All You Gotta Do Is Ask

by Norman Bodek, Chuck Yorke

Every worker has infinite creative ability to solve the myriad of problems around them. Management just has to learn how to ask people for their ideas and allow them to implement their own ideas to make their work easier, more interesting and to build their skills and capabilities. The book explains in detail how to build this marvelous system to empower people to become changemakers. Gulfstream went from 2 ideas per year per worker in 2005 to over 33 implemented ideas last year.By sumanth tower (Arlington, TX USA) - See all my reviewsThis book is the best one I have read on helping a company engage it's employees to move ahead of the competition. Everyone in management should read this book. Even if you aren't in management, as an employee this book might be of use in helping you understand why your company needs your ideas, it is well worth the price. As Alan Robinson, author of Ideas Are Free, states in the foreword, the book "explains how to promote large numbers of ideas from your employees, something most organizations do very poorly, if at all." All You Gotta Do Is Ask is simple and profound, it should be read, heard, understood, and implemented. The main insight is that companies can compete more effectively by paying attention to their people's improvement ideas. By V. Kumar "Yaniv" (Miami, Florida) - See all my reviews This is an excellent book, and it is one of the best books that i have read. Unlike other books the authors of this book have done a great job in using simple "Lingo" for everyone to understand. I would strongly recommend this book to all levels of the management since they tend to make this topic more complicated than necessary. This book very simple to understand yet powerful enough to send the message across - "All You Gotta Do Is Ask".By Vivi (Mauritius, Indian Ocean) - See all my reviewsThis is a brilliant book and I would recommend every management, either big or small to read it. This book takes you in a voyage of how you can get your employees to be more involved. As all of us know the economy is dropping and all the help that we can get from our own employee is a blessing.

261 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 6, 2009

About the author

They Always Said, “He Will Never, Ever Make it!”

In fact, if you go to my ninth grade yearbook, you will read under my name, “Norman Bodek the most likely person to get a head for he needs one!” I read only three books before I graduated from high school and yet miraculously, as I progressed through life, I was able to publish over 250 books and write seven more. I mention this to help you realize your potential - just think what you are capable of doing if someone with my weaknesses has been able to do things so far beyond his early dreams. Your only limitation is yo12urself!

It has been an amazing journey. In 1979, after 18 years working with data processing companies, I started Productivity Inc. - Press by publishing a newsletter called PRODUCTIVITY. At the time, I knew virtually nothing about the subject and had spent very little time in manufacturing facilities, but I quickly became engrossed with the subject and went to Japan to discover the processes that were making them the world leaders in quality improvement and productivity growth.

These past 36 years, I have visited Japan 85 times, visited over 250 plants and published over 100 Japanese management books in English (250 books in total), all without originally knowing a single person in Japan or speaking their language. Fortunately, serendipitously, I met many management masters in Japan and in America and discovered amazing tools, techniques and new thoughts that have revolutionized the world of manufacturing. I published the works of Dr. Shigeo Shingo, Dr. Joji Akao, Taiichi Ohno, Dr. Ryuji Fukuda, Taiichi Ohno, Seiichi Nakajima, Henry Ford, Shigeru Mizuno, Hiroyuki Hirano, and many other books on world-class manufacturing and total quality management.

Each person I met gave me a new perspective on continuous improvement. Through the books we brought to America and the West the Toyota Production System, SMED, CEDAC, quality control circles, 5S, visual factory, TPM, VSM, Kaizen Blitz, cell design, Poka-yoke, Lean accounting, Andon, Hoshin Kanri, Kanban, and Quick and Easy Kaizen.

My most powerful discovery was finding how Toyota, Canon and other Japanese companies brought out the infinite creative potential lying dormant inside every worker. When you unlock this hidden talent, people become highly motivated and actually love to come to work. One client, Gulfstream Corporation, the private jet company, where 1000 people went from coming up with 16 implemented ideas in February 2005 to over 40,000. The ideas saved the company over $10,000,000 and gave the employees a new sense of pride in their work and in their lives.

My latest discovery, the Harada Method, is a proven way for people to pick goals for personal success, create detailed career and life plans to attain those goals, daily monitor themselves, work with a coach while helping their organizations improve their performance.

Education: University of Wisconsin, New York University (BA), New York University Graduate School of Business, and New York University College of Education

Instructor: At many conferences throughout the world and adjunct professor of management at Portland State University

Observer: 2015 at TVS Motor Company in Bangalore, India.

Recipient of The Shingo Prize* for Manufacturing Excellence, received the Six Sigma Global Grand medal from ICBUPR, and inducted into Industry Week’s Manufacturing Hall of Fame. Called “Mr. Lean” in Quality Progress Magazine.

Professional Career: Public Accountant and Insurance broker, started Productivity Inc. & Productivity Press with offices in Norwalk, Connecticut and Portland, Oregon, currently president of PCS Inc.

Study missions to Japan, led around 35 missions visiting 250 manufacturing plants.

Books Published: Over 250 management books, over 100 Japanese books.

Current: Certify instructors in Harada Method
Books written: The Idea Generator - Quick and Easy Kaizen, co-authored with Bunji Tozawa