I’m Nobody Special, But I’m Speaking Anyway

I’m a Lean Six Sigma Conference Speaker. Yes, my face is on the front cover of the brochure. But, little does the audience know that that picture (I’m the second, from the left, but better viewed in the PDF brochure) was taken while I was sitting on a fake sheep during a family trip to the animal farm at Thanksgiving Point in Utah.  I cropped just my face for submission to the event organizers, but the “real” picture is of me, at the insistence of my kids, sitting on a fake sheep.

I’m speaking at an event, but I’m not boasting

In the grand scheme of things or in the local minutia of our lives, I’m pretty much nobody.  Gratefully, though, I am somebody in the eyes of my children and my wife.  That is what matters to me.  And, when my head gets big, worldly and prideful, for some unfounded reason or other, I’m reminded by my 1-year old and 9-week old, as I change their dirty diapers, of what is really and truly important in life: it’s certainly not notoriety or money, but that I matter to my children and wife, that I’ve nurtured and build relationships with people, and that I am adding value to the world in my own little way.

If you are still reading this post, unannoyed and with dry eyes, let me make an announcement and an invitation:

You are cordially invited to a pretty cool Lean Six Sigma Summit to be held on April 28 – May 2, 2008.  I’ll be speaking at the event, along with other, much-more distinguished folks, whose names are below:

Richard P. Miller

President and CEO

VIRTUA HEALTH

Lee Cockerell

Former Executive Vice

President of Operations

THE WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT

Russell W. Ford

President and CEO

PRESTOLITE ELECTRIC INCORPORATED

Craig Long

Vice President, Quality and Six Sigma

MILLIKEN AND COMPANY

Roger Myers

Vice President Process Improvement (GIS)

COMPUTER SCIENCES CORPORATION

Nancy Pratt

Senior Vice President, Clinical Effectiveness

SHARP HEALTHCARE

Michael G. Winston

Managing Director and Chief Leadership Officer

COUNTRYWIDE FINANCIAL

Ellen Domb

Founding Editor

THE TRIZ JOURNAL

Debra Levantrosser

Executive Director, Lean/Supply Chain

JOHNSON & JOHNSON

Pete Abilla

Head of Process Improvement for Customer Service, North America

EBAY

Betsi Harris Ehrlich

Director of Six Sigma and Master Black Belt

TYCO INTERNATIONAL

Adam Hjerpe

Senior Director of Quality, Programme Management

UNITED HEALTH GROUP

Gregory Robertson

Director of Six Sigma

BLACK & VEATCH CORPORATION

Martina Kuhlmeyer

Executive Vice President of Six Sigma

TEXTRON FINANCIAL

Jeff Johnson

Master Black Belt

TEXTRON FINANCIAL

Anthony Orzechowski

Director of R&D Quality Engineering

ABBOTT DIAGNOSTICS

Bruce Bryant

Senior Management Analyst and Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt

DEFENCE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

Brian Geschwindt

Managing Master Black Belt

QUEST DIAGNOSTICS

Nathan Guerdet

Operations Manager

WELLS FARGO FINANCIAL

Praveen Gupta

Six Sigma Author & President

ACCELPER CONSULTING

Alex Bellabarba

Head of Process Improvement for Customer Service, Europe

EBAY

James Warner, P.E

Director Industrial Division

MINNESOTA POLLUTION CONTROL AGENCY

Tony Coomer

Vice President of Continuous Improvement

LEAR CORPORATION

Dr Stephen Hoover

Vice President Xerox Research Center

XEROX CORPORATION

Patricia Atkins

Lean Six Sigma Director

SHARP HEALTHCARE

Teresa Hay McMahon

Performance Results Director

STATE OF IOWA DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT

Paul Pfeiffenberger

Master Black Belt and Global Continuous

Improvement Manager

AIR PRODUCTS & CHEMICALS

Steven Lesser

Vice President, Supply Chain North America

ORICA

Mike Shuck

Manufacturing Specialist

CHICAGO MANUFACTURING CENTER

Brent Tadsen

Master Black Belt – Lean

GE RAILCAR

Ronnie Pate

Director of Six Sigma Initiatives, Global Supply Chain

CINTAS CORPORATION

Jerry Bussell

Vice President of Global Operations

MEDTRONIC ENT/NT

Dr Michael O™Connor

Director of Global Lean Deployment and Master Black Belt

UNISYS

Richard Lam

Lean Six Sigma Corporate Deployment Leader

BMO FINANCIAL GROUP

James Wasiloff

Master Black Belt and Lead Deployment Advisor, TACOM Life

Cycle Management Command US ARMY

Srisu Subrahmanyam

Vice President, Continuous Improvement

UNITED AIRLINES

Prof. Deborah J. Nightingale

Director

LEAN ADVANCEMENT

INITIATIVE, LAI

Please come.  It should be a fun event.  There will also be a behind-the-scenes tour of United Airlines and a peek into their Lean Deployment.  I’m really looking forward to that.