Symphonization - Where East Meets West (122112)

SymphonizationTM

Optimal Transformation Group

―Be Different, Think Different‖

Acknowledgments

For the love of the ideal planet in our solar

system, the recognition to write this article

was a result of the realization of the need for

transformation through SymphonizationTM

.

This article is a composite of ideas from nu-

merous ―out of the box thinkers‖ that have

impacted and transformed the world as we

know it today. Writing this article has been a

challenge as well as a

learning process and

an exciting experi-

ence. We would like

to give a special word

of thanks to our fami-

lies and friends who

have inspired us both personally and profes-

sionally along the journey of writing this arti-

cle - Dennis Alimena, Chad Bauer, Tracy

Beyersdorf-Davis, Bonnie Bierlein-Weber,

Jennifer Buck, Heather El-Homsi, Karen Gi-

raudo, Moore Greenberg, Chuck Hardy, Re-

becca Harris-Burns, Robert McHugh, and

Steven Paul.

• Acknowledgments P. 1

• Current State of Affairs- VUCA world P. 2

• Quality Movement through the Ages P. 4

• Industrial Age (1850’s - 1980’s) P. 4

• Information Age (1980’s - 2000’s) P. 7

• Conceptual Age (2012 & Beyond) P. 9

• Future State of Affairs—Balance

Thinking world P. 9

• New Way of Thinking P.11

• Human Brain P.11

• Hemispheric Personalities P.13

• The Quantum Mind P.14

• The Two Roles of the Mind P.16

• Heuristics Thinking - Intuitive

Problem Solving P.17

• The CREŌTM

Model

Engaging the Whole Mind P.19

• Recognize P.19

• Ideate P.20

• Visualize P.21

• Create P.21

• Idealize P.21

• The Call for Transformation through

SymphonizationTM

P.22

• References P.23

• About the Authors

• Neil Beyersdorf P.24

• Anwar El-Homsi P.25

• About Optimal Transformation Group P.25

© Copyright Optimal Transformation Group, LLC

contents

Where East Meets West

3

VUCA is an acronym developed

in the late 90's by the US Army

War College in Carlisle, Pennsyl-

vania, to help describe the state

of Volatile, Uncertain, Complex,

and Ambiguity that now characterizes the world. Let us look at

these a little more in detail:

Volatile – The world is changing at a rapid pace. The nature

and the dynamics of these changes along with the speed of

change is creating volatility in the world.

Uncertain – There is decreased probability of predictability and

high possibility for surprise. There is limited sense of aware-

ness and understanding of issues and events occurring. The

world is operating in an unclear about present situation and

future outcomes.

Complex – With multiple forces at play, there is constant cha-

os and confusion that surround an organization. A leader is

faced with a multiplicity of decision factors. Due to the rapid

change in the world, there are an increasing number of forces

that are outside the control of the leader which influence their

situation.

Ambiguity – There is lack of clarity about the meaning of an

event. With constant change, there is confusion about the reali-

ty and the known. What is known today may not be relevant

tomorrow.

The rapid changes and implementation of technology, increas-

ing global interconnections, communications, climate change,

population

growth, and

global leveling

are creating a

highly volatile

and unpredicta-

ble environment. The velocity of these changes has put busi-

nesses in a state of extreme chaos. The world is in interesting,

chaotic, and unstable times full of challenging and complex

problems. The world‘s traditional problem solving methods are

no longer effective and the traditional organizational structures

no longer seem sufficient. This is the leadership challenge in

the 21st century.

The ―2012 State of the Future‖, an overview of our global situa

―The people that are crazy

enough to think they can

change the world, are the

ones who do‖ - Apple's Think

Different Advertising

Campaign, 1997-2002


1) Clean Water Supply

2) Population Growth

3) Democratization

4) Education

5) Energy

6) Global Ethics

7) Health Care

8) Infrastructure

9) Natural Resources

10) Natural Disasters

11) Global Convergence of IT

12) Climate and Environment Change

13) Poverty and Wealth Gap

14) Transnational Organized Crime

15) Transparent Governments

15 Global Challenges Facing Humanity

Current State of Affairs – VUCA world

SymphonizationTM

— Where East Meets West

tion problems, solutions, and pro-

spects for the future co-authored

by The Millennium Project, outlines

15 global challenges facing hu-

manity. These challenges are in-

terconnected and interdependent,

an improvement in one makes it

easier to address others; deterio-

ration in one makes it harder to

address others.

The report points out that short-

term, unethical economic decision

making has led to many global

problems. Also the acceleration of

change and interdependence, plus

the proliferation of choices and the

growing number of people and

cultures involved in decisions, in-

crease uncertainty, unpredictabil-

ity, ambiguity, and surprise. As a

result, many of the world‘s institu-

tions and decision making pro-

cesses are inefficient, slow, and ill

informed.

―We are moving from a

world of problems, which

demand speed, analysis,

and elimination of uncer-

tainty to solve, to a world

of dilemmas, which de-

mand patience, sense-

making, and an engage-

ment of uncertainty.‖ -

Author of Leaders Make

the Future, on Thriving in

a VUCA World, Dr. Bob

Johansen

P. 2

4

Symphonization

TM — Where East Meets West

© Copyright Optimal Transformation Group, LLC P. 3

are assigned specific roles with

rigid expectations, made inter-

changeable, replaceable, and uti-

lized as machines ignoring their

distinctive abilities, talents, and

values.

The Newtonian model advises us

that any departure from these con-

ditions will cause progress to

cease. We have originated a bu-

reaucratic and dictatorship form of

organization that is locked in an

inflexible order; incapable of mean-

ingful success and growth. In or-

der to have more flexible and more

adaptive companies, where information and knowledge flow

more freely and breed innovation and creativity, a new way of

thinking is required and a shift in the current management

model is essential.

Currently most Fortune 500 companies in the United States,

like Apple, GE, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Boeing, Siemens,

Home Depot, Sony, Motorola, Nortel, Morgan Stanley and

Chase outsource manufacturing, software jobs, and financial

services to India, China, Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Egypt, and the

Philippines to name few, for lower labor costs. Left brain work,

repetitive tasks and automated work, is being done by over-

seas workers for fraction of the wages in the United States. In

order for the United States to maintain its global leadership,

United States workers need to do what workers abroad cannot

do equally well for much less money use right brain capabili-

ties to innovate better, as innovation is not easily outsourced.

Companies are currently undergoing enterprise-wide infra-

structure initiatives to implement technology base communica-

tion systems like Enterprise Resource

Planning (ERP) systems . These initia-

tives are to address and eliminate ineffi-

cient and redundant reporting of business

information and have the capability of in-

stant reports which previously had report

rates of 30 to sometimes 90 days. These

initiatives are reducing the reaction time

for leaders to execute and respond to

changing conditions; however, it is also

―This organization runs like

clockwork; it‘s always going

round in circles‖ – Author of

World of Difference, Richard

Tiplady

The current state of the world is

not the result of one country,

government, leader, industry,

organization, or department.

Individual theologies and tech-

nological advancements are not

able to solve the challenges and

control their interdependencies.

We live in an unpredictable, un-

controllable, interdependent, and

complex world. The second law

of thermodynamics states entro-

py or disorganization of any sys-

tem will always increase. Order

(sometimes called negative-

entropy) can only be increased

only at the expense of generating more disorder (entropy) else-

where. This disorder will continue to increase as will the com-

plexity of the world will continue to increase. The world is al-

ways in a constant state of VUCA.

The current state of the world and business environments is

seventeenth century thinking based on a top-down command

and control management model, also known as the Newtonian

model. This model depicts the world as a machine or a clock,

operating in an orderly manner

according to its maker‘s instruc-

tions, lead to the idea that the

best human organizations must

also operate in the same way.

The adaptation of this

―organization as machine‖ con-

cept gave birth to this current

world dominant management

model. The model is based on

control, stability, and predictabil-

ity of outcomes to manage an

organization to operate efficient-

ly, effectively and at optimum

performance. It has been used

for as a control system for every

function of the company, from

planning, to budgeting, to man-

aging human resources. People

―Traditional approaches to

problem solving that deal

with complex challenges

are no longer working

which is fostering the need

for a new way of thinking

and a new approach to

problem solving ‖ - Neil

Beyersdorf

―We cannot solve our prob-

lems with the same thinking

we used when we created

them‖ -Theoretical Physicist,

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

5

―We are moving from a

world of problems, which

demand speed, analysis,

and elimination of uncer-

tainty to solve, to a world

of dilemmas, which de-

mand patience, sense-

making, and an engage-

ment of uncertainty.‖ -

Author of Leaders Make

the Future, on Thriving in

a VUCA World, Dr. Bob

Johansen

SymphonizationTM


driving the reduction of the middle management work force that

has been responsible for reporting business information and

performance to executives. The left brain middle management

work force of reporting business information and performance

requires to be utilized in a new capacity. This new capacity

needs to be repurposed to manage innovation.

The implementation of technology base communication sys-

tems is also leading to shorter product life cycle. The product

life cycle is also a result of the instant communication of cus-

tomer‘s needs. Including the new global market place, this in-

stant communication of the customer‘s needs is forcing compa-

nies to manage change at an ever increasing rate to retain

market share. It is also reinforcing the need for companies to

increase a creative right brain staff for innovation and new

product/service development.

The world is in a new age, which requires a new way of think-

ing; in other words, a ―whole new mind‖. The old way of think-

ing is fading and a new way of thinking is starting. The world is

standing on the brink between the end of the Information Age

and the beginning of the Conceptual Age. This brink is the

transitional period from an uncertain ending and hopeful begin-

ning. Uncertainty caused by a period of intense conflicts and

contradictions which have created a crisis. The world as a

whole is in a period of time where too many problems in our

economic, political, health care, educational and environmental

systems are left unsolved and there is not enough time to im-

plement solutions to problems . The scale of these problems

and the rate at which these is-

sues are unfolding has left the

masses with not enough time to

develop and implement solutions

which would elevate these sub-

stantial issues. As a result of

this, many other systems are

breaking down, which is becom-

ing more and more apparent

with the manifestation of record

unemployment, increased pov-

erty, and crime rates. The result-

ing strain on the fabric of the

world makes everyone take ac-

tion seemingly without thinking,

without direction. Thinking with-

‖The real voyage of discov-

ery consists of not in seek-

ing new landscapes but in

having new eyes.‖ -French

Novelist, Marcel Proust

(1871-1922)


out action is a day dream; action

without thinking is a nightmare.

We must collectively start thinking

and acting.

In a thought-provoking book, ―A

Whole New Mind‖ by Daniel Pink,

envisions the shift from the Infor-

mation Age to the Conceptual Age.

He states, ―we are moving from an

economy and society built on logi-

cal, linear, computer like capabili-

ties to an economy and a society

built on inventive, empathetic, big-

picture capabilities‖. He suggests

that engineers and programmers

will have to master different apti-

tudes, relying more on creativity

than competence, more on tactic

knowledge than technical manuals,

and more on fashioning the big picture than the details. Pink

adds that the future is not some threatening world in which

individuals are either left-brained and extinct or right-brained

and ecstatic, but one where directed thinking remains indis-

pensable. In the Conceptual Age, we require a ―whole new

mind‖ and simply stated what worked in the past will no long-

er work in the future. This article introduces not only a new

way thinking but also a new way of doing. It covers the history

of the Quality Movement and its contributors through the ages

and proposes new ideas for problem solving to face the glob-

al challenges of the 21st century.

The journey of the Quality Movement has been a long one. It

can be traced back to the days of the Egyptian civilization

with the building of the Pyramids of Giza, and the pace has

only accelerated since the early agricultural age of the coloni-

al days and British Agricultural Revolution; to the beginning of

the industrial revolution of Henry Ford‘s mass production sys-

tem; to Toyota Production System (TPS) which emphasizes

elimination of waste and continuous rapid improvement; to

Deming and Juran‘s TQM, which focused on elements of sta-

tistical process control as well as organization transformation;

Quality Movement through the Ages

―Today, the defining skills

of the previous era - the

Left Brain capabilities that

powered the Information

Age - are necessary, but

no longer sufficient.‖ –

Author of A Whole New

Mind, Daniel Pink

6


and to today‘s leading quality and continuous improvement

methodologies like Six Sigma from Motorola. It seems as the

baton of the Quality Movement has been passed through the

centuries as we change throughout the ages. Let‘s briefly re-

view some of the great minds and contributors to the quality

movement through the ages who made an impact during the

times in history when the world needed and was at the pinnacle

of change.

American quality practices evolved in the 1800s as they were

shaped by changes in predominant production methods. By

the early 19th century, manufacturing in the United States tend-

ed to follow the craftsmanship model used in the European

countries. In this model, young boys learned a skilled trade

while serving as an apprentice to a master, often for many

years. Since most craftsmen sold their goods locally, each had

a tremendous personal stake in meeting customers‘ needs for

quality. If quality needs weren‘t met, the craftsman ran the risk

of losing customers who could not be easily replaced. There-

fore, masters maintained a form of quality control by inspecting

goods before sale.

The factory system, a product of

the Industrial Revolution in Eu-

rope, began to divide the

craftsmen‘s trades into special-

ized tasks. The introduction of

quality in the factory system was

ensured through the skill of laborers supplemented by audits

and inspection practices. The craftsmen became factory work-

ers and the shop owners became production supervisors,

which marked the initial decline

in the employees‘ sense of em-

powerment and autonomy in the

workplace. Defective products

were either reworked or

scrapped. In the late19th centu-

ry the United States broke fur-

ther from European tradition and

adopted a new management

approach developed by Freder-

ick Winslow Taylor.

Taylor was an American me-

SymphonizationTM


Frederick Winslow Taylor

(1856 – 1915)

Industrial Age (1850’s – 1980’s)

chanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency.

He is regarded as the father of scientific management, one of

the first management consultants, and one of the intellectual

leaders of the Efficiency Movement. Taylor‘s goal was to in-

crease productivity without increasing the number of skilled

craftsmen. This Scientific Management, also called Taylorism,

was a theory of management that analyzed and synthesized

workflows. This management theory was practiced by assign-

ing factory planning to specialized engineers and by using

craftsmen and supervisors, who had been displaced by the

growth of factories, as inspectors and managers to execute the

engineers‘ plans. Taylor‘s approach led to remarkable rises in

productivity, but it had significant drawbacks. Workers were

once again stripped of their dwindling power, and the new em-

phasis on productivity had a negative impact on quality.

In early 1900s, Henry Ford, an American industrialist and the

founder of the Ford Motor Company, instituted the assembly

line technique of mass production

and sponsored the development of

the lean manufacturing practices.

He is credited with "Fordism":

mass production of inexpensive

goods coupled with high wages for

workers. Ford had a global vision,

with consumerism as the key to

peace. He laid the foundation of

the first highly organized assembly

line system of automobile manu-

facturing. He organized all the ele-

ments of a manufacturing system-

people, machines, tooling, and

products, and arranged them in a

continuous system called conveyor

belt system.

Following the Industrial Revolution

and the resulting factory system,

―I will build a motor car for

the great multitude... con-

structed of the best materi-

als, by the best men to be

hired, after the simplest

designs that modern engi-

neering can devise... so

low in price that no man

making a good salary will

be unable to own one and

enjoy with his family the

blessing of hours of pleas-

ure in God‘s great open

space‖ - Henry Ford

(1863 – 1947)

P. 5

7

Symphonization


quality and process control be-

gan to take on some of the char-

acteristics that we know today.

In the 1920s, statistical theories

were being applied to manufac-

turing and quality. Walter An-

drew Shewhart, an American

physicist, engineer and statisti-

cian, is known as the father of

statistical quality control (SQC),

developed a framework for the

first application of the statistical

method to Quality problems in manufacturing at Western Elec-

tric Company. He is credited for creating the world‘s first pro-

cess control chart. According to Dr. William Edwards Deming:

‖As a statistician, he was, like so many of the rest of us, self-

taught, on a good background of physics and mathematics‖.

Also at the Western Electric Company was George Elton Mayo.

He was Australian psychologist and sociologist at the origin of

the human relations movement, and is considered as one of

the founders of industrial sociology. He studied how lighting

levels, workday lengths, and rest period lengths maximize

productivity. During the lighting level studies at Hawthorne

plant in the early 1930s, researchers found that when the lights

were brighter, worker productivity increased. However when

lighting level was decreased worker productivity also in-

creased. This unchanged behavioral of employees is now

called the Hawthorne Effect, stating that when workers are in-

volved and observed in studies or decision making, productivity

increases.

In the 1930s Toyota Motor Company looked in details at the

Hawthorne Effect, and more in-

tensely just after World War II. It

occurred to Toyota that a series

of simple innovations might

make it more possible to provide

both continuity in process flow

and a wide variety in product

offerings. By the mid-1940s,

Toyota recognized that Ameri-

can automakers had a tenfold

productivity advantage. Toyota

knew that they could not com- George Elton Mayo

(1880 – 1949)


Walter Shewhart

(1891 – 1967)

compete with other industrialized

economies on cost, volume, or

quality by using typical mass pro-

duction techniques. Most compa-

nies in Japan had limited re-

sources, especially after the dev-

astation of World War II. These

limitations promoted and created

the ideal lean environment. In or-

der to compete with American au-

tomakers, Japanese leaders,

Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo,

revisited Ford‘s original thinking and devised a new, disci-

plined, process-oriented system, which is known today as the

―Toyota Production System‖ (TPS).

Ohno was a prominent Japanese businessman and is consid-

ered to be the father of the Toyota Production System (TPS),

which became Lean Manufacturing in the U.S. He defined

the seven wastes (muda in Japanese) as part of TPS, writing

several books about the system, including Toyota Production

System: Beyond Large-Scale Production. Shingo did not in-

vent the Toyota Production System but he did document the

system and added two

words, Poka-yoke (mistake-

proofing) and Single-Minute

Exchange of Die (SMED), to

the Japanese and English

lexicon.

Shingo was a Japanese industrial engineer and one of the

world‘s leading experts on manufacturing practices and the

Toyota Production System. His concepts of poka-yoke,

SMED, and "zero quality con-

trol" (eliminating the need for in-

spection of results) have all been

applied in fields in and outside of

manufacturing. The Jon M. Hunts-

man School of Business at Utah

State University recognized Shingo

for his lifetime accomplishments

and created the Shingo Prize that

recognizes world-class, lean or-

ganizations and operational excel-

lence.

Shigeo Shingo

(1909 - 1990)

Taiichi Ohno

(1912 – 1990)

8


The beginning of Total Quality Management (TQM) in the Unit-

ed States came as a direct response to the quality movement

in Japan following World War II. TQM is a management ap-

proach for an organization which is centered on quality, based

on the participation of all its members and aims at long-term

success through customer satisfaction which yields benefits to

all members of the organization and society (International Or-

ganization for Standardization, 1972).

As the technical aspects of quality control evolved, so did the

idea that the quality function needed to be applied not only to

finished product acceptance, but also as part of the in-process,

and development stages. Quality assurance developed pro-

cess checklists, procedures, and confirmation of the product

against the customers‘ requirements. Through the 1940s, most

companies employed quality control and quality assurance

functions, but there was little available in the area of quality

training. This affected the effectiveness of the quality initia-

tives .

In the late 1940s and through the 1950s, American companies

hired industrial engineers and statisticians to run their quality

departments. Among these engineers and statisticians were

the quality experts, the original East meets West, William Ed-

wards Deming and Joseph Juran. Juran was born in the east-

ern European country of Romania and Deming was born in

Midwestern state of Iowa in the Unites States. Both Deming

and Juran became prominent members of the American quality

movement and both consulted companies supplying the U.S.

military during World War II to increase production and manage

quality.

Deming was an American statistician, professor, author, lectur-

er and consultant. He is best known for his significant contribu-

tions to Japan's later reputation

for innovative high-quality prod-

ucts. From 1950 onward, he

taught top management how to

improve design, product quality,

testing, and sales through vari-

ous methods, including the ap-

plication of statistical tools. Ju-

ran was a Quality Management

consultant who is principally re-

membered as an evangelist for

Quality Management, having

SymphonizationTM


William Edwards Deming

(1900 – 1993)

written several influential books on

the subject. Rather than concen-

trating on inspection, both Deming

and Juran focused on improving all

organizational processes through

management and people who

used quality methods.

After World War II, Japan was

known for poor quality products

and was in an economic crisis. The

Japanese welcomed the input of

Americans Deming and Juran and

in 1954, Juran was invited to Japan to consult on quality man-

agement. At the same time, Deming independently came to

Japan to consult in the application of statistical methods. By

the 1960s, Japanese products became known for high quality.

In the 1970s, people around the globe wanted to know how the

Japanese were turning things around so rapidly. Japanese

companies like Toyota were ex-

porting cars around the world that

were not only less expensive than

competitors, but they were also of

higher quality. They achieved this

high quality through the application

of both TQM and TPS.

One of the first American corpora-

tions to seek consulting from Dem-

ing was the Ford Motor Company.

In the early 1980s, Ford had in-

curred $3 billion in losses. Deming

questioned the company's culture

and the way its managers operat-

ed. He did not consult on product

quality, but rather on management

itself. He told Ford that manage-

ment actions were responsible for

85% of all problems in developing

high quality cars.

In the 1980s, Motorola was strug-

gling to compete with foreign man-

Information Age (1980’s - 2000’s)

Joseph Moses Juran

(1904 – 2008)

―We are moving toward

building a quality culture at

Ford and the many chang-

es that have been taking

place here have their roots

directly in Deming's teach-

ings. There was a great

deal of talk about the se-

quence of the 3P‘s – peo-

ple, products, and profits. It

was decided that people

should absolutely come

first‖ - Former Ford Motor

Company CEO, Don

Peterson

P. 7

9

Symphonization



ufacturers, especially Japanese

companies. This struggle be-

came apparent after an execu-

tive meeting held in Chicago,

chaired by Robert Galvin,

Motorola‘s president. Senior

Sales Vice President Art Sundry

stood up in front of 75 execu-

tives and admitted, ―Motorola‘s

quality stinks.‖ The recognition of

their need to improve the quality

of their products forced Motorola

to benchmark other companies. Galvin challenged his people

to improve the quality level tenfold. Six Sigma was the method

presented as the way to meet his challenge. Bill Smith, a staff

engineer at Motorola, first introduced his statistical approach

aimed at increasing profitability by reducing defects. Smith

credited for coining the term ―Six Sigma‖ and noted as the fa-

ther of Six Sigma.

In 1986, Six Sigma implemen-

tation began at Motorola with a

plan to close the quality gap.

Goals were set to achieve a

tenfold quality improvement in

two years, a hundredfold quali-

ty improvements in four years,

and to obtain a Six Sigma quality level in six years. To achieve

a Six Sigma quality level, a process must meet 3.4 defects or

errors per one million produced or processed. The Six Sigma

problem solving methodology is a five step process called

DMAIC. The five steps of the DMAIC process are Define,

Measure Analyze, Improve, and Control. As a result of their

Six Sigma methodology,

Motorola realized powerful bot-

tom-line results and documented

more than $16 Billion in savings.

Also as a result of the Six Sigma

methodology, Motorola received

the first Malcolm Baldrige Na-

tional Quality Award in 1989.

Head of Motorola Six Sigma Re-

search Institute, Dr. Mikel Harry,

was appointed to be the driving Dr. Mikel Harry

Bill Smith

(1929 – 1993)

force behind the development of

Six Sigma Methodology. He devel-

oped the model and coined the

levels of practitioners, "Green

Belt", "Black Belt", and "Master

Black Belt", similar the craftsman-

ship model used in the European

countries in the early 19th century.

After the success Motorola demon-

strated with their Six Sigma Meth-

odology, Eastman Kodak Compa-

ny, Allied Signal, and Texas Instruments adopted the Six Sig-

ma Methodology and also documented and realized powerful

bottom-line cost savings.

Larry Bossidy, former CEO of Allied Signal, introduced Six

Sigma to Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric. Welch

convinced Bossidy, who was an ex-GE senior executive, to

talk to GE‘s leadership team about Six Sigma initiatives, the

successes achieved at his company, and how this approach

would benefit GE as it transformed itself.

The GE leadership team was convinced that Six Sigma was

the tool needed to improve its business. In 1995, Welch di-

rected the company to undertake Six Sigma as a corporate

initiative with a corporate goal to be a Six Sigma company by

the year 2000.The success achieved by Motorola and GE

through their Six Sigma programs has secured the popularity

of this business-improvement

methodology.

Six Sigma can be defined in many

ways: a vision; a philosophy; a

symbol; a metric; a goal; and a

methodology. The quality leaders,

throughout the history of the Quali-

ty Movement, were all in the manu-

facturing industry. By the early

2000s, non-manufacturing, service

companies, like banks, insurance,

investment, software developers,

health care providers, hotels, R&D

firms, marketing firms, and con-

struction companies took notice

and began to implement Six Sigma

initiatives. This was a direct result

―Six Sigma has changed

the DNA of GE — it is now

the way we work — in

everything we do and in

every product we design‖

– Jack Welch

Larry Bossidy

10

Symphonization


of many of American leaders, like Jack Welch, openly praised

the benefits of Six Sigma.

Also at that time, the methods of both Lean and Six Sigma

were practiced in combination to eliminate waste and increase

and sustain quality.

Lean Six Sigma has shown to be beneficial in manufacturing

and non-manufacturing settings. The popularity and success of

this quality methodology could not be disputed. Today, thou-

sands of companies around the world including household

names, like American Express, DuPont, The McGraw-Hill Com-

panies, Sony, Toshiba, and Xerox, have adopted Lean Six Sig-

ma successfully as a way of doing business.

Over the recent years and through a relatively short period of

time, the Quality Movement has grown and evolved massively

through the ages. It became more than just quality systems

and methodologies like TQM, TPS, and Lean Six Sigma, it is a

way of doing business. Some companies have completely em-

braced and embedded it in their culture while others use it as

required. Today companies use

quality methods, which have

been developed over the last

two centuries, to achieve great

business advantage, improve

product and service quality, and

high customer satisfaction.

Speed of technology develop-

ment, economic globalization,

internet connectivity and infor-

mation, outsourcing, decentrali-

zation, and employment con-

tracting are greatly impacting

individuals and societies, and

are causing a movement toward

what Daniel Pink calls the

―Conceptual Age.‖ It is an age of

creators and empathizers, of

pattern recognizers and mean-

ing makers. He suggests that

there are three forces which are

driving this movement: abun-

Conceptual Age (2012 & Beyond)


―While acknowledging that

the speed of changing

technology and innovation

are important factors, she

proposes that there can

be no invention in busi-

ness or technology without

human consciousness.

Technology is conscious-

ness externalized‖ - Au-

thor of Megatrends 2010:

The Rise of Conscious

Capitalism, Patricia

Aburdene

dance, Asia, and automation. By abundance he means that

most people in the world have enough material wealth (There

are more people in the world with access to mobile phones

than access to toilets). The growing economic and political

importance of Asia, especially China and India, is impacting

the global economy, resulting in jobs outsourcing. From com-

munications to manufacturing, automation is resulting in in-

creased productivity. This means the requirement is for fewer

workers, so there are more people available to do other activi-

ties. The rise in human consciousness is another force contrib-

uting to the movement toward the conceptual age.

Many experts clearly suggest

that ―Innovation‖ is the best

approach to address global

challenges and improved

quality of life, raise productivi-

ty, and foster competitive

businesses. As a result many countries around the world are

competing for innovation, it becomes the guiding force for na-

tional progress. Innovation means

to make something new by pur-

posefully combining different exist-

ing principles, ideas, and

knowledge. John Kao, a Innova-

tion Activist and the author of ― In-

novation Nation: How America Is

Losing Its Innovation Edge,

Why It Matters, and What We Can

Do To Get It Back‖, says ―not long

ago, Americans could rightfully feel

confident in their preeminence in

the world economy. The U.S. set

the pace as the world‘s leading

innovator – from the personal com-

puter to the internet, from Wall

Street to Hollywood, from the de-

coding of the genome to the emer-

gence of Web 2.0, we led the way

and the future was ours. Today it

is not the case, the US has been

―Innovation has become

the new currency of global

competition as one country

after another, races toward

a new high ground where

the capacity of innovation

is viewed as a hallmark of

national success.‖ -

Innovation Activist, John

Kao

Future State of Affairs - Balance Thinking world

P. 9

11

Symphonization


losing its edge with regard to

innovation, he states that our

national capacity for innovation

is eroding, with deeply troubling

implications for our future. In

tomorrow‘s world, even more

than today‘s, innovation will be

the engine of progress. So un-

less we move to rectify this dis-

mal situation, the United States

cannot hope to remain a leader.

What‘s at stake is nothing less

than the future prosperity and

security of our nation.‖ Kao ar-

gues that the U.S. still has the

capability not only to regain our competitive edge, but to take a

bold step out ahead of the global community and secure a

leadership role in the twenty-

first century.

It is clear that in the conceptu-

al age, global competitiveness

depends on the ability to inno-

vate. A significant part of the

innovation process revolves

around ‗creativity‘, it is the raw material of innovation, put it in

other words, innovation is creativity implemented, innovation is

impossible without creativity.

For all of its recognized value, a

stigma surrounds creativity that

often inhibits its organizational

development in most companies.

Creativity is often seen as a risk

management liability and an im-

pediment to process and opera-

tional control. To integrate and

foster creativity in organizations,

leaders should:

1) Understand that people are

the sources of creativity

2) Have inspiring vision and

purpose for innovation

3) Promote a culture of innova-

tion and trust ―High Trust corp-

orations outperform low trust by

286%‖ - Watson Wyatt 2002 Study

4) Connect ideas and people in

novel ways

5) Create an environment where

employees can take reasona-

ble risks

6) Remember that failure is a

great teacher

7) Create an anxiety free work-

place

8) Have a system to collect, eval-

uate and implement ideas.

9) Allocate time and provide the

physical space dedicated to

innovation and give employees

the freedom to work on new

ideas

10) Reward organizational creativi-

ty and innovation

11) Allow employees to celebrate

their individuality

12) Drive out fear, fear is the great-

est enemy of innovation

In addition to innovation, success

in the Conceptual Age requires

leaders to restructure their organi-

zations to have them function more

like adaptive living system; they

should learn from and get inspired

by nature. In nature, waste is food,

consumption is beneficial, relation-

ships are synergistic, and the fo-

cus is on optimizing rather than

maximizing. In nature, there are

more

© Copyright Optimal Transformation Group, LLC P.10

―The first step in winning

the future is encouraging

American innovation.

None of us can predict

with certainty what the

next big industry will be, or

where the new jobs will

come from …What we can

do—what America does

better than anyone—is

spark the creativity and

imagination of our people.‖

- 2011 State of the Union

Address, 44th President of

the United States, Barack

Obama

―Innovation distinguishes

between a leader and a

follower‖ - Late Former

Apple CEO, Steve Jobs

(1955 - 2011)

―The best companies excel

in identifying and fostering

good ideas every minute of

everyday‖ - General

Manager of IDEO and

Author of ―The Art of

Innovation‖, Tom Kelley

―Go to the local kindergarten

and watch the children play.

They are masters at rapidly

building coalitions – before

they get ‗educated,‘ that is...‖

- CEO of Creative Pathways,

David Kayrouz

12


collaborative, decentralized,

multifunctional, adaptive, and

resilient systems.

Leaders should see the whole

organization as a system, and

structure it based on values and

common purpose. They should

promote learning, leverage di-

versity, and inspire collaboration.

They need to encourage syner-

gies across the business at all

levels. They should create con-

nections based on authenticity,

transparency, and common core

values, promoting a culture that inspires vision built on trust.

Again, most importantly support creativity and innovation.

In the 16th century, in Venice,

Italy, Galileo Galilei, an Italian

physicist and astronomer, took

the leaders of that day to the

top of the St. Marco tower to

prove to them, using his newly

perfected ―spyglass‖ telescope, the theory of Copernicus which

states that the sun, not the earth

is the center of the solar system.

He showed them the discovery

he had made in the night sky

verifying that the earth revolved

around the sun and not the other

way around. That was a revolu-

tionary idea, it contradicted be-

liefs at the time and it was met

with substantial resistance from

thoughtful people. That re-

sistance extended to the point

that he was threatened with tor-

ture in order to get him to retract

his idea. He was told to recant

his theory or face execution.

Galileo complied.

As a matter of fact, most great ideas are met with great re-

sistance. It's easy to say no to a new idea. After all, new ideas

cause change, and change triggers fear of the unknown. In

1861, Phillip Reiss invented a machine that could transmit mu-

sic and was on the verge of inventing the telephone. He was

persuaded there was no market for a telephone, because the

telegraph was an adequate way to send messages. Fifteen

years later Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Computer Inc., tells the story

of how his idea of a personal computer was rejected by Atari

and HP, ―So we went to Atari and said, ‗Hey, we‘ve got this

amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do

you think about funding us? Or we‘ll give it to you. We just

want to do it. Pay our salary, we‘ll come work for you.‘ And

they said, ‗No.‘ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they

said, ‗Hey, we don‘t need you. You haven‘t got through college

yet.‘‖ Apple personal computers have changed our world forev-

er. Another In another story of a rejected great idea, Yale stu-

dent Fred Smith came up with the concept of Federal Express,

a national overnight delivery service. The U.S. Postal Service,

U.P.S., his business professor, and virtually every delivery ex-

pert in the United States predicted his enterprise would fail.

Based on their experiences in the industry, no one, they said,

would pay a fancy price for speed and reliability. History is full

of stories of great ideas that were rejected.

This is an unconventional article with many new ideas to set

you thinking about new ways to

leading your organizations, and

new way of problem solving. It is

intended for professionals who are

willing to explore new dimensions,

create their own realities, and have

the fortitude to have their way of

thinking challenged and perhaps

changed for the better. It is about

illuminating your mind to clearly

see systems, interdependencies,

interconnections, the real complex-

ities of the world, and creating an

environment for more efficient,

more effective, and more resilient

and more sustainable organization

regardless of the complexity.

SymphonizationTM


―The Brain is wider than

the sea, For put them side

by side, The one the other

will contain, With ease, and

you beside‖ - American

Poet, Emily Dickinson

(1830-1886)

―You cannot teach a man

anything; you can only

help him find it within him-

self.‖ - Italian Physicist and

Astronomer, Galileo Galilei

(1564-1642)

―There is nothing permanent

except change‖ - Greek Phi-

losopher, Heraclitus of Ephe-

sus (c.535 BC - 475 BC)

New Way of Thinking

P.11

13

Symphonization


In the human body, the cen-

tral nervous system is made

of the brain and the spinal

cord while the peripheral

nervous system is comprised

of nerves. Together, they

control every part of a per-

son‘s daily life, from breathing to blinking to walking. Sensory

nerves gather information from the environment, and send that

information to the spinal cord, which speeds the message to

the brain. The brain then makes sense of that message and

fires off a response. The motor neurons then deliver the in-

structions from the brain to the rest of the body.

Beyond managing information and delivering orders, the hu-

man brain is thought to be the source of the conscious cogni-

tive mind. The mind is a collection of processes related to per-

ception, interpretation, imagination, and memories, of which a

person may or may not be aware. This is where the ability to

dream, believe and lead resides.

From a philosophical point of view, the most important function

of the brain is to serve as the physical structure underlying the

mind. From a purely biological point of view, the most important

function of the brain is to gener-

ate behaviors that promote the

welfare of a human and the sur-

vival of the species.

The brain is the most mysterious

and complex organ in the human

body. It is about the size of a

grapefruit and weighs about

three pounds (78%water, 10%

Fat, 8%Protein). It is very soft,

tan-gray on the outside and yel-

low white on the inside. It con-

sumes about 20% of the body's

The Human Brain energy and oxygen. It is a delicate

grey matter with a wrinkled surface

that is covered with all sorts of

ridges and dips. These ridges are

called 'gyri' and the dips are called

'sulci'. When viewed from above, it

looks like an English walnut with

the shell removed. It is divided into

a symmetrical left and a right

halves or hemispheres connected

by white communication fibers

called the corpus callosum. With-

out this connection, the two halves

of the brain would be unable to

communicate with each other.

These hemispheres are almost

completely separate but are de-

signed to work together as an inte-

grated whole. Each of the hemispheres interacts with the op-

posite side of the body. This is referred to as lateralization;

which means that the left side of the brain interacts with the

right side of the body and vice-versa.

The brain contains about

100 billion nerve cells,

called neurons, which can

receive and send electro-

chemical signals. These

create a network of connec-

tions that guide all of our

conscious and unconscious

actions. Each neuron has an average of 10,000 connections

with other neurons. Dendrites (branch like fibers, from the

Greek word for tree) grow out of the neurons when you listen

to, write about, talk about, or practice something. Dendrites

take time to grow, and it takes a lot of practice for them to

grow. When two dendrites grow close together, a contact

point is formed. A small

gap at the contact point is

called the synapse. Mes-

sages are sent from one

neuron to another as elec-

trical signals travel across

the synapse. Special chem-

New Way of Thinking


―The brain is the last and

grandest biological frontier,

the most complex thing we

have yet discovered in our

universe. It contains hun-

dreds of billions of cells

interlinked through trillions

of connections. The brain

boggles the mind‖ - Ameri-

can Molecular Biologist

―...the Astonishing Hypothesis

– that each of us is the be-

havior of a vast interacting set

of neurons.‖ - Molecular Biol-

ogist, Biophysicist, and Neu-

roscientist, Francis Crick

(1916 -2004)

14


icals called neurotransmitters carry the electrical signals

across the synapse. When you practice something, it gets easi-

er for the signals to cross the synapse. That‘s because the con-

tact area becomes wider and more neuro-transmitters are

stored there. Also, practice builds faster connections, when

you practice something; the dendrites grow thicker with a fatty

coating of myelin. The thicker the dendrites, the faster the sig-

nals travel. The myelin coating

also reduces interference. With

enough practice, the dendrites

build a double connection faster,

and stronger. Double connec-

tions last a very long time, lead-

ing you to remember what you

learned.

This theme that appears throughout the book ―Outliers: The

Story of Success‖, by Malcolm Gladwell, is the "10,000-Hour

Rule" based on a study by Dr. K. Anders Ericsson. "10,000-

Hour Rule" claims that the key to become an expert in any field

requires, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task

for an approximate time of 10,000 hours.

The Beatles performed live in Hamburg, Germany over 1,200

times from the early to mid-1960s, accumulating more than

10,000 hours of playing time, therefore meeting the "10,000-

Hour Rule". Gladwell asserts that all of the time The Beatles

spent performing shaped their talent, and quotes Beatles' biog-

rapher Philip Norman as saying, "So by the time they returned

to England from Hamburg, Germany, 'they sounded like no one

else. It was the making of them.'" Bill Gates met the "10,000-

Hour Rule" when he gained access to a high school computer

in 1968 at the

age of 13, and

spent 10,000

hours program-

ming on it. In

other words,

practice makes

perfect.

The brain has a neuroplasticity property (Neuro is for neuron

and plastic is for changeable, malleable, modifiable) and acts

like muscle that grows when stimulated. Mental training in-

creases brain‘s weight, neurons develop more branches and

increase their size, the number of connections, and their blood

supply. The theory of neuroplastici-

ty states that ―thinking, learning,

and acting actually change both

the brain‘s physical and the func-

tional structure. If we change the

way we think, we change our

brains.

Whenever individuals work togeth-

er with a common purpose work

strategies and thinking processes

develop, and an organizational

culture is created. Corporations have belief structures that they

operate on and we call this belief structure ―the corporate cul-

ture‖. Everyone who has ever worked for the organization

played some role in shaping its culture. Corporate culture is

based on people‘s perceptions and assumptions about how

things are accomplished within the organization. Corporate

culture is referring to the habits, attitudes, shared beliefs, be-

haviors, and expectations. It guides how employees think, act,

and feel and it drives action in the organization. Recent brain

research has shown that every sustained activity including do-

ing, learning, thinking, and imagining changes the brain struc-

ture. As culture evolves, it continually leads to new changes in

the brain, culture shapes the brain.

As we get older, the brain plasticity declines, it then becomes

increasingly difficult for us to change in response to the world,

even if we want to. We tend to ig-

nore or forget, or attempt to dis-

credit, information that does not

match our beliefs. It is very dis-

tressing and difficult to think and

perceive in unfamiliar ways

and that is why change program

usually fail. For a change program

to succeed, employees need to

unlearn their preexisting mental

structures and develop new ones.

SymphonizationTM


―The illiterate of the 21st

century will not be those

who cannot read and write,

but those who cannot

learn, unlearn, and relearn‖

- American Writer , Alvin

Toffler

Bill Gates

P.13

15

Hemispheric Personalities

SymphonizationTM


New technologies and imaging techniques, like CT scans, PET

scans, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), allowed neuro-

scientists to examine the human brain in detail. We now know

that the brain is composed of two completely separate hemi-

spheres. Each hemisphere processes information and func-

tions differently. They each possess different personalities, so

different they that are often referred to as the Dr. Jekyll and Mr.

Hyde. The right hemisphere is

the artistic, intuitive and thinks in

pictures and abstractions. It re-

sponds to non-verbal and non-

rational instructions, solves prob-

lems with intuition, and under-

stands patterns and similarities.

It is fluid and spontaneous, fa-

vors elusive, uncertain infor-

mation, prefers drawing and ma-

nipulating objects. It is also free

with personal feelings, connect-

edness is important, sees corre-

spondences and resemblances,

draws on unbounded patterns,

and synthesizes the big picture.

The right hemisphere controls

―non‐conscious‖ learning. The

left hemisphere is the academic,

logical and processes words or language. It responds to ver-

bal and written instructions, solves problems logically and

sequentially, prefers plans and structures, understands differ-

ences, cause and effect, conditional relationships, and ana-

lyzes details. The left hemisphere controls conscious learn-

ing.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain

scientist and the author of the

book ―My Stroke of Insight: A

Brain Scientist's Personal Journey‖, shares her amazing and

life changing story of having a stroke on the left side of her

brain. She explains that when her

left brain became nonfunctional,

she lost the memories of her past

and had no perception of the fu-

ture. Her consciousness shifted

into a "right here, right now‖ mo-

ment. She describes it as an ex-

perience she called ―La-La Land‖

and that everything was an explo-

sion of magnificent stimulation as

she felt complete euphoria. She

could not define the boundary of

her body, she was captivated by

the magnificence of the energy

around her, and she felt part of this

energy. She was looking at the big

picture and could see that she was

connected to everything around

her. She felt part of the whole and

that everything and everyone are

connected together as one with the

universe. Most importantly, she

categorically reveals that the left

brain is egoistic, intellectual (logic)

and attached to time and that the

right brain is egoless, intuitional

and time-transcendent.

Recent discoveries in quantum

physics, also known as the new

science, suggest that there is ener-


――I am an energy being

connected to the energy all

around me through the

consciousness of my right

hemisphere. We are ener-

gy beings connected to

one another through the

consciousness of our right

hemispheres as one hu-

man family. And right here,

right now, we are all broth-

ers and sisters on this

planet, here to make the

world a better place. And in

this moment we are per-

fect. We are whole. And we

are beautiful‖ - Brain Scien-

tist, Author of My Stroke of

Insight, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

The Quantum Mind

LEFT HEMISPHERE

Verbal

Analytic

Symbolic

Rational

Digital

Logical

Linear

RIGHT HEMISPHERE

Nonverbal

Synthetic

Actual

Non-rational

Spatial

Intuitive

Holistic

―The intuitive mind is a

sacred gift and the rational

mind is a faithful servant.

We have created a society

that honors the servant

and has forgotten the gift‖ -

Theoretical Physicist,

Albert Einstein

(1879-1955)

16


energy everywhere that con-

nects everything with everything

else and with the whole uni-

verse. Scientists know this uni-

versal energy field as

―consciousness‖. In 1944, Max

Planck identified the existence of

this energy, which he called the

―Matrix‖. This field of energy con-

nects everything in our world; it

is a non-local energy. Locality

comprises the idea of normal

cause and effect under which

objects move or change as a

result of being impacted by other

objects, or of being directly act-

ed on by energetic forces such

as the electromagnetic force. By

contrast, non-locality involves

the ability of one object to deter-

mine the behavior of another

distant object instantaneously,

and without any matter or ener-

gy passing between the two, an

object appears to affect the other even though there is no

known means by which they could be connected, this refers to

in quantum physics as ―entanglement‖. It violates Einstein‘s

theory of relativity, which states that all interactions in space

and time must occur via signals, Einstein called entanglement

―spooky action at a distance‖, and he also noted Quantum

Physics as real black magic cal-

culus. Non-locality shattered the

very foundations of classical

physics. Matter could no longer

be considered separate. Suba-

tomic particles had no meaning

in isolation but could only be

understood in their relation-

ships. The world, at its most

basic, existed as a complex web

of interdependent relationships,

forever indivisible.

Dr. Amit Goswami, a renowned

Quantum Physicist, explains in

―The good news experiment –

we are one‖ that this non-local

connectivity between people was

proven via experiments. The first

of these experiments was conduct-

ed in 1993 by neurophysiologist,

Jacobo Grinberg and his collabora-

tors at the University of Mexico.

They tried to show a non-local con-

nection between two brains. They

wired up the brains of two people,

who had the intention of direct sig-

nal-less communication, to an

electroencephalogram (EEG) ma-

chine and then were placed in two

separate Faraday cages (electromagnetically impervious

chambers). One of the people was shown a series of light

flashes that produced electrical activities in his brain. Surpris-

ingly, identical electrical activities were produced in the other

person‘s brain demonstrating a nonlocal connection between

the two people. The existence of nonlocal connections among

people has been verified and repli-

cated in numerous experiments.

As the brain is part of the physical

world and since the world obeys

the laws of quantum physics, many

quantum physicists believe that

quantum theory explains the mys-

tery of the mind. There are many

similarities found between the

thought process and the quantum

process. Henry Stapp, a distin-

guished quantum physicist at Law-

rence Berkeley National Laborato-

ry, believes that classical physics

cannot describe the brain, and

thinks that a quantum framework is

needed for a full explanation.

Quantum is the Latin word for

amount and, in modern under-

standing, means the smallest pos-

sible discrete unit of any physical

SymphonizationTM


New Way of Thinking

Quantum Physicist

Dr. Amit Goswami

―I regard consciousness as

fundamental. I regard mat-

ter as derivative from con-

sciousness. We cannot get

behind consciousness.

Everything that we talk

about, everything that we

regard as existing, postu-

lates consciousness‖ -

German Theoretical Quan-

tum Physicist, Max Karl

Ernst Ludwig Planck

(1858 –1947)

"When you change the

way you look at things, the

things you look at change"

- American Self-Help Au-

thor and Motivational

Speaker, Dr. Wayne Dyer

New Way of Thinking

―Everything you see or

hear or experience in any

way at all is specific to

you. You create a universe

by perceiving it, so every-

thing in the universe you

perceive is specific to you‖

- English Writer, Humorist

and Dramatist, Douglas

Noel Adams (1952 –2001)

P.15

17

Symphonization


property, such as energy or mat-

ter. The results of recent quan-

tum physics experimental dis-

coveries are truly remarkable.

One of these experimental dis-

coveries is the double-slit experi-

ment. Geoffrey Ingram Taylor, a

British physicist first conducted

the experiment in 1909. In

2002, the double-slit experiment

was voted "the most beautiful

experiment" by readers of Phys-

ics World. The result of the ex-

periment was quite bizarre, an

electron behaved as both parti-

cle and wave. Electrons behave as a wave until it is observed,

then it acts as a particle. This is called the ―observer effect‖,

this means that when we are looking, an electron behaves like

a particle and when we are not looking, an electron behaves as

a wave.

The double-slit experiment

concludes that electrons are

potential, rather than actual

physical entities. So that

there are various potentials.

Until somebody looks, it forc-

es the universe to make a

determination about which potential is going to be reality. Reali-

ty is not fixed but fluid hence it is open to our influence. At the

smallest, quantum level of existence, we change matter, by

simply observing it. In other words, your perception is your real-

ity.


―What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking

about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can

taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals inter-

preted by your brain‖ - Matrix — Morpheus, Laurence

―Reality is merely an illu-

sion, albeit a very persis-

tent one.‖ - Theoretical

Physicist, Albert Einstein

(1879-1955)

Scientists from top-ranking US uni-

versities such as Princeton and

Stanford and from around the

world are coming to the realization

that human beings are packets of

quantum energy constantly ex-

changing information through their

mind. Some scientists have even

gone as far as to say that our

memories don‘t even sit inside our

heads at all. Our brains are simply

the retrieval and read-out mecha-

nism of the ultimate storage medi-

um, the consciousness. Scientists

now acknowledge that we can‘t

know reality completely, nor con-

trol or predict anything. Approxi-

mation is our only hope. As a re-

sult, organizations should change their approach to how they

set their visions, develop their business and strategic plans,

utilize people‘s skills, and how to go forward and succeed

without aiming at specific critical and measurable targets.

Everything in our known universe is ultimately energy, and

this energy is influenced by our

mind. Something only appears as

matter when it is being observed.

All of existence is fundamentally an

unlimited quantum field of energy,

a sea of infinite possibilities waiting

to happen. It gives us the ability to

influence everything around us and

to shape our world.

By ―Thinking‖, the right hemisphere

of the brain receives creative ideas

from the non-local energy, while

the left hemisphere of the brain

validates and processes them. The

validation is accomplished through

testing, experimentation, and anal-

The Two Roles of the Mind

P.16

―Quantum science sug-

gests the existence of

many possible futures for

each moment of our lives.

Each future lies in a state

of rest until it is awakened

by choices made in the

present‖ - Author and

Speaker, Gregg Braden

―The very study of the

physical world leads to the

conclusion that the concept

of consciousness is an

ultimate reality‖ - Physicist,

Nobel Laureate, and

Founder of Quantum Me-

chanics, Eugene Wigner

18


SymphonizationTM


sis. We call this the ―Doing‖. All

human achievements and pro-

gress are accomplished by the-

se two forces - ―Thinking‖ and

―Doing‖.

Dr. Amit Goswami clarifies that

thinking is being which means

stepping back enough to tap the

energy of the consciousness,

and that doing means you‘re

converting possibility into actual-

ity. He says quantum leaps of

insight come from not just do-do-

do or be-be-be, but rather alter-

nating Do Be Do Be Do Be

Do……. He explains that when

we are doing, we are actually in

the ego (left brain). When we are

just being, we are aligned with

non-local consciousness (right

brain). Testing and analyzing are

ways to ―do‖, and meditation and

mindfulness are ways to ―be‖.

Further, he describes that we

connect with others through a

non-local consciousness. He

says that in Western cultures,

there is a lot of doing, while in

Eastern cultures, is more fo-

cused on being. The secret to

success he says is a balance

between the two. Solutions to

our current problems are out

there in the Matrix, we receive

them as creative ideas through

our right brain, and we evaluate,

test, and analyze them through

―When in the course of

scientific endeavor, it be-

comes apparent that deep-

er truth exists, a decent

respect to Nature requires

that such truths be ex-

plored. We hold these

truths to be scientifically

approachable, that all

forms of existence are

interconnected, that they

possess certain funda-

mental and unalienable

properties. That to de-

scribe this interconnected-

ness and these properties,

successive theories shall

be constructed by man-

kind, deriving their explan-

atory and predictive pow-

ers from the approxima-

tions of laws of Nature.

That whenever any theory

becomes inadequate of

these ends, it is the duties

of mankind to modify it or

to abolish it, and to estab-

lish new ones, laying the

foundation on such princi-

ples and organizing the

structures in such forms,

as to mankind shall seem

most likely to reflect their

our left brain.

House is an American television medical drama show staring

Hugh Laurie who plays the character Dr. Gregory House. Dr.

House, who is a drug-addicted unconventional, misanthropic

medical genius, leads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional

Princeton–Plainsboro Teaching Hospital (PPTH) in New Jer-

sey. In every episode, the team faced patients with an uniden-

tified medical emergency; which is usually a matter of life and

death. Dr. House begins his diagnosis the moment he meets

the patient, even before conducting any examination. He ob-

serves the patient‘s appearance, his complexion, and the tilt of

his head, the movement of his eyes and mouth, the way he sits

and stands up, and the sounds of his breathing. His theory

about what is wrong continues to evolve through the show as

his theories are tested in the labs for confirmation and valida-

tion. The team solves the medical problem and save the pa-

tient's life in the last 10 minutes of the show while reassuring

us that the world makes rational sense and we can know it.

Dr. House‘s process of diagnostics is mostly based on hunch-

es, gut feel, and intuition; he

uses a concept called

―Heuristics‖. He always has

an initial theory in mind about

what is wrong with the patient

(Thinking, using right brain)

and he always tests his theo-

ry to validate it (Doing, using left brain). Some argue that every

physician who faces an undiag-

nosed complaint goes through a

process very similar to that per-

formed by Dr. House (some more

thoroughly than others). They use

heuristics and insight, when trying

to decide a course of treatment,

given a set of symptoms, more

than formal logic and careful rea-

soning.

The word Heuristics comes from

the same Greek root as "Eureka!" Hugh Laurie

Heuristics Thinking - Intuitive Problem Solving

understanding and

knowledge of Nature‖ – 3rd

President of the United

States, Thomas Jefferson

(1743 – 1826)

P.17

19

Symphonization



It means "to find" or "pertaining

to finding". It may also be de-

fined as the study of search.

Heuristics is the study of ways to

direct your attention successfully

to find something. That some-

thing is somewhere. It's just bur-

ied among many places to look

for called ―Search Space‖.

The Search Space is the set of

possible places to look the solu-

tions you're trying to find. It is a

trial and an error process where

a number of possibilities are

generated and the best selected

by try-it-and-see experimenta-

tion. It is a strategy that ignores

part of the information, with the

goal of making decisions more

quickly and accurately than more

complex structured methods.

This problem solving method

that uses the whole mind; we

have a theory in mind (right

brain) and we test it (left brain)

that leads to a solution much

faster than the current popular

problem solving methods. It

helps a person to quickly con-

nect a set of data points into a

recognizable pattern and thus, using that pattern, to decide on

an effective course of action. Heuristics are especially useful

when time is critical, like in emergency room situations.

Intuition uses heuristics, which is then applied and ingrained in

the subconscious to initiate instantaneously without conscious

summons. An idea appears from

the subconscious while investi-

gating a problem. It is clarified,

defined, and subjected to appro-

priate testing for verification and

validation, and further refined to

generate a potential solution.

Heuristics is an innate human

―A great discovery solves

a great problem but there

is a grain of discovery in

the solution of any prob-

lem. Your problem may be

modest; but if it challenges

your curiosity and brings

into play your inventive

faculties, and if you solve it

by your own means, you

may experience the ten-

sion and enjoy the triumph

of discovery. Such experi-

ences at a susceptible age

may create a taste for

mental work and leave

their imprint on mind and

character for a lifetime‖ -

Mathematician, George

Pólya (1887-1985)

ability and the key to finding conceptual solutions.

Heuristics thinking begins from an initial unresolved, unan-

swered, or unknown problem referred to as ―initial pattern‖.

The solution must already be implicitly inherent in the mind

called ―target pattern‖. The process of heuristics thinking is

therefore a gradual approximation to the target pattern by

converging and merging the initial and the target pattern into

a whole and complementary pattern, consisting of both the

question and answer. This conver-

gence is called ―knowledge‖. It is

like climbing an unknown mountain

or setting out to sail on an un-

known ocean without a step-by-

step map to a known destination.

The steps are adjusted as road-

blocks, variability, and unknowns

are faced and overcome during the

journey to the know destination.

The book, ―The New Drawing on

the Right Side of the Brain‖, fea-

tures an article, ―Split-Brain and

the Culture-Cognition Paradox‖, by

J.A. Paredes and M.J. Hepburn.

In the article Thomas Gladwin con-

trasts the ways

that a European

and Trukese

sailors navi-

gated small

P.18

The left hemisphere has no

patience with this detailed

perception, and says, in

effect, "It's a chair, I tell

you. That's enough to

know. In fact, don't bother

to look at it, because I've

got a ready-made symbol

for you. Here it is; add a

few details if you want, but

don't bother me with this

looking business" - Author

of ―The New Drawing on

the Right Side of the

Brain‖, Betty Edwards

20


SymphonizationTM


boats between tiny islands in the

vast Pacific Ocean. Paredes

and Hepburn conclude the Euro-

peans used left hemisphere

thinking and the Trukese used

right hemi-sphere thinking to

navigate.

Problem solving is not a series

of linear steps. It is an adaptive

and iterative process that un-

folds based on the findings of

the problem being solved. This

unfolding of findings is called

heuristics thinking. The decision

on what to do next is based on

what is learned at each step. It

is a learning process where one

―learns‖ his way to a solution by

increasing his knowledge at eve-

ry step.

In the movie ―Apollo 13‖, would

NASA have been able to rescue

the crew using a step-by-step

problem solving method like the

Six Sigma methodology, the

DMAIC step-by-step process?

NASA used heuristics thinking to

bring the crew of Apollo 13 safe-

ly back to earth. Heuristics

Thinking is an innate intuition and naturally intelligent way of

solving complex problems and a whole mind problem solving

method.

Everything we see

around us, buildings,

cars, computers, etc.

were created by humans. They had first to exist in the human

mind; therefore the human mind is constructive and creative.

In a way we all are creators, hence the name CREŌTM

.

CREŌTM

comes from the Latin meaning "to create or to make",

to originate, or cause to come into existence an entirely new

concept, principle, outcome, or object. Current problem solving

models and methods (like the Six Sigma DMAIC, and PDCA)

are structured step-by-step left brain solutions. These models

and methods are one half of the equation.

Based on Quantum Physics, there are infinite solutions to

problems; the question is, which solution is the best? Based on

what the world is experiencing and the challenges we face as

humanity, we need a whole mind problem solving model. In

this section, we introduce you to the CREŌTM

Model where

right brain tools such as creativity, imagination, empathy, inno-

vation, synthesis, and visualization are included. The CREŌTM

Model consists of five phases,

Recognize, Ideate, Visualize, Cre-

ate, and Idealize. Also ―Think‖ and

―Do‖ (Theory into Practice) or heu-

ristics thinking is practiced in each

phase.

Recognize - The first phase in the

model is the Recognize phase.

The use of the CREŌTM

Model be-

gins when there is recognition

based on a need to improve a pro-

―Before setting sail, the

European begins with a

plan that can be written in

terms of directions, de-

grees of longitude and

latitude, estimated time of

arrival at separate points

on the journey. Once the

plan is conceived and

completed, the sailor has

only to carry out each step

consecutively, one after

another, to be assured of

arriving on time at the

planned destination. The

sailor uses all available

tools, such as a compass,

a sextant, a map, etc., and

if asked, can describe ex-

actly how he got where he

was going. In contrast, the

native Trukese sailor starts

his voyage by imaging the

position of his destination

relative to the position of

other islands. As he sails

along, he constantly ad-

justs his direction accord-

ing to his awareness of his

position thus far. His deci-

sions are improvised con-

tinually checking relative

positions of landmarks,

The CREŌTM

Model - Engaging the Whole Mind

―The reason a lot of people

do not recognize oppor-

tunity is because it usually

goes around wearing over-

alls looking like hard work‖

- American Inventor and

Businessman, Thomas

Edison (1847 – 1931)

P.19

21

Symphonization


cess, product, or to create a new product or service. Improving

a process or product consists of characterizing the process‘

problem which includes defining; evaluating the measuring sys-

tem, and assessing current process‘ performance. For process

improvement, it is best for the team to walk and see the entire

process. If possible, perform the steps or tasks of the process

that are in question to gain the experience of the process. It is

aimed at answering the following questions: Is there truly a

problem, and if there is, how bad is it?

Creating a new product or service consists of identifying stake-

holders and eliciting their needs, translating the needs into a

set of product requirements, defining the bounds of the product

to be created, defining the functions that the product must per-

form, and determining the ―best‖ technology with which to im-

plement the functions. The best way to identify and elicit the

stakeholder‘s needs is to go out into the world and observe the

actual experiences. A stakeholder is defined as any person or

entity that touches, or is touched by, the product or service.

Ethnography, the study of human culture, is a powerful tool that

is finding greater use in eliciting unspoken customer needs and

getting to the ―heart of the customer‖. The customer‘s needs

must then be prioritized based on importance. The prioritized

needs should be set from the customer‘s perspective, not the

company‘s assessment of what needs are important. If the

prioritized needs are set on the customer‘s behalf by the com-

pany, feedback from the customer to confirm the design of the

product or service will come after

the chosen priorities actually

match those of the customer.

Also for creating a new product

and service, it is best to observe

what people do in the real world,

examine how they think, under-

stand and empathize with their

needs, and involve many people

and functions from the start.

Product and service designers

gain empathy by looking at the

world through other people's

eyes in order to understand

things at social, cultural, cogni-

tive, emotional, and physical

levels.

Ideate - The second phase in the

model is the ideate phase. Idea-

tion is the process of forming and

relating new ideas in order to solve

a process problem or to create the

a product or service. Ideas are the

result of a wide variety of mental

activity that can be based on past

or present knowledge, thoughts,

opinions, convictions or principles.

The Ideate phase generates ideas

in a more flexible manner, without

worrying about any rules; it pushes

ideas into more actionable and

innovative concepts.

Creativity is the foundation of idea-

tion and requires three distinct

skills: Expertise, Creative Thinking

Skills, and Intrinsic Motivation.

Expertise requires knowledge,

technical proficiency and familiarity with the problem. Crea-

tive Thinking requires the individual to take new perspectives

on problems and apply creative tools. Intrinsic Motivation

requires determination of what the person will actually do, in

spite of his/her ability to do it as a result of skills and exper-

tise; potential to be driven by curiosity or a personal sense of

challenge, enthusiasm and pride. Creativity is something of a

mystery and leads to wonderful

insight and imaginative effort, it is

an illumination and intuition that

comes from nowhere. It is the

work of magic, it is a divine gift.

To improve ideation, listen to intui-

tion, think in pictures, look for pat-

terns, embrace the unknown, sleep

or take breaks often so the brain

can reconsolidate thinking, and

most importantly have fun. Fun

will create free thinking. Only 2%

of great ideas are generated from

scheduled meetings and 98% of

them are generated while driving,

in bed, in the shower, or away from


―Aha, the idea came to me

without anything in my for-

mer thoughts seeming to

have paved the way for it‖ -

French Mathematician,

Jules Henri Poincaré

(1854 – 1912)

―Most new discoveries are

suddenly-seen things that

were always there. A new

idea is a light that illumi-

nates presences while

simply had no form for us

before the light fell on

them‖ - American Philoso-

pher, Susan Langer

(1895-1985)

―Imagination is everything. It

is the preview of life's coming

attractions‖ - Theoretical

Physicist, Albert Einstein

(1879-1955)

22


work. Also, it is advisable to use the concept of biomimicry to

get inspired by nature and generate creative ideas. Bio, means

―life‖, mimesis means ―to imitate‖, and biomimicry means to

imitate life. Biomimicry is the examination of nature, its models,

systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspira-

tion from in order to solve human problems. It is a concept

based on the belief that the solutions to problems are discov-

ered by learning from the plants, animals and natural process-

es.

Visualize - The third phase in the model is the Visualize phase.

Visualization is the process of imagining or visioning things and

ideas in your mind. As a boy Albert Einstein looked into a mir-

ror and wondered what the universe would look like if he could

travel on a beam of light. That one thought started him on the

road to discover his theory of relativity. Visualization is a tech-

nique of using your imagination to form a detailed picture of

what you want to create. It grants you direct control over your

thoughts at the subconscious level. It is frequently used by

athletes to enhance their performance. Create a picture in the

mind of what the solution will look like or what the product be-

ing created will look like and visualize it over and over again to

mentally train muscle memory using all of the senses; see it,

feel it, hear it, smell it, and even taste it. Imagining what is de-

sired to do and doing it are not as different as it seems. When

people close their eyes and visualize what they want to do, like

solving a problem or designing a new product or service, the

primary visual cortex in the brain lights up, just as it would if

they are actually designing the products. Brain scans show

that in action and imagination

many of the same parts of the

brain are activated. That is why

visualizing can improve perfor-

mance. In some cases, the fast-

er something can be imagined,

the faster it can be done.

For effective visualization, first

escape from everyday noise and

find a comfortable place, relax,

sit upright, and clear the mind.

Then imagine the intended solu-

tion working perfectly, bring it to

life in the mind, use emotions,

envision the happiness of the peo-

ple with the solution, believe it is

real, and practice, practice, and

practice this process over and over

until you have a clear picture of

what you are about to create. The

visual pictures that are formed in

the mind should be crystal clear

and in full color. Everything creat-

ed by humans once existed as a

picture in somebody‘s mind.

Create - The fourth phase is the

Create phase. This phase consists

of creating a detailed design using

the ideas generated during the ide-

ation phase. This phase is for pro-

totyping, turning ideas into actual

products and services that are then

tested, iterated, and refined. It typically follows a staged and

gated structure in which a series of activities are conducted in

each stage. These activities produce a predefined set of deliv-

erables, after which a gate is reached that stops further pro-

gress to allow inspection of the current stage‘s deliverables. If

the deliverables have been sufficiently met and if the risk of

going forward is acceptable, then the gate opens and the next

series of activities are conducted in the next stage. The next

gate is reached and so on, until the development effort has

been completed.

Idealize - The fifth and final phase of the CREŌTM

Model is the

Idealize phase. It is turning the

vision into reality. Oxford diction-

ary defines ideality as the state or

quality of being ideal. This phase

serves as the target toward the

best, elegant solutions to provide a

win-win situation. It describes the

disposition towards perfection, to-

wards beauty and refinement in all

aspects.

The best solution and the result of

all innovative ideas are the one

SymphonizationTM


―The ideals which have light-

ed my way, and time after

time have given me new

courage to face life cheerfully

have been kindness, beauty,

and truth‖ - Theoretical Phys-

icist, Albert Einstein

(1879-1955)

Genrich Altshuller

(1926-1998)

―Imagination is the path

that leads to creation, it is

the beginning of everything

new‖ - Anwar El-Homsi

P.21

23

HarmCost

BenefitsIFR

SymphonizationTM


that evolve toward ideality. The

Theory of Inventive Problem

Solving (TRIZ), developed by

Genrich Altshuller, a patent ex-

aminer for the Russian navy, is a

problem solving method used

today for developing innovative

products and services. Altshull-

er defines ideality as the imag-

ined ultimate solution; it is a sys-

tem that meets the following

characteristics:

Eliminates the deficiencies of the original system

Preserves the advantages of the original system

Does not make the system more complicated

Does not introduce new disadvantages

The following equation measures progress towards the ideal

final result (IFR)

To increase Ideality, the sum of benefits are required to in-

crease, while the sum of both costs and the harmful functions

are required to decrease. Harmful functions are all factors as-

sociated with cost of a system‘s functionality including ex-

pense, space it occupied, consumed resources, etc. The ideal-

ized solution should provide the best outcome at the time and

will also require to be transformed over time.

For process improvement, the ideal solution consists of dissolv-

ing the problems that exist by creating a new and improved

system. This way, the problems inherent in the current system

disappear with the creation of a new system. Generating ideal

solutions follow a different logic than problem solving. Eliminat-

ing a problem does not necessarily lead to the ideal solution.

For example, the process of solving the problem of a disease is

focused on getting rid of the disease through medication. On

the other hand, the process of generating ideal solutions might

focus on health by using nutrition and exercise as a preventa-

tive strategy, which may eventually dissolves the disease.

When solving a problem, do not focus on the problem itself.

Focus on the ideal, what should be rather than what should

not be.

The last decade has been called the decade of fear, the dec-

ade of chaos, the decade of volatility, and the decade of

change. Whatever it is called, the message is clear: transfor-

mation is needed. In 1992, over 1600 senior scientists, in-

cluding a majority of Nobel Prize winners in sciences, signed

and released a document entitled ―Warning to Humanity‖.

They declared that ―human beings and the natural world are

on a collision course‖ and there is an urgent need for fresh

approaches to thinking and living if we want to sustain life in

the manner that we know. Clearly

the world is entering into an excit-

ing time in history, perhaps the

most challenging and most com-

plex time the world has ever expe-

rienced, but a time none-the-less

full of opportunities. With the ever-

increasing rate of change, and the

number and complexity of issues,

the world must change its way of

dealing with problems. It must

begin to transform its way of think-

ing and take responsibility of the

future.

Daniel Pink describes ―Symphony‖

as the ability to see the big picture,

to sort out what really matters, to

synthesize rather that to analyze,

to see and integrate relationships,

and to invent something new. It is

the ability of organizations to use

the whole mind to solve issues.


"If you want to change the

world first try to improve

and bring about change

within yourself. That will

help change your family.

From there it just gets big-

ger and bigger. Everything

we do has some effect,

some impact" - Author of

―Book of Daily Medita-

tions‖, The Dalai Lama

―The mind is the receiver of

innovative ideas and the

transmitter of idealized

solutions‖ - Anwar

El-Homsi

The Call for Transformation through Symphonization

TM

24


SymphonizationTM


SymphonizationTM

is the process of becoming a whole mind organization, to encourage, reward and

honor both the left brained scientists and the right brained artists. Ability to see both the small and

the big pictures. Understanding interconnectivities and how everything is related with integrated

relationships. Collaboration across functions and identifying new opportunities. Ability to empa-

thize with customers and sort out what really is important to them. Encouraging excellence in man-

ufacturing and in innovation promoting whole-mind solution and attitude, and possessing an

―imaginative rationality‖. This is an invitation to challenge leaders to transform their organizations

through SymphonizationTM

as the Quality Movement progresses and evolves into the Conceptual

Age.

We all have a choice!

What will your choice be?

1) American Society for Quality (ASQ)

2) Amit Goswami, ―How Quantum Activism Can Save Civilization: A Few People Can Change Human Evolution‖, Hampton

Roads Publishing Company; January 1, 2011

3) Daniel Pink, ―A whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future‖, Riverhead Trade; March 7, 2006

4) Edwards, B. ―Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain‖; Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York,

5) Gerd Gigerenzer, Wolfgang Gaissmaier, ―Heuristic Decision Making‖, Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2011. 62:451–82

6) John Kao, ―Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do to Get It

Back‖, Free Press; October 2, 2007

7) Malcolm Gladwell, ―Outliers: The Story of Success‖, Back Bay Books; Reprint edition; June 7, 2011

8) Margaret J. Wheatley, ‖Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World‖, Berrett-Koehler Publish-

ers; September 1, 2006

9) Norman Doidge, ―The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science‖, Penguin

Book; December 18, 2007

10) Peter Russell. ―The Global Brain Awakens: Our Next Evolutionary Leap‖, Element Books Ltd; May 2000

11) Taylor, Jill Bolte, ―My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey‖, Plume; May 26, 2009

12) The Biomimicry Institute, (http://biominicryinstitute.org), September 2011

13) Tim Brown, ―Design Thinking‖, Harvard Business Review; June 2008

References

"How does one become a

butterfly?" she asked pen-

sively. "You must want to fly

so much that you are willing

to give up being a caterpillar"

– Author of ―Hope for the

Flowers‖, Trina Paulus

P.23

25


Born in Michigan, he is the

youngest of three siblings, a

brother and sister, and has four

nephews and two nieces. He is

one with a passion about the

balance between working smart

and playing hard. Neil enjoys

what he does both personally

and professionally. He loves

being active outdoors and stay-

ing fit. Neil has many hobbies

including weight lifting, hiking,

running, mountain biking, cy-

cling, kayaking, kickboxing, trav-

eling, road trips, wine tasting,

white water rafting, camping,

beach, yoga, meditating, movies,

meeting new people, and visiting

with friends, colleagues, and family. Some of his interests in-

clude; architecture, automobiles, continuous improvement,

cooking, global economics, health & fitness, investing, learning,

nature, technology & science, philosophy, and food.

Neil‘s work ethic and resource management were ingrained in

him by his parents, growing up on a farm in the small Midwest-

ern town of Hemlock Michigan. At an early age, Neil was al-

ways busy working on a project building or fixing something

and he also enjoyed drawing, constructing, and painting. Also

at an early age, his philosophy was simply, if there is a will

there is a way, and anything he could set his mind to, he could

learn and achieve. After graduating from high school, he en-

joyed architectural drafting over mechanical drafting and phys-

ics over calculus. He had four fundamental understandings; a

vision, a path, simple strategy, and a strong positive spirit. Neil

chose an untraditional path for his college education. It was his

philosophy to have as much if not more experience with a col-

lege education to set him apart from others entering into the

real world. Since he grew up in a General Motors town, he pur-

sued a degree in mechanical engineering at the local university

with an internship at General Motors.

At the age of 18, Neil started his corporate experience at one of

General Motors‘ oldest plants in Saginaw Michigan. Saginaw

Steering Division - Plant 2, nick-named ―Guns and Hoses‖, was

About the Authors

Neil Beyersdorf

Author, Certified Lean Six

Sigma Master Black Belt,

Engineer, Entrepreneur,

Executive Coach,

Heuristics and Systems

Thinker, and Quality and

Change Management

Consultant

known for making machine guns for WWII and also the long-

est steering gear box produced by General Motors. With his

experience at General Motors, Neil managed to earn an un-

dergraduate in Mechanical Engineering at Saginaw Valley

State University and a graduate degree in Engineering Man-

agement from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute all while work-

ing full time. Also Saginaw Steering Division (which became

Delphi Saginaw Steering Systems a division of Delphi Auto-

motive Systems) he had various positions in areas including

Quality Assurance, Production, Product Design and Develop-

ment, Completive Analysis, Purchasing, Warranty & Reliabil-

ity, Prototyping, Customer Demos, and R&D. As a program

manager within Delphi Automotive Systems‘ Steering Sys-

tems Innovation Center, Neil earned his Six Sigma Black Belt

certification with the Six Sigma Academy.

After 14 years of experience in the automotive industry in

Michigan, Neil had an opportunity to realize an old and almost

forgotten dream to relocate to southern California. He was

relocated by a small startup consulting firm for a competitive

analysis, supplier development project with Volkswagen. Af-

ter completion of the project with Volkswagen, he launched

his continuous improvement career in the financial industry.

Re-certified during the Lean Six Sigma deployment with ING

Americas, Neil has practiced business process improvement

and continuous improvement with some of the leading finan-

cial institutions such as Bank of America Corporation, Coun-

trywide Financial Corporation, TD Ameritrade, and Automatic

Data Processing, Inc. Recently, Neil has been on business

transformation engagements in other industries such as the

high tech industry with Cisco Systems and the data manage-

ment/market research industry with JD Power and Associ-

ates, owned by the McGraw-Hill Companies.

Residing in southern California, Neil is a quality and change

management consultant and executive coach to Fortune 500

companies in the areas of continuous improvement methodol-

ogies, Six Sigma deployment, and business transformation.

He is currently working toward his Ph.D. in Systems Engi-

neering and is the originator of the SymphonizationTM

– Dis-

continuous Business Alignment & Transformation Methodolo-

gy.

26


About Optimal Transformation Group

P.25

He was born in Lebanon, he is

the oldest among four siblings—

a brother and three sisters. His

father was an educator and poli-

tician, and he wanted his chil-

dren to be raised with good mor-

als and values and receive a

higher education. His father died

at the age of 36. His life was

then changed forever. He al-

ways remembered his father‘s

wishes for him to pursue a high-

er education and realized how

hard life is without an education.

He promised himself and was

determined to never give up on

his dream of furthering his stud-

ies and acquiring a good educa-

tion.

When he was 15 years old, the Lebanese civil war began and it

was difficult for him to attend school and study but he contin-

ued his education at a French private school and one of his

dreams was to eventually attend University. During the war, he

witnessed many people suffering and he wished that he could

alleviate all their pain and make them happy. He promised

himself then, to do his best to assist people and be a peaceful

and loving person. At the age of 25, he was granted a full

scholarship to come to the United States to study from the

Hariri Foundation, which was founded by the former Lebanese

Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, who was unfortunately assassinat-

ed on February 14, 2005. Anwar came to the United States in

August 1985 to pursue his dream

He received a BS degree in material-ceramic engineering, an

MS degree in applied statistics, and Ph.D. in Business Sys-

tems. He has over 20 years of quality, reliability, and statistics

experience in a variety of industries. He has held many engi-

neering and management positions at many reputable compa-

nies such Eastman Kodak Company, Heidelberg, Xerox Corpo-

ration, and Corning Corporation. As a consultant, he has

coached many Fortune 500 companies to improve the quality

of their product and services. Anwar has passion to share

knowledge and his philosophy with others; he has trained more

About the Authors

Anwar El-Homsi

Author, Certified Lean Six

Sigma Master Black Belt,

Engineer, Entrepreneur,

Executive Coach, Data

Scientist , Heuristics and

Systems Thinker, Professor,

Statistician, and Quality and

Change Management

Consultant

than a thousand engineers, managers, directors, and scientists

in quality and statistical tools. He has been active in many

professional societies such as the American Society for Quality

and Society of Reliability Engineers, and he was a member of

the advisory council for Rochester Institute of Technology‘s

Center for Quality and Applied Statistics. He is considered an

authority on Six Sigma, Quality Management, Design of Exper-

iment (DOE), Statistical Process Control (SPC), and Systems

Thinking. He is the originator of the CREŌTM

problem solving

model and the author of two books, ―Corporate Sigma: Opti-

mizing the Health of Your Company with Systems Thinking‖,

and ―TPS-Lean Six Sigma: Linking Human Capital to Lean Six

Sigma – A new Blueprint for Creating a High Performance

Company‖. Anwar‘s interests include tennis, swimming, read-

ing and writing, traveling, and cooking, and his personal vision

is to be happy with his personal life and career, to grow profes-

sionally, and help others by sharing his knowledge and experi-

ence, and to make a great contribution to society.

Optimal Transformation Group (OTG) is devoted to helping

individuals and organizations become more successful. We

provide integrated and sustainable professional services

(consulting, coaching, certification, training, and project base

solution implementation) based on the proven Whole New

Mind solutions and principles. The results are individual and

organizational effectiveness and a related unique competitive

advantage. For more information about our products and ser-

vices, email us at:

[email protected]

[email protected]

27

Optimal Transformation Group, LLC San Jose, California USA This Article was produced in the United States of America December 2012 All Rights Reserved Symphonization™ and CREŌ ™ in this document are registered trademarks of Optimal Transformation Group, LLC in the United States, other countries, or both. If these and other OTG trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol ™, this symbol indicates U.S. registered or common law

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Symphonization - Where East Meets West (122112)

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