Think Lean

2. Connect customers and suppliers. This isn't just about making a supply chain operate more efficiently. Take, for instance, Toyota's andon cords. On the surface, they're meant to uncover problems on the assembly line. But they also connect workers and managers. When a cord is pulled, a manager races to the scene. The worker is the customer waiting for knowledge and help. The manager is the supplier of know-how.

3. Specify and simplify work flow. Through years of work and rework, flows get convoluted and complicated. You buy some companies; you sell off some companies. You grow from 5 to 500 employees. Work flow gets seriously messed up. Think about how to simplify those flows.

4. Experiment at the lowest possible level. The people who do the work should be the ones who improve the work. It's easy to hand a problem to a task force or to let management have a go. But such fixes prevent the very people who face the problem from being able to fix it.