Karen Martin Knihy

Focuses on four key behaviors for organizational excellence - Clarity, Focus, Discipline, Engagement. This book helps you get to the crux of the problem, so you can inject the sensible, disciplined calm that enables the levels of performance and innovation mandated by today's business environment - and help your organization become outstanding.

A practical how-to guide, this book takes readers through the ins and outs of planning and executing Kaizen Events in non-manufacturing settings and conducting post-event follow-up to sustain the changes made. The authors provide methods and tools to help build a motivated workforce and lay a foundation for continuous improvement. Readers will lear

"Award-winning business performance improvement and Lean management expert Karen Martin diagnoses a ubiquitous business management and leadership problem--the lack of clarity--and outlines specific actions to dramatically improve organizational performance. Through her global consulting projects, keynote speeches, and work with thousands of leaders, Karen has seen first-hand how a pervasive lack of clarity strangles business performance and erodes employee engagement. Ambiguity is the corporate default state, a condition so prevalent that "tolerance for ambiguity" has become a clichéd job requirement. It doesn't have to be this way. In Clarity First, Karen provides methods and insights for achieving clarity to unleash potential, innovate at higher levels, and solve the problems that matter to deliver outstanding business results"--Jacket.

Winner of The Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award, this guide addresses the challenges organizations face due to silo-centric behavior and intra-organizational conflict. Many organizations struggle to identify the barriers to outstanding performance. Value stream mapping, an essential yet underutilized methodology, helps visualize and resolve disconnects, redundancies, and gaps in value delivery systems. More than a tool for eliminating waste, it transforms leadership thinking, defines strategy, and creates customer-centric workflows. Business performance improvement experts Karen Martin and Mike Osterling offer a practical approach to understanding work processes and designing improved systems. Readers will learn to prepare and engage their leadership teams in transformation, gain insights into current work systems and barriers, design a future state for enhanced performance, and lay the groundwork for ongoing improvement. Whether you are new to the field or an experienced practitioner, this resource will enhance your ability to design and operate your business effectively. For organizations already utilizing value stream mapping, this book will bolster transformation efforts. In today’s fast-paced business landscape, effective strategies are essential for addressing challenges and seizing opportunities, making value stream mapping a crucial element in successful business management.

The narrative intricately weaves together historical figures and events, creating a captivating tale centered on the theme of destiny. The author, celebrated for their work in The Women's Jail Project and Dancing the Labyrinth, crafts an evocative story that promises to engage readers with its rich historical context and compelling character portrayals.

Evie's world is turned upside down when she learns that the apocalypse is imminent. Overwhelmed by panic, she frantically searches for her notebook to compile a list of everything she needs to do before time runs out. This urgent quest reveals her character's priorities and the chaos that ensues as she grapples with the impending end of the world, blending humor and urgency in her race against time.

Featuring twenty-six contributions from eight countries - Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Uganda, and the USA - Queer Africa 2 offers a refreshing antidote to one-dimensional depictions of African queer identities. Queer Africa 2 brings together historical and contemporary stories, affirming and disquieting stories, urban and rural stories. At its heart, the collection celebrates the diversity and fluidity of queer and African identities, offering a sometimes radical re-imagining of life on the continent.

Dementia is experienced in different forms, in different ways and is coped with differently by different people, but with nearly 10 million new cases every year, it is something many people face. It's tough on those with the disease, but it is also incredibly hard for the loved ones around them. Karen Martin's story about her friend Kathleen, however, is overwhelmingly one of love and persistence.Despite their nearly half-century age difference, their commonality drew them to each other, and their genuine friendship uplifted them both. Charting the story from pre-diagnosis to Kathleen's eventual passing, this moving tale highlights the difficulties and joys of facing dementia, through the lens of friendship.