Alan Culler Blog

Consulting is a time-based business. · Sure, there are always firms that try to break this mold with products like surveys, or packaged research. And there are some firms that experiment with gain sharing, a percentage of revenue increased or costs saved. In my experience, that c ...

Thanksgiving: US Style · Many cultures have days of gratitude. Some are somber and religious; others are tied to the bounty of the year’s harvest. Some are flexed according to lunar calendars; some are on a fixed day. In the United States of America, Thanksgiving Day, T-day, Turk ...

It has been more than seven years since I was a consultant. That doesn’t seem so long to me. · “You have no idea,” said a friend who is still consulting. “Things are much faster now. AI assisted search and data analysis. We fly a lot less; everyone does Zoom meetings for weekly u ...

New Year’s celebrations that are part of religions are celebrated at a time that makes sense for that religion and culture. · These celebrations are reflective and may or may not include a tradition of resolutions. · If there is a resolution tradition, however, it is conscientiou ...

See Amazon and your local bookstore

A fun and fascinating read on early psychedelic research · “My book about Tim is up on Amazon. I hope you’ll read it and if you like it tell some other people about it. He was an important person in my life and it was an important time. Psychedelics took on a different meaning la ...

Janus, the two-faced god of gateways, beginnings and transitions was often found above the Roman villa lintel, a blessing on all those who entered and departed. Julius Caesar made Janus the symbol of the New Year in 46 B.C.E. when he instituted the Julian calendar and named the f ...

https://www.freeimages.com/photo/candles-1161780 @korionovThe cold sun sets earlier and rises later each day. Daylight hours are sparse and the night is long and frigid. The green has long departed from the hardwood leaves which now brown-rustle and skitter around the doorway in ...

I had been an aspiring actor, waiting tables and diving a taxi for a couple of years. Then I decided to become a booking agent for speakers like Dick Gregory, Erica Jong and H. Ross Perot for nine years. Then I went to business school · to become a management consultant. · I lik ...

“What problem are we trying to solve?” is a question that can be delivered dripping with withering Middle School English teacher sarcasm, communicating the message that “the status quo is just fine, thank you very much.” Or it can be delivered gently, inquisitively, encouraging p ...

“The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.” · Claude Levi-Strauss · I have written elsewhere of my view that the goal of leadership is attract followers to go in the direction you are leading and that the secret of leadership is the art of aski ...

“But we just redid our comp ratios.” · “Look, I don’t care when you did them, I’m telling you your comp ratios are wrong! My mortgage processors are leaving in droves and the reason they give in exit interviews is compensation. They can make more money doing the same work at othe ...

Image: Construction of the Steve Jobs Theater, Apple "Mothership," new headquarters Cupertino, California · I was talking with Bill, an executive at a construction firm. “I’ve been reading about continuous improvement,” Bill said, “how would you implement something like that here ...

Continuous Improvement Project Management tools · Metrics and measurement, root causes not symptoms, design of experiments, analysis systems . . . it is all so complex and overwhelming how do you pick what to improve? · My friend and Results-Alliance colleague, Dr. Richard Taylo ...