While some people seem to have the Midas touch when it comes to realizing their dreams, others aren't as fortunate.

It's true that sometimes the difference may be timing or luck, but more often than not, the difference is within the control of the dreamer. Here's my formula for converting dreams to realities:

Dreams + Imagination = Possibilities
Possibilities + Determination = Probability
Probability + Planning = Realization 

It's a formula I have followed nearly my whole life - in both business and personal arenas.

Everything starts with dreams. It doesn't matter what company you...

George Harrison, a Dallas Mavericks' game and a cab ride to the airport. How could these topics have anything at all to do with a column about the manufacturing industry today? The editors of this fine magazine have graciously extended me a lot of latitude over the years - let's see if they let me try to put this one together!

Actually, it won't be too much of a stretch at all. In previous columns, I have written about what I believe are the three key ingredients for survival in the manufacturing industry today: adaptability, excellence and attitude. The fourth ingredient, in my mind, is...

Most of North America has felt the effects of the downturn in the automotive industry the last two years, but my region - Southwestern Ontario - has been hit harder than most. In fact, I have read many reports and stories about how the London region in particular has been hard hit.

But it's not all bad news; it's just that it seems that the bad news is printed quicker, and more often.

The other day, I needed to drive from my office to the airport to pick up a colleague. The drive took me east on Highway 401 and then north on Veterans Memorial Parkway - about 16 kilometers. It was a route I...

How will things get done 10 years from now? And will those things even still be done here in North America? So much has changed in the last decade, and if the recent past is any indication, more will change in the next 10 years.

The manufacturing industry is facing many challenges. Some of the current threats have been created by external forces, but some of them are monsters we (the industry) have created ourselves. And most of these threats are nothing more, or less, than attitudes.

Some of our governments’ attitudes have led to the current weakened state of our manufacturing...

When my grandfather was a young boy, the roads were dirt, the primary mode of family transportation was the horse and buggy and most places he went he travelled on foot. By the time he died, the space shuttle routinely carried humans into space, the roads within earshot of his home were 12 lanes wide, and man setting foot on the moon was already old news. The rate at which changes occurred in his lifetime was unlike any experienced by any generation before — and it has only accelerated since.

Building or even just sustaining a business nowadays is not a matter of “survival of the...

People tend to fall into one of two camps when the topic of Lean manufacturing comes up. One camp gets really excited and can’t hear enough about it – or say enough about it. The other camp has heard all they want to hear and can’t bear to hear another word. Which camp do you fall into?
  I must admit that up until recently, I fell into the latter. It seemed to me that people (most notably consultants and industry observers) started talking enthusiastically about Lean right around the time the majority of manufacturing companies had completed their ISO or QS...

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty recently spoke at a luncheon in London about his new "five-point plan for recovery" for the province of Ontario. Like many present, I wanted to hear a message that would offer legitimate hope for an economic recovery – and a plan that I could really believe in.

On a spur of the moment whim, I invited a long term employee out for lunch — my treat, no reason in particular.

This individual has worked for me for nearly 20 years. He started with the company shortly after escaping from an Eastern European country with his young family. In a casual conversation earlier in the week, I told him I discovered a great little breakfast and lunch diner that specialized in preparing and serving meals with recipes from his homeland. That discussion resulted in the impromptu invitation to take him out to lunch. I thought I was doing something nice for him...