A very wise leader, Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Ford and Fortune’s #3 greatest leader in the world 2013, once told me, “The key to your success is having great customers. If you have a great customer, your process will always work. If you have the wrong customer, your process will never work.”You probably won’t be surprised to learn that not all executive coaching engagements are successful. Unsuccessful coaching engage...

If you've ever had the chance to take a trip on a cruise ship, then you've seen how much time and energy goes into making it a fun and memorable experience. Of course, someone needs to be coordinating everything, and that falls on the shoulders of the cruise director. Butch Begovich, cruise director for Carnival Cruise Lines, joins Tim Muma to give us all the details on this intriguing career. Butch shares the keys to landi...

If your business process management isn’t up to par, you’re not alone.At the Six Sigma IQ website, BPM expert Dan Morris assured readers that many companies suffer from stalled BPM. But whether you are stuck on simple improvements rather than true transformations or whether you are being overly tactical instead of strategic, there is a way out of the tunnel.What’s your first step? Morris offered a self-test that can help yo...

As cute and intelligent as many animals are, they still need help landing roles on TV or in movies. That is where studio trainers come into play, prepping them for high-flying stunts, sentimental scenes or your typical animal behavior...in front of tons of people, bright lights and cameras. Briana Messerschmidt, studio trainer for Hollywood Paws, talks with Tim Muma about this unique career. Briana describes why she got int...

Alec Sprague is not an IT guy. His background is in consumer advocacy, but in his position as database developer for Work for Progress, he has instituted a culture of citizen development at the fast-growing nonprofit organization.“Our organization is scrappy,” Sprague said. “We operate on shoestring budgets to maximize our benefit to society and our return-on-investment for our funders and donors.”At the beginning of his te...

With companies and other organizations relying on computer systems for functional and financial purposes, plenty of computer hackers are looking for ways to "break in" for their own gains. Fortunately, there are also ethical hackers trying to breakdown these systems; however, their goal is to help clients protect themselves and improve their security. Tim Muma talks to JD Nir, an associate security consultant with Independe...

A recent survey of 600 American and European IT decision-makers done by my partner Xerox shows that the time to go fully digital is now, but most organizations still aren’t ready.Survey respondents predicted an average of only nine percent of key business and office processes will run on paper in the next two years, but more than half admitted that their organizations’ processes are still largely paper-based today, and abou...

“Cutting-Edge” Strategies for Reorganizing or Downsizing:The Stress Doc’s Top Ten Tips for Tip-Top ManagementWarning: This satire may be hazardous to the ironically impaired.We inhabit an era of organizational restructuring or downsizing, or better still, rightsizing, or most on target, what I call “frightsizing.” The challenge for top management is having the savvy and guts to gut much of your workforce while still maint...

While many professionals today have embraced the popular concept of the “authentic leader,” I often wonder whether that pendulum has swung too far to one side. In fact, this latest trend prompts me to think, “here we go again.”Authentic LeadershipDon’t get me wrong; I think authenticity is an important attribute for leaders. It gives them the ability to move through different situations in a more natural way, displaying equ...

The death of Prince drew tons of attention to his work as a musician and artist, including the number of pieces he had never released. Like many people across the U.S., Prince made some costly mistakes with his estate that will create a burden for his family and his legacy. Alex Menassa, senior financial planner for Szarka Financial, gives Tim Muma insight into how we can learn from Prince's poor planning, and what we shoul...