I wonder what the king is doing tonight

Leo Sadovy
Leo Sadovy|November 15, 2011

Yes, that’s me, as Don Quixote, singing ‘Dulcinea’ from’ Man of La Mancha’ in a Broadway-themed variety show benefit concert (sort of like “Glee” for forty-to-fifty-somethings) raising money for anti-malaria netting in Africa (I did this as a medley along with ‘I, Don Quixote’). The total amount raised was over [...]

Post a Comment

Meet George Jetson - Customer Profitability Optimization

Leo Sadovy
Leo Sadovy|August 18, 2011

Take a quick look at the two graphs below. Which one appears to be the LEAST complex construction? You might initially suppose it’s the bottom one, nothing but bar graphs, and maybe just one bar graph, the tallest one on the far right, broken into its constituent segments moving towards [...]

Post a Comment

Go ahead – Make Mistakes!! Business Models and Business Analytics

Leo Sadovy
Leo Sadovy|June 21, 2011

Before a new product, service or process is put into mass production, it is standard operating procedure to model the product beforehand during the planning and development phase. There are many reasons for doing so: performance, manufacturability, serviceability, integration, failure mode testing, etc…, but in the end they all really [...]

Post a Comment

A Transition from Middle Management to Process Management

Leo Sadovy
Leo Sadovy|June 9, 2011

Two articles on my favorite management topic, the importance of middle management in creating value for an organization, appeared online within days of each other this past week. The first, from Wharton, was entitled, “Why Middle Managers May Be the Most Important People in Your Company”, and the second, from [...]

Post a Comment

Curling

Leo Sadovy
Leo Sadovy|February 27, 2011

Not what you were expecting, was it? You open up a business blog only to find an article about that relatively minor winter sport we only get to see once every four years during the Olympics, two dozen ESPN channels not withstanding. But curling it is, and for good reason. [...]

Post a Comment

Process, Process, Process

Leo Sadovy
Leo Sadovy|January 5, 2011

Taking location as a given for the time being, the next most important factor in creating value in your organization are your processes. The mission of your front line people is to create value for the customer, whether that be a service, a retail experience, product production, or on a [...]

Post a Comment

Activity-Based Management: The gift that keeps on giving

Leo Sadovy
Leo Sadovy|October 20, 2010

In honor of the United Nations World Statistics Day (October 20, 2010), let’s not leave finance out of the party. In fact, let’s continue with our focus from last time on the analytical and decision support payback afforded by Activity-based costing, perhaps the most underappreciated finance tool for adding value [...]

Post a Comment

The Bottom Ten

Leo Sadovy
Leo Sadovy|October 8, 2010

You have undoubtedly encountered this board room scenario more than once in your career: As part of the quarterly business review, a list of the ten worst performing/ least profitable customers goes up on the screen. And nothing productive occurs for the next hour, until you return from the break [...]

Post a Comment

Pick one from each column: A CFO's post-conference to-do list

Leo Sadovy
Leo Sadovy|April 28, 2010

When I attend a conference as a participant, one constructive practice I have acquired is to, immediately after completing the post-conference evaluation form, create my own personal “take away” worksheet. Nothing complicated, just two columns which can be labeled left/right, debit/credit, sooner/later, or plain/peanut. Don’t attempt to create this worksheet [...]

Post a Comment