• Jim’s Reading List

    I'm often asked, "What do you read to stay ahead of the game when there's so much going on?" In response, I've put together a list that blends fundamentals with new thinking. Here's a reading list I recommend you consider.

  • Featured Client

    FedEx Express needed to increase U.S. export volume in one of its largest US operations. By reducing silos between functions and aligning strategic goals and incentives, we helped increase volume by revenues by 23%, all with a 1,447% ROI.

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It’s the people!

Capital, raw materials and technology sit idle until someone does something with them. What people do with these assets determines whether a business wins or loses. It’s that simple–and that hard.

  • We help organizations dramatically improve operating and financial performance through strong leadership and passionate, turned-on people.
  • We guide business leaders through periods of major change and transition.
  • We connect the business strategy to the people who need to implement it.
  • We provide perspective based on best practices and knowing how organizations should work.
  • We know the right questions to ask!

Check out this 6-minute video: ITT Corporation leadership believes that to improve and sustain successes realized by implementing lean/six sigma that it needs to imbed the change in the company’s culture. It asked the Jim Shaffer Group to help integrate the technical and cultural aspects of change—the hard and the soft—into its lean transformation efforts. In our first project, on time delivery went from 70% to 95% and quality improved 40%.


About Jim Shaffer

Jim Shaffer is an internationally recognized thought leader who specializes in improving business performance and managing large scale organizational change. He helps business leaders in a variety of industries significantly improve and sustain operating and financial performance while achieving exceptional returns on the investments made in generating the improvements. Learn more…

jim | December 9, 2009

Funny Business

Welcome to my blog, Funny Business.
The blog is an outgrowth of The Leadership Report, a monthly electronic newsletter focused on improving organizational performance through strong leaders and passionate, turned-on people. The Report was an outgrowth of my book, The Leadership Solution, which was designed to help leaders improve performance by connecting people to strategy.
This blog [...]

jim | March 31, 2010

Why Can’t Politicians Learn From High Performance Businesses?

As I read today’s CNN headline, “Obama Signs Healthcare ‘Fixes’ Bill,” I’m struck at just how backward politicians of every stripe are compared to what’s becoming standard fare in the high performance business world.
In the high performance world, something that needs to be fixed after you’ve made it is called a defect. Defects represent a [...]

anna | March 30, 2010

Harvard Business Review: A good tool to have

I found this current  Harvard Business Review article entitled, “Are You Ready to Rebound” instructive. It focuses on identifying new opportunities to improve business execution through:

Strong operational hydraulics
Rewards for performance, not mediocrity
Core values with teeth
The right conversations
Adventurous leaders in key positions
Constant pressure versus heroic efforts

It uses a straightforward and useful checklist [...]

jim | March 7, 2010

Change Management Crash Course

I just returned from the West Coast where I conceived and delivered a new crash course workshop on change management.
It started with a call from Jose, a business leader in Southern California  who’d learned of our work integrating the cultural and technical aspects of lean transformations. He wanted help launching lean six sigma with his [...]

jim | February 8, 2010

Super Bowl Ads Were Yawners

I’m fascinated by great advertsing. It’s the stuff that pulls, industry lingo for sells. In other words, it makes money for the sponsor. Novel idea in some circles.
But the softie side of me also loves the ads that poke a little or jerk at the emotions. Because I spent a number of years in the [...]

jim | February 8, 2010

Undercover Boss Should Stay That Way

I alerted our Leadership Report readers to this new CBS “reality” TV show last week.  It came after last night’s Super Bowl. I couldn’t handle it after watching such a great game.  Sort of like chasing a perfectly grilled prime ribeye with a cheap white zinfandel. (Is there an expensive white zin?) 
For those who were watching [...]