienced. I decided on the storytelling method to give the reader true examples of leadership tactics. Knowing a leadership theory and executing it are two entirely different missions. Why the storytelling approach? It is the best way of learning and has many good attributes. Readers can relate to stories much better than prose on leadership theories. From my perspective, stories are also easier for me to write about because I and my colleagues lived and experienced them. Talk to me about Bogeyman Leadership: How to Turn Your Employees into Listless Zombies. The book showcases poor leaders and their tactics that inevitably failed. I strongly believe you should know what does not work first, so that an aspiring good leader does not waste time on such approaches. I really do not pretend to offer any silver bullet solutions to these poor policies. I define boogeyman leadership as the use of poor and intimidating leadership tactics whose purpose is to terrify employees and instill distrust, apathy and fear. The result is a zombie-like listless state. The book recounts many bad leadership ideas and illustrative stories to make sure the reader crosses these schemes off their leadership list. It is not a solemn academic book or a guide to great leadership success. Its purpose is to give examples of terrible leadership and management tactics, that I and others have experienced in their careers. I suggest the reader re-visualize their own bad personal leaders, that they have had, who have used the very same or similar defective devices. Unfortunately, these failed leadership ploys are becoming even more common, destructive and hurtful. I urge the reader to avoid these methods at all costs. Talk to me about Leadership by Storytelling: The Best Way to Learn Good Leadership Principles. The book provides some excellent principles of good leadership. The principles are illustrated with compelling leadership stories that reinforce the principles. I provide twenty-six principles of good leadership. It should be noted that one of the oldest methods of passing down knowledge is oral storytelling. Usually an ancient sage would be the keeper of the stories and passed them down to other tribe members. I highly recommend the storytelling method for leaders. The stories in the book are authentic. Each principle has a story to clarify the principle. The book has cogent illustrations for the stories. I urge the reader to gather leadership stories to share with fellow leaders and followers. I believe the growth in leadership abilities will be much stronger via the use of leadership storytelling. Why are there more poor or dark leaders? Much of leadership training is poorly organized and not very practical. Knowing all the theories of leadership is commendable but not useful in real life. Leadership training must be real life based, use role playing and scenarios to prepare a leader for leadership decisions. One of the biggest areas overlooked is integrity and honesty. Many would be leaders ignore it or downplay it. People will not respect or follow a leader with no integrity. Most dark leaders rationalize their dishonest behavior. Trust me, their followers will always remember even the slightest dishonest action. It is hard to teach an authentic caring for your followers. Many bad leaders put themselves on a pedestal and do not even make an effort to really know and respect their followers. My experiences in the military in leadership roles taught me to always take care of your followers first and never lie to them. I asked my father, who had spent eight years in the Navy for advice when I was about to become an officer. He said, “Take care of your people. Take care of your people. Take care of your people.” Your people can quickly tell if you are a phony. What distinguishes good or authentic leaders They get followers to trust them and keep building that trust. There is no one methodology to get a follower to trust you. Each person has a different lock to get them to trust you, and you have to find the right key. Honesty and integrity help the most. Selflessness also cements their trust. Many followers can forgive a leader who is not totally competent, but they rarely forgive a lack of integrity. I wrote another book Broken Windows Management (available on Amazon). The whole one message or premise of the book was this: Prevention of disorder and actually fixing things that employees say are wrong; goes a very long way in establishing trust and credibility with management (also leader). Management (leaders) must be vigilant and constantly try to control disorder and fix the things and issues that employees’ value. These actions reduce employee fear of management and actually help gain trust. Trust is enhanced by quickly fixing things that employees want fixed. Unfortunately, many organizations have not figured out this simple axiom yet. Many companies, because their employees do not trust them, will never get enough credibility to execute broken windows management actions. What is Your Favorite Boogeyman Leadership Story? Remember the book is organized in a manner that gives you a Boogeyman Leadership tactic or tip first that should be avoided if you want to be a good leader. Then the story shows the futility of the tactic. Here it is: Make Sure You Destroy Trust Do not keep your word. When you break your word make the lamest excuse you can think of and insist that you were misunderstood. Berate employees who do not keep their word and tell them it is not acceptable. Constantly praise your honesty and integrity as beyond reproach even though it is the exact opposite. Openly lie to your superiors whenever you can and blame your employees for any shortfalls or the missing of goals. Take credit for all of your employee’s good ideas and claim them as the result of your own brilliancy. Brag about how good you are with employees and customers to everyone and never be completely honest ever, in fact be evasive. Lie and exaggerate often. Story The department that I worked in did not receive a raise for three years. In the beginning of the fourth year, our leader promised that management has informed him that the average raise for this year would be five percent. The caveat was that instead of working ten Saturdays we would have to work twenty. Near the end of the year he announced at a meeting that “management” had decided that once again there would not be any raises this year after we worked the twenty Saturdays. I and most of the other people in the company left within the next six months. I then discovered from an upper level manager, who had also left the company, that management decided to use dishonesty, the five percent raise ploy, to help lower turnover and all the department managers knew about this ploy in the beginning of the year. What is Your Favorite Leadership by Storytelling Story? The book is organized to first state the good leadership principle. Then the story shows the result of using the good principle. Here it is: Listen to Your Followers’ Problems and Help Them. I once had an employee who was initially very upset that I took over as leader of the department. She thought that she deserved to be promoted and become the leader. She had more experience than me. She was very cold to me and resisted any initiatives that I proposed. Shortly thereafter, her mother became very sick and it got to the point that she needed caregivers. I gave her as much time of as I could and was very flexible with her work duties and responsibilities. She finally requested family leave for eight weeks and it was granted. While she was gone, I attempted to do as much of her work as possible and got a very good understanding of her duties, systems and techniques. I stayed late many nights and weekends working at both my job and hers. When she came back from family leave, she expected piles of work awaiting her and very hectic weeks. She was surprised that I had kept up and completed almost all of the work. She came into my office and started to cry and I thought that something had happened to her mother. Instead she was grateful for what I had done and thanked me, informing me that no boss had ever done anything so kind. I then suggested that we make a request to our information technology department to upgrade some of the systems that she used, which I was now familiar with by doing her job. We jointly filled out the request that day and it was installed in three weeks. Her attitude towards me completely turned around. Whenever there was a tough project, she volunteered for it. She became the most loyal employee to me in the department and a friend. As a leader, if someone has a problem and needs help, especially when it is personal or family related, go out of your way to help them. Listen to your followers’ problems and help them. Summary Leadership by telling stories is highly effective and much more practical. Understanding leadership theories is certainly important, but relating leadership stories to real world events and role-playing exercises based on the stories creates better leaders. Dr. Tom DePaoli Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom) is currently an independent management consultant, the Principal of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, global sourcing and negotiating. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, pharmaceutical, IT, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of eleven books all available on Amazon. He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children. https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli = Dr. Tom’s Amazon author’s page http://www.apollosolutions.us = website of Apollo Solutions his business drtombooks.com = more information on Dr. Tom’s books http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-thomas-depaoli/0/736/6b3/ = LinkedIn home page https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/two-new-leadership-books-available-amazon-dark-side-depaoli/ Learn to lead by storytelling #leadership #leadershipadvice https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/two-new-leadership-books-available-amazon-dark-side-depaoli-1f Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

How to Save a Billion Dollars in Your Supply Chain Or “the Billion-Dollar Boys” and Mega-Negotiations Story By Dr. Tom DePaoli

How to Save a Billion Dollars in Your Supply Chain Or “the Billion-Dollar Boys” and Mega-Negotiations Story By Dr. Tom DePaoli For more Supply Chain stories see my books on Amazon; Common Sense Supply Management or Common Sense Purchasing. I and a supply management colleague had been working diligently for a year to try and standardize MRO (Maintenance Repair and Operating) parts to include pumps, pipes and valves, electrical and operating supplies. We divided the storeroom parts into these four bucket areas. These were storeroom related parts for a major process chemical company. We used a market basket sourcing approach. We had conducted numerous strategic sourcing cross-functional teams and had worked hard to get our engineers to select standardized parts for our plants. These sessions were long and arduous. We had reduced the number of suppliers or OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) in many categories to one or two. Our goal was to gradually replace the existing parts as they wore out with the new OEMs and strive for standardization in the MRO arena. We had a systematic well thought out plan for doing this and had negotiated contracts with the OEMs and distributers. We were approximately 80% complete which was quite an accomplishment for the fifty North American plants. Then the company suddenly announced that they were in the initial stages of planning a five-billion-dollar expansion in the United States. The winning five plants had already been selected. Some of the expansion was to be entirely new plants and the others were major rebuilds. The capital expansion was to start in six months. We were faced with managing a major capital expansion and a significant spend in the MRO area. We met with the Vice-President of engineering and decided to have a strategy session with him and the five selected plant engineers. We decided to have a one-shot bidding meeting with our preferred suppliers in Louisiana. We had a very good idea about the dollar amount of spend in the various buckets for the expansion. The capital job estimates had already been done and approved. We had four bucket areas in MRO: mechanical, electrical, piping and valves and operating supplies. We already had cost plus pricing contracts for 80% of our MRO. We did however still have at least two preferred suppliers in almost every major component MRO area like pumps. I suggested that we leverage the hard work that we had already accomplished. We would announce the capital expansion at a preferred supplier meeting and give an approximate future dollar spend in each of the four buckets (areas). We obviously had a lot of leverage and many of the bucket dollar numbers were huge. We had fairly accurate data from recent expansions and the capital job estimates. We then established these ground rules for the bidding process: 1. There would be only one round of bids. We urged the suppliers to give the bid their best shot. There would be no second bid rounds. We did not have the time to manage multiple bids. 2. We announced that we would in many cases narrow down the areas where we had two preferred suppliers to one, unless we had a good business reason for keeping two. 3. Although we had negotiated some significant total cost of ownership savings in the current contracts, we were open to enhancements from the suppliers and distributers. 4. We told the suppliers that we would not accept their standard spare parts packages like we had in the past. We would challenge their typical spares packages but would be especially open to creative ways of them controlling and managing the spares at minimal or no cost to us. 5. OEMs could work with distributers to propose any additional creative services to provide us. Quite frankly we had no idea how this mega-negotiation process would work. Fortunately, we had done a lot of supplier consolidation before this process. We had not had the time to even predict cost savings or eventual outcomes. We just did it. As the bids rolled back in, it was obvious that our suppliers had done their homework. All told the cost and other savings amounted to 20% of the 5 billion dollars or 1 billion dollars! We were stunned. For the next year, I and my supply management colleague, had to endure the “handle” or nickname of “the billion-dollar boys”, whenever we entered a meeting. Yes, we were good and worked hard, but we were also very lucky. The fact that the company was spending that much capital at one time when we were transforming to supply management really helped our leverage and savings potential. Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom) is currently an independent management consultant, the Principal of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, global sourcing and negotiating. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, pharmaceutical, IT, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of eleven books all available on Amazon. He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children. https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli = Dr. Tom’s Amazon author’s page http://www.apollosolutions.us = website of Apollo Solutions his business drtombooks.com = more information on Dr. Tom’s books Learn how to save a billion dollars in your supply chain. #supplychain #costsavings #procurement #negotiations https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-save-billion-dollars-your-supply-chain-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

Growing Up Italian in the Fifties by Dr. Tom DePaoli. Available on Amazon

Growing Up Italian in the Fifties by Dr. Tom DePaoli. Available on Amazon In our neighborhood almost all of the houses had good-sized lots where we could play baseball. The homes were modest but well kept. Baseball skills take a long time to learn, but just about everyone in our neighborhood mastered the basic skills of catching a pop fly and fielding a grounder. Many people can’t understand how we played baseball for hours and hours in the 1950s. After all, baseball is labeled a boring game. We had a neighborhood team and played in a lot across the street from my house. Our parents could look out the window and see us playing. If we were lucky, we had enough equipment for everyone or at least a glove for everyone. We played literally all day. We chose up sides and got the games started. We stopped playing only for lunch, supper, or rain. Our brand of baseball was not boring because of the way we modified the rules. There were no coaches, spectators, umpires, or adults to slow down the game. Each batter would get three swings or strikes. There were no called balls or called strikes because there was no umpire. A batter had to swing at a pitch, so there was even less delay. Batters were not allowed to go through a routine in the batter’s box. You got up to the plate, dug in, and got ready to swing. Often when we were in the field, we yelled out to our own pitcher to get the ball over the plate and let the batter hit it. There was no stealing base, usually because someone from the other team played catcher when they were up. Time outs were not allowed. Disputes over whether a player was out or safe at a base were argued with the skill of a Philadelphia lawyer with much drama and terrific action. If both sides couldn’t come to an agreement, a coin flip settled the call. Innings went by quickly, and so did the games. “Back in the day.” This saying is a popular one now and could not fit more aptly than with the honest, homespun tradition of sandlot baseball. Before there were PC’s and Apple computers, before Xboxes, Wii’s and satellite TV, before multiplexes and malls, there were pick-up games of baseball, football, basketball—any game that could be played outside, with minimal cash investment, and could last all day or even into the night if all that was required was a garage light to illuminate the playing field. But that was not the only thing whose joys and fulfillment came from simplicity. Life itself flowed from the simple things, from family, friends, and a sense of richness that comes only from the feeling of connection and community. Today our children are surrounded by video games, iPods, and personal computers, devices that remove them from our world and isolate them from friends and family. For the author, his family, and his friends, the only gadget they really had growing up was their enthusiasm for sports and the limitless terrain of their imagination—and the feeling of family. It was about people and the bonds those relationships formed. From his mother’s gifts for cooking, organizing, and giving, to his Aunt Bert’s gift for arguing (the only one to out-argue his mother), to his father’s extraordinary mechanical abilities to his grandmother’s legendary bingo talents, DePaoli’s memories of growing up in the 1950’s is a loving remembrance of an era where relatives and the neighborhood were the focal points of life. And in our era of disconnection and entitlement, his stories are a reminder that the years of his childhood really did fit the moniker “the good old days” and that there is more to life than material possessions. A homage to a bygone era, when brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents—everyone lived in the same neighborhood and were indeed a village raising the children, Growing Up Italian in the 50’s or How Most of Us Became Good Wise Guys: A Growing Up Memories Book is an engrossing ode whose life and spirit is nothing short of revelatory. Available on Amazon. Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom) is currently an independent management consultant, the Principal of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, global sourcing and negotiating. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, pharmaceutical, IT, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of eleven books all available on Amazon. He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children. https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli = Dr. Tom’s Amazon author’s page http://www.apollosolutions.us = website of Apollo Solutions his business drtombooks.com = more information on Dr. Tom’s books http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-thomas-depaoli/0/736/6b3/ = LinkedIn home page https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/growing-up-italian-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

Good Review Business Consulting Wows! Answers to Life and Business Issues Dr. Tom DePaoli’s Advice, Adventures, Career Tips.

Good Review Business Consulting Wows! Answers to Life and Business Issues Dr. Tom DePaoli’s Advice, Adventures, Career Tips. View on Amazon. This book presents practical strategies and tips organized in an easy-to-follow format. Every section is worth reading. A wealth of information is presented on procurement, the supply chain, process improvement, and organizational transformation. My favorite sections include leadership principles and stories. Storytelling as a powerful teaching method has been used effectively for centuries, and Dr. Tom's writings on leadership by storytelling exemplify this. His leadership principles are inspiring. For example, here are his top five principles: 1. Never lie to your followers or your superiors. Keep your word always. 2. Listen to your followers' problems and help them. 3. Don't believe what you hear from the media or so-called experts. Be skeptical. 4. Stand up for what you believe in. Do not be silent to idiots or insanity. 5. Never neglect details. Walk the process. Do it yourself to learn how to do it. And leadership principles are only a small portion of this book. Each section of this book has great information useful in many aspects of business consulting. I highly recommend this book! Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom or Captain Tom), is currently an independent management consultant, the CEO of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, organizational transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, leadership training, creativity improvement, global sourcing and negotiating, especially information-based negotiations. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, DOD, pharmaceutical, IT, startup, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, business services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of twelve books all available on Amazon. He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children. https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli = Dr. Tom’s Amazon author’s page http://www.apollosolutions.us = Website of Apollo Solutions his business drtombooks.com = More information on Dr. Tom’s books and writings http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-thomas-depaoli/0/736/6b3/ = LinkedIn home page https://apollosolutionsbooksandconsulting.blogspot.com/ = Dr. Tom’s blog @DrTomDePaoli = Twitter https://twitter.com/DrTomDePaoli https://www.facebook.com/ApolloSolutionsConsulting = Facebook of Apollo Solutions Great new business book with exceptional business, career and life advice. #businessbooks #leadershipadvice #career https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/good-review-business-consulting-wows-answers-life-issues-depaoli Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

Avoiding a Supply Chain Apocalypse Book Review

Avoiding a Supply Chain Apocalypse Book Review By Kelly Barner Dr. Tom DePaoli recently released Avoiding a Supply Chain Apocalypse. It is a collection of the best advice he has to give on topics ranging from relationships to negotiation to Kaizens and storytelling. Since I’ve read all of Dr. Tom’s books, I consider it something of a personal challenge to uncover the material he has added – either because the focus of the book is different or because professional priorities continue to change over time. Like Dr. Tom’s other books, this is for professionals that don’t have the time (or desire) to lose themselves in a 300-400-page book of polished academic theory. His sections are short and to the point and draw in material from third party sites as well as his other writing. You can read one or two sections as time allows and not have any trouble picking up in a different place the next time you sit down. My favorite new idea from the book is ‘appreciative inquiry’ defined by Dr. Tom as “a systematic discovery process to search for what is best in an organization or its strengths.” (p. 27) The value of this to procurement and supply chain professionals is in the alteration is can lead to in how we are perceived and the expanded scope of what we can accomplish. Procurement often goes out into the organization to understand the inner workings of a category or process. We have as our goal the desire to improve how spend is managed or how execution takes place. With appreciative inquiry, we still evaluate categories and processes, but with a focus on finding what is good about them and emphasizing that. The difference is subtle; we still identify opportunities for improvement, but the focus is on positive change. The end result is that the people participating in such evaluations feel like they are being recognized for their accomplishments rather than audited for their errors. Dovetailing with the concept of appreciative inquiry is the notion that procurement and supply chain organizations need to invest in internal marketing and communications. We joke, but squirrels really do benefit from having that fluffy tail. (See: A squirrel is just a rat with a PR agent.) Procurement can discount marketing efforts as ‘soft’ all we like, but they work – and not just externally. A little bit of investment in purposeful communication can go a long way towards improving cooperation. Two other topics where Dr. Tom is worth reading: Lean/Six Sigma Kaizens make a re-appearance in this book (read Kaizen Kreativity (Oops!) for more from Dr. Tom on that topic). Although Kaizens are just systems emphasizing efficiency and continuous process improvement, they haven’t really caught on outside of manufacturing. In this book, Dr. Tom applies the concept to less traditional areas of business, such as marketing, employee orientation, and data collection. Storytelling A personal favorite for me, Dr. Tom is a master at applying the art of storytelling in a business context. People focus longer, retain more information, and come away with a more positive impression when they are given information in a more artful way. Just like applying marketing internally, storytelling requires advance planning and creative energy, but the additional effort is worthwhile. Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom) is currently an independent management consultant, the Principal of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, global sourcing and negotiating. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, pharmaceutical, IT, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of eleven books all available on Amazon. He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children. https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli = Dr. Tom’s Amazon author’s page http://www.apollosolutions.us = website of Apollo Solutions his business drtombooks.com = more information on Dr. Tom’s books https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/avoiding-supply-chain-apocalypse-book-review-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

Lead by Storytelling

About Leadership by Storytelling by Dr. Tom DePaoli Can you become a great leader by storytelling? Unequivocally! Dr. Tom DePaoli wrote a book to prove it. With his book Leadership by Storytelling: The Best Way to Learn Good Leadership Principles, he reveals some authentic principles of great leadership. The principles are demonstrated with compelling leadership stories that support the beliefs. Dr. Tom provides twenty-six principles of successful leadership. He notes that the oldest methods of passing down knowledge was storytelling. A tribe storyteller would be the keeper of the stories and then pass them down to other tribe members. He recommends the storytelling method for leaders. The stories are original from his and others careers. Each principle has a story to help illuminate the principle. The book has cogent and humorous illustrations for the stories. He urges the reader to gather and share their leadership stories. He believes the growth in leadership abilities will be stronger and quicker via the use of leadership storytelling. Buy the book, and follow the author on social media: Learn more about the writer. Visit the Author’s Website. Buy the Book On Amazon. Learn to lead by stories. #leadership https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-storytelling-dr-tom-depaoli-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

A Guided Tour of the Book Kaizen Kreativity (Oops!) Available on Amazon By Dr. Tom DePaoli Tour From the Author This book can be useful to both people who are very familiar with the Kaizen process and those entirely new to the process. Experienced readers should just review Chapter Four: Tools and Descriptions, first. Then they should look at the following chapters: · Chapter Six: Make Kaizens Creative and Fun · Chapter Seven: Amazon Fun Training Exercise · Chapter Eight: Starbucks Fun Training Exercise · Chapter Nine: Oil Change Fun Exercise · Chapter Seventeen: Common Kaizen Mistakes · Chapter Five: Kaizen Success Stories Inexperienced readers are going to have to try to read through the book in roughly chapter order. Do not try to read the book in one sitting. Take your time to absorb and understand the Kaizen process. I recommend that you pay special attention to Chapter Five: Kaizen Success Stories. The Kaizen tools have been around for years. As I stated in the introduction, this book may not be exactly what you are looking for, but it does reflect my opinion of what can work when using the Kaizen process. Change is always a tough path for many people. The Kaizen process encourages small changes but often it can produce even more spec¬tacular results. I have repeated some points that I believe are important. Brief Summary In his new creative book Kaizen Kreativity (Oops) or Don't Be Afraid of Looking Stupid. I'm an Expert at It! author Dr. Tom DePaoli offers an entertaining and creative approach to improving work processes. He uses a variety of techniques including story-telling, imaginative training exercises and ready to go outlines of PowerPoints on Kaizens. He uses self-deprecating humor to recall the many times when he stumbled, when trying to implement Kaizen events. The book also serves as a good desktop guide to Kaizens with a wealth of information on how to organize for Kaizen events. Dr. DePaoli shows that just using a few Kaizen tools can often result in significant gains. The book will help both the novice and experienced Kaizen leader. He shows real life examples of teams that made great gains. By following these stories the reader can gain a career's worth of experience in Kaizen events. Like many good business leaders, the author places getting the trust of the Kaizen work team first and foremost in his book. He emphasizes the intense preparations for the Kaizen event. His book tackles common mistakes in the Kaizen event, dealing with team bad actors and building a strong relationship with the Kaizen champion. It provides elements of a desktop guide along with suggestions on how to make the Kaizen tools exciting. This is a novel guide to a Kaizen event. "Above all don't be afraid of looking stupid! I'm an expert at it! And it has served me very well." Book Dedication This book is dedicated to all the people whom I have worked with and for in my career. The book is a summary of many of the Kaizen lessons that I learned in my career. I have used a very different approach in this book. It is an eclectic style, so be warned in advance. Readers will find serious sec¬tions, humorous areas, and creativity-nudging attempts. I believe in the Kaizen process and I have seen tremendous results from its application. One never knows if the changes created will be slight or colossal! This is part of the excitement of the Kaizen voyage. I have woven together many of the lessons learned in this book to help you avoid the numerous mistakes that I have made. I do hope the reader will gain valuable insights from my Kaizen adventures. In order to protect some clients and colleagues, I had to keep the Kaizen tools and results somewhat disguised. I strongly believe in the Kaizen process so I hope the reader is not offended by my fervor. I do realize that the Kaizen is not always the right tool for process improvement and often fails when misapplied. The book does serve as a fundamental field manual guide to Kaizens, but it can't meet every need of every reader. Most of my Kaizen experience has been with large and medium-sized corporations. However, the principles do apply to small businesses. I sometimes repeat what I consider important points about process improvement principles for the reader. Be patient with this approach; rein¬forcement does work. I really believe that Kaizens are a fine instrument for creativity in organizations and should not be underestimated. The journey of Kaizen discovery, although many times tedious and frustrating, can be great fun. Some of this book is my attempt to make it fun for you. I hope that the reader enjoys the Kaizen adventure as much as I did. I will start with reinterpreting the definition. Kaizen (ka-ee_sen) means a change for the better. This is a philosophy of reducing waste while constantly improving the process. Small changes are powerful. My Kaizen definition is a creative but structured approach to improve a process, or to eliminate anything of nonvalue, by the people who actually do the work. This book is definitely my way of doing a Kaizen with my preferences. I have found that using this approach has been the most successful for me and my clients. This does not mean that other methods will not work. This approach has been tested by me and seems to work well. I do urge you to adjust your approach based on the culture of your organization! Chapter two gives you various ideas on how to read this book depending on your skill level and familiarity with the Kaizen concept. Please vary your Kaizen approach based on your experiences and your organization. Above all, don't be afraid of looking stupid! I'm an expert at it! And it has served me very well. Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom or Captain Tom), is currently an independent management consultant, the CEO of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, organizational transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, leadership training, creativity improvement, global sourcing and negotiating, especially information based negotiations. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, DOD, pharmaceutical, IT, startup, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, business services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of eleven books all available on Amazon. He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children. https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli = Dr. Tom’s Amazon author’s page http://www.apollosolutions.us = Website of Apollo Solutions his business drtombooks.com = More information on Dr. Tom’s books and writings http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-thomas-depaoli/0/736/6b3/ = LinkedIn home page https://apollosolutionsbooksandconsulting.blogspot.com/ = Dr. Tom’s blog @DrTomDePaoli = Twitter https://twitter.com/DrTomDePaoli https://www.facebook.com/ApolloSolutionsConsulting = Facebook of Apollo Solutions Learn how to run a process improvement event. #leadershipadvice #lean #kaizen #processimprovement https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/guided-tour-book-kaizen-kreativity-oops-available-amazon-depaoli Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

My Must Read Procurement Book

5 Must Read Procurement Books to Get to the Top of Your Field Nick Boariu These five books are our favorites for procurement managers looking to increase their skills or stay on top of procurement trends. Now that you’ve got your book list, we hope you enjoy your reading and maybe even learn some new procurement tips and tricks. Common Sense Purchasing: Hard Knock Lessons Learned From A Purchasing Pro by Dr. Tom DePaoli If purchasing and negotiation keep you up at night, this is the book for you. Combining expert insights, practical examples, and tons of advice, Common Sense Purchasing can help any purchasing manager. The author shares his tales of woe from the purchasing department and explains why relationships are the foundation of a good purchasing program. The Procurement and Supply Manager’s Desk Reference by Fred Sollish and John Semanik This book is an authoritative guide on everything you need to know about being a procurement manager. Filled with information about trends in sourcing, avoiding specification traps, and best practices in supplier diversity. This book answers many of the important questions facing procurement managers. This book was written by experts in supply chain management and well worth the cost. It even offers suggestions on legal issues. The Procurement Game Plan by Charles Dominck and Soheila R. Lunney New and seasoned procurement managers will gain a great deal from this read. This book covers everything involved in setting up and running a procurement division, including choosing the right people, contingency planning, and social responsibility. It’s not a dry business read either. The Procurement Game Plan is loaded with meaningful and easily understandable procurement strategies. Essentials of Supply Chain Management by Michael H. Hugos You have a supply chain, but do you know how to measure its performance? Do you know how to use information technology in your supply chain? Is your supply chain coordinated or are there gaps? For anyone dealing with supply chain issues, Essentials of Supply Chain Management has the answers and even references supply chain games. At fewer than 350 pages this is an easy book to read and gain valuable insights. Proactive Purchasing in the Supply Chain by David Burt, Sheila Petcavage and Richard Pinkerton Purchasing plays an important role in a company’s success. It’s also one of the least understood divisions in an organization. Proactive Purchasing in the Supply Chain explains how an efficient purchasing process can increase returns on investment, reduce costs, and improve quality. It even includes purchasing checklists, to make the process easier. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-5-purchasing-book-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli/ Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

How to Avoid a Supply Chain Apocalypse

How to Avoid a Supply Chain Apocalypse Dr. Tom DePaoli What are some tactics to avoid a supply chain meltdown especially an unforeseen or calamitous event? None of us wants to experience a supply chain zombie-like apocalypse. Many organizations are starting to use ISO 28000 certification to assist in reducing supply chain risk. I recommend an alternative multi-faceted approach. There is no one size fits all in the supply chain. As the importance of supply chain management grows leaps and bounds; the supply chain professional must develop multiple options and proficient tactics to insure the continuity of the supply chain. A key element in lessening supply chain risk is to have an alternative or backup supplier. With many organizations sole-sourcing now; having a backup supplier may seem like an antiquated traditional tactic, which has no place in a deep relationship or partnering strategy with a supplier. Be advised it is necessary. There are also many risk assessment methodologies available for the supply chain professional. The insurance and investments industry have many models to assess risk. The issue, as usual, for the supply chain professional, is finding the time to assess the risk and to plan for alternatives. I recommend a gradual stair-step approach. First insure your sourcing methodology addresses risk and the need for backup suppliers. Focus on your critical materials and services, not the typical off the shelve items. Do not be afraid to ask your prime supplier or a distributer for a recommendation for a backup supplier or alternative materials. Complete a small actual order from the backup supplier to insure their capability to deliver. In my book, Avoiding a Supply Chain Apocalypse, I note that there is no single silver bullet or quick fix, but I suggest a multi-faceted diverse approach to avoiding supply chain meltdowns. As the importance of supply chain management grows leaps and bounds; the supply chain professional must develop multiple options and proficient tactics to ensure the continuity and sustainability of the supply chain. Many organizations have in place a crisis management team that has written procedures for incidents like threats to employees, gunmen intrusions etc. Often, they are led and formulated by Human Resources. The supply chain organization should also have a crisis management team that creates written documentation for various supply chain meltdown scenarios. This is a great subject to network with and gain knowledge from other supply chain organizations. Finally, a supply chain organization can never completely eliminate risk but it can plan ahead for the inevitable disruptions to the supply chain. Take to first small steps before misfortune strikes. Tom DePaoli Avoid supply chain black swans. #supplychainsolutions #supplychain #supplychainmanagement https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-avoid-supply-chain-apocalypse-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom or Captain Tom), is currently an independent management consultant, the CEO of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, organizational transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, leadership training, creativity improvement, global sourcing and negotiating, especially information based negotiations. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, DOD, pharmaceutical, IT, startup, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, business services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of eleven books all available on Amazon. He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children. https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli = Dr. Tom’s Amazon author’s page http://www.apollosolutions.us = Website of Apollo Solutions his business drtombooks.com = More information on Dr. Tom’s books and writings http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-thomas-depaoli/0/736/6b3/ = LinkedIn home page https://apollosolutionsbooksandconsulting.blogspot.com/ = Dr. Tom’s blog @DrTomDePaoli = Twitter https://twitter.com/DrTomDePaoli https://www.facebook.com/ApolloSolutionsConsulting = Facebook of Apollo Solutions Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

Mega Change: or, Getting Everyone Out of the Comfort Zone (Including Me) One particularly difficult transformation process was my third—which meant that I should have learned many lessons already! Nonetheless, only two people in a department of twenty showed any enthusiasm for supply management trans¬formation. Most of the personnel had long-established rela¬tionships with suppliers, and the department was divided into subgroups identified by the materials or services that they pur¬chased. Thus, people were so-called “experts” in their particu¬lar material or service. Unfortunately, many pursued their own materials and services without regard to the impact on the total product or machine. I first moved the entire department to a new area in the com¬pany. I changed everyone’s title. I developed a glossary of sup¬ply chain management terminology that they were to use in all their correspondence. I challenged them to prove to me that they were not only getting the best price for their particular materials, but also the best total cost of ownership. I also made them cre¬ate or refine metrics to measure their suppliers’ performances. I expected strong data to prove it. I insisted on monthly written reports from everyone. I gave them a template for the report, and they had to adhere to it. I insisted that they evaluated their savings in terms of the market for their materials. Thus they had to learn the market well for their particular materials. If the market price had gone down by 5 percent for the year, and they only saved 2 percent that was not good performance. For the first month, just about everyone was in an uproar just trying to cope with all the changes. This was beneficial; they had less time to resist the changes. Finally I started to broaden their knowledge of our final product. The engineering department and I conducted train¬ing classes on the packaging machine that we sold. The engi¬neers educated us on the particular sections of the equipment and their functions. Although they were experts in a particular material, I reminded them, our paying customers wanted to dialogue with us about the machine they had purchased, not just a particular material. We all had to become better at understanding total-machine functions and technology. The purpose was to make them realize the possible impact of some of their material change decisions on the function of the machine. I wanted to transform them into machine-function experts—not just partic¬ular-material experts. This tactic paid off. Our salesmen and engineers became more comfortable with my department members and invited them into meetings with our paying customers. They directly interacted with the customers and could understand their needs and concerns. When serious issues developed, we brought in our preferred suppliers to help in the problem-solving sessions. I also insisted that our people accompany our field reps peri-odically on service calls to get a better feel for what they had to go through with a customer while servicing the machine. Their feet-on-the-floor time in a third-world country, working side-by-side with a service rep, gave them an enlightened perspective of the challenges we faced with our worldwide customers. Amazingly we all survived this massive change, and we gained enormous respect with our colleagues in the company. Custom¬ers would call customer service and then ask to talk to some of my supply management people about issues. Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom or Captain Tom), is currently an independent management consultant, the CEO of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, organizational transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, leadership training, creativity improvement, global sourcing and negotiating, especially information-based negotiations. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, DOD, pharmaceutical, IT, startup, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, business services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of twelve books all available on Amazon. He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children. https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli = Dr. Tom’s Amazon author’s page http://www.apollosolutions.us = Website of Apollo Solutions his business drtombooks.com = More information on Dr. Tom’s books and writings http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-thomas-depaoli/0/736/6b3/ = LinkedIn home page https://apollosolutionsbooksandconsulting.blogspot.com/ = Dr. Tom’s blog @DrTomDePaoli = Twitter https://twitter.com/DrTomDePaoli https://www.facebook.com/ApolloSolutionsConsulting = Facebook of Apollo Solutions Dealing with mega change in your supply chain. #megachange #change #supplychain #Businessbooks https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mega-change-getting-everyone-out-comfort-zone-depaoli Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

Leadership is the Art of Accomplishing the Impossible. So, what is No One Has Ever Done It Before! By Dr. Tom DePaoli For more inspiring leadership stories see Leadership by Storytelling on Amazon I worked for a large company that had a large plant. The plant was separated by a major state highway that split the production areas from the distribution warehouse area. The company had put an enclosed tube with a case conveyor over the highway connecting the two highway divided facilities. The cases would right through the tube into the distribution center. The company was expanding and room was needed for two major production lines and more storage space. At first the company went to their local state representative asking for permission for the state to consider closing the highway and rerouting traffic. The plan was to put a new complete building the highway and add more production lines and storage space. Both buildings would now be connected to a new building in the middle. The state representative objected and cited all sorts of hurdles that had to be overcome to close the highway. He stated that it would be impossible and that local opposition might be fierce. We were however undaunted by his pessimism. I was directed to develop a plan for the new building, the layout and estimate the cost. We knew we had a very difficult task ahead of us. We developed blueprints for the building but I suggested that we create an interior model of the building and three-dimensional pictures of how the building would look when finished. We put together a presentation of the building in a small folding three ring binder. We contacted the state governor and office of business development to engender more support. The business development office was enthusiastic. Next, we built the interior model of the building to scale and put it on a large table in a large conference room. Then we invited our own employees to visit the conference room with the scale model, play with the layout and make suggestions. We received many helpful suggestions that we immediately deployed in the model and the building plans. We then personally visited each house along the route that the highway was going to be diverted to and explained the concept and what the building was going to look like. We invited them to take a personal tour of the plant and most of them toured the plant. There were no objections from the home owners. Within a month the state business development office informed us that closing the highway had been approved by the state transportation department. Our next step was to get approval from corporate for capital funds. Capital money was tight that year so we created a plan that showed half the building and its layout. We did bring the plan of the whole building with us and the cost estimates. The capital committee was so impressed with the building layout and the work that we had done that they asked to see the layout of the entire building. They approved the money for the entire building. Yes, we did invite the state representative who said it would be impossible to reroute the state highway to the ribbon cutting ceremony. Leadership is the art of accomplishing the impossible so what if no one has ever done it before. Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom) is currently an independent management consultant, the Principal of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, global sourcing and negotiating. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, pharmaceutical, IT, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of eleven books all available on Amazon. He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children. https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli = Dr. Tom’s Amazon author’s page http://www.apollosolutions.us = website of Apollo Solutions his business drtombooks.com = more information on Dr. Tom’s books http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-thomas-depaoli/0/736/6b3/ = LinkedIn home page Learn how to accomplish the impossible. Lead by storytelling. #leadership #storytelling #leadershipbooks https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lead-accomplishing-impossible-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli Video Learn how to accomplish the impossible. Lead by storytelling. #leadership #storytelling #leadershipbooks https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-art-accomplishing-impossible-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli https://lnkd.in/g8bz6hf Video Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

Book Review Kelly Barner Buyers Meeting Point Business Consulting Wows! Desktop Guide to Help Run Your Business “In many cities of the country there’s a fear of the streets especially if there’s disorder and things are in disarray. In many organizations there is a fear of management. No small part of this is due to employees not understanding the actions of management… Prevention of disorder and actually fixing things that employees say are wrong goes a very long way in establishing trust and credibility with management.” - Dr Tom DePaoli, Broken Windows Management in Business Dr. Tom DePaoli has written no less than eight common sense business books, and I’ve read or reviewed nearly all of them. If you’ve seen references to Common Sense Supply Management, Broken Windows Management in Business, or Avoiding a Supply Chain Apocalypse go by and wondered which one you should read first, Dr. Tom’s latest book will solve your problem for you. Business Consulting Wows! Desktop Guide to Help Run Your Business is a compilation of the best articles, reviews, excerpts, and blogs about Dr. Tom’s experiences and books. [Full disclosure, some of my reviews and interviews with Dr. Tom are included in this book among a number of others.] I’ve never opened a book to a message from the author advising me NOT to read his or her book (front to back), but there is a first time for everything. Dr. Tom has organized his chapters by book, so depending on which one title you are most interested in, you’ll know which section of the book to jump to. There is also a full index of articles, organized by title, at the end to ‘flatten’ the content regardless of book. The title might suggest that this book is for small business owners, but I can attest to the fact that even if you are not ‘running a business’ in the traditional sense, you will benefit from Dr. Tom’s advice about communication, strategy, collaboration, and leadership. And because the work and perspectives of a number of interviewers are included in this book, we get a diverse set of applications for his philosophy about spend management and business relationships. I’m partial to Dr. Tom’s thoughts on the importance of storytelling in business, so that is where I would advise new readers to start, but that’s me. He also intertwines his thoughts on authenticity and leadership throughout, and both are time-tested. If you are looking for ‘slick’ business bromides or jargon, Dr. Tom is not your guy. If, however, you are looking for strategies and advice that balance the long-term needs of business and people equally, check out any of Dr. Tom’s writing – or check out all of it by buying this book. Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom or Captain Tom), is currently an independent management consultant, the CEO of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, organizational transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, leadership training, creativity improvement, global sourcing and negotiating, especially information-based negotiations. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, DOD, pharmaceutical, IT, startup, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, business services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of twelve books all available on Amazon. He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children. https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli = Dr. Tom’s Amazon author’s page http://www.apollosolutions.us = Website of Apollo Solutions his business drtombooks.com = More information on Dr. Tom’s books and writings http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-thomas-depaoli/0/736/6b3/ = LinkedIn home page https://apollosolutionsbooksandconsulting.blogspot.com/ = Dr. Tom’s blog @DrTomDePaoli = Twitter https://twitter.com/DrTomDePaoli https://www.facebook.com/ApolloSolutionsConsulting = Facebook of Apollo Solutions Enjoy Dr Tom DePaoli’s latest book. Great reviews. #businessbooks #leadership #consulting https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/business-consulting-wows-desktop-guide-help-run-your-depaoli Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

Book Review by Kelly Barner BuyersMeetingPoint.com Business Consulting Wows! Desktop Guide to Help Run Your Business

Book Review by Kelly Barner BuyersMeetingPoint.com Business Consulting Wows! Desktop Guide to Help Run Your Business “In many cities of the country there’s a fear of the streets especially if there’s disorder and things are in disarray. In many organizations there is a fear of management. No small part of this is due to employees not understanding the actions of management… Prevention of disorder and actually fixing things that employees say are wrong goes a very long way in establishing trust and credibility with management.” - Dr Tom DePaoli, Broken Windows Management in Business Dr. Tom DePaoli has written no less than eight common sense business books, and I’ve read or reviewed nearly all of them. If you’ve seen references to Common Sense Supply Management, Broken Windows Management in Business, or Avoiding a Supply Chain Apocalypse go by and wondered which one you should read first, Dr. Tom’s latest book will solve your problem for you. Business Consulting Wows! Desktop Guide to Help Run Your Business is a compilation of the best articles, reviews, excerpts, and blogs about Dr. Tom’s experiences and books. [Full disclosure, some of my reviews and interviews with Dr. Tom are included in this book among a number of others.] I’ve never opened a book to a message from the author advising me NOT to read his or her book (front to back), but there is a first time for everything. Dr. Tom has organized his chapters by book, so depending on which one title you are most interested in, you’ll know which section of the book to jump to. There is also a full index of articles, organized by title, at the end to ‘flatten’ the content regardless of book. The title might suggest that this book is for small business owners, but I can attest to the fact that even if you are not ‘running a business’ in the traditional sense, you will benefit from Dr. Tom’s advice about communication, strategy, collaboration, and leadership. And because the work and perspectives of a number of interviewers are included in this book, we get a diverse set of applications for his philosophy about spend management and business relationships. I’m partial to Dr. Tom’s thoughts on the importance of storytelling in business, so that is where I would advise new readers to start, but that’s me. He also intertwines his thoughts on authenticity and leadership throughout, and both are time-tested. If you are looking for ‘slick’ business bromides or jargon, Dr. Tom is not your guy. If, however, you are looking for strategies and advice that balance the long-term needs of business and people equally, check out any of Dr. Tom’s writing – or check out all of it by buying this book. Enjoy a book review of my latest book. Business Consulting Wows! #businessbooks #consulting https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/book-review-kelly-barner-buyersmeetingpointcom-business-depaoli Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ