GM’s Money-back guarantee a good thing…a trustworthy thing

When I read in USA Today about GM’s money-back guarantee, I was surprised that so many experts were against it.  Looking at it from the ROCC of Trust, it means that GM believes their cars to be reliable enough that they are willing to stand behind it with such a generous guarantee–if we don’t like [...]

Determined and Dependable CEOs Win the Day

David Brooks of the New York Times had this to say yesterday:
In other words, warm, flexible, team-oriented and empathetic people are less likely to thrive as C.E.O.’s. Organized, dogged, anal-retentive and slightly boring people are more likely to thrive.
These results are consistent with a lot of work that’s been done over the past few decades. [...]

Trust Means Saying I’ll Never Go Hungry at McDonald’s

This morning after dropping the kids off at school, Karen and I went to McDonald’s to get our usual breakfast there:  one sausage burrito for each of us.  As I drove up, there was a paper sign that said “cash only.”  I quickly checked my wallet, as I rarely have any cash in it, and [...]

Use Checklists to Increase Your Reliability

A great article in a recent issue of The New Yorker, brought to my attention by good friend Dr. Kevin Lobdell, points out the critical importance of checklists in achieving reliability in highly complex task environments:
In 2001, though, a critical-care specialist at Johns Hopkins Hospital named Peter Pronovost decided to give it a try. [...]