Authors, Educators, Speakers, and Consultants
Helping organizations get to the
next level
Alan G. Robinson and Dean M. Schroeder
For decades, the vast majority of organizations have suffered with low productivity, primarily because of anemic
rates of improvement – typically one percent per year or less. While leaders of these organizations may set impressive improvement goals and even launch programs that promise big leaps forward, such top-down actions typically give only the illusion of progress. Rarely do they have any real impact on overall organizational productivity.
But tens of thousands of organizations have been able to sustain much higher rates of productivity improvement – 8, 12, or even 15 percent, year upon year. Over the last three decades, Robinson and Schroeder have consulted with and done research in many hundreds of such high-performing organizations around the world. What differentiates these organizations from the rest is an understanding of where most of their improvement potential actually lies. Evidence shows that 80 percent of this potential is in the creativity and ideas of their front-line employees.
Unfortunately, most organizations limit their focus to the remaining 20 percent of potential improvement – the
ideas from management and professional staff.
Alan and Dean are recognized as two of the world’s leading experts on how to tap the creativity and ideas of front-line employees.
Dr. Alan G. Robinson
Dr. Alan G. Robinson specializes in managing ideas, building high-performance
organizations, creativity, innovation, lean and continuous improvement. He is the co-author of twelve books, which have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. He has advised more than 300 organizations in thirty countries on how to improve their performance.
Alan received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A. and M.A. in mathematics from the University of Cambridge (England).
He is a professor emeritus at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts. He has also taught at St. Petersburg Technical University in Russia, the Athens Laboratory of Business Administration in Greece (affiliated with INSEAD), the Jagiellonian University in Poland, the University of Porto in Portugal, the Hanoi Business School, and Tianjin University in China.
Dr. Dean Schroeder
Dr. Dean Schroeder is an author, educator, and consultant noted for his work
helping organizations transform and radically improve. In a consulting capacity, he has worked with many leading organizations in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Dean has started three companies, led turnaround and transformation initiatives in four others, has served on four corporate boards, and is currently the Chairman of the Board for a fifth. He also served on the Board of Examiners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for five years.
Dean has a Ph.D. in Strategic Management from the Carlson School at the University of Minnesota, an M.B.A. from the University of Montana, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. He is currently a Senior Research Professor at Valparaiso University.
