Swift Straw Blog

As a society we are very quick to focus on suppressing symptoms. Just look at modern medicine where there is a pill for every ill. You can suppress heart burn with a purple pill, or you could discover which foods are causing the heart burn and stop eating those? When it comes to our physical...

“The man who chases two rabbits, catches neither.” Confucius

I am in the process of re-reading one of my favorite books of all time, “Blue Ocean Strategy.”  We have all heard that a strategy is only as good as a team’s ability to execute.  In Blue Ocean Strategy, they use the concept of Fair Process to describe the most effective way to execute on a strategy.

“I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night.”  Ray Kroc 

I got an email late yesterday from a team member that had discovered a huge process improvement. After months in the fishbowl, it finally clicked. While we are heavily focused on the traditional proprietary protections, I couldn't help but appreciate how powerful continuous improvement is when it...

The next principle in “Good to Great” is “First Who, Then What”. All of the Good to Great CEO’s focused first on getting the right people on the bus before they decided where they wanted to drive it. They knew that strategy comes after people. Once they got the right people on the bus and the wrong...

I am currently going back through a great business book called “Good to Great” by Jim Collins. Since it has been several years since I last read it, I have a much greater appreciation for some of the timeless principles. In order for a business to sustain greatness, there must be what is known as a...

Simon Sinek told a story about he and a friend who came across a free bagel giveaway. Simon exclaimed “Free Bagel’s! Let’s go get one!”. His friend replied, “No thanks. The line is too long.” Simon said, “Yeah, but it’s free bagels.” His friend replied, “Yeah, but look at the line”. After going...