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Statistically speaking, Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list 2014 shows a 20% increase in the presence of law firms. However numerically, there were ...
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Former Employee Atlanta, ga in 1 year City, - Reviewed on June 24, 2020
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Alston & Bird LLP has grown to become a national AmLaw 50 firm while remaining steeped in a culture with client service and teamwork as the cornerstones of all that we do. We develop, assemble and nurture the strongest and broadest array of legal talent and expertise necessary to meet our clients' needs in an ever-changing and fast-paced environment. A Culture That Breeds Success Alston & Bird's unique culture and core values have been nurtured for more than a century. They define who we are and how we interact with our clients and with each other. From the founding of the firm in the late 1800s, collegiality, teamwork, loyalty, diversity, individual satisfaction, fairness and professional development have been guiding principles and values by which we measure ourselves. A Workplace That Defines Excellence Alston & Bird has built a reputation as one of the country's best employers, appearing on FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for 15 consecutive years, an unprecedented accomplishment among law firms in the United States. The firm has offices in Atlanta, Brussels, Charlotte, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Research Triangle, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C.
Alston & Bird is consistently ranked among the leading law firms in each of its central practice areas. Additionally, its lawyers are consistently recognized as industry leaders and ranked among the best practitioners worldwide.
More than 800 attorneys of the firm are in 10 major markets, representing world-class companies.
The Best Lawyers in America 2012 features 121 of Alston attorneys
Corporate Counsel's 2011 list of "Who Represents Corporate America" recognized Alston & Bird among the top 10 law firms in the country
The BTI Consulting Group, based on a survey of 150 major corporations about the law firms they use for corporate transactions ranked Alston & Bird 5th in the U.S. on its first "Masters of the Deal" list.
The 2011 American Lawyer's "Corporate Scorecard" ranked Alston & Bird #11 as "Counsel to Investment Advisor" in the Mergers & Acquisitions category based on transaction value.
Alston & Bird was named the "Best Corporate Law Firm" in Atlanta as determined by general counsel and directors from an independent survey by FTI Consulting
Alston & Bird is ranked #10 in the category of "2011 Banker Representation" in Corporate Control Alert's year-end issue.
330 litigators of the firm have handled cases in all 50 states and are featured prominently in the BTI Litigation Outlook 2011. The report, cited Alston & Bird among the 32 firms that clients would least like to see on the opposite side of the table and as one of a select group of law firms clients want most on their side in securities litigation.
Alston & Bird ranked 2nd in the nation for the most new U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) cases in 2010 in "Welcome to Patent Law's Hottest Venue" in the National Law Journal.
International Tax Review described Alston's tax practice as being "one of the best in North America." It's "World Tax 2012" ranked Alston & Bird as a leading tax firm in both New York and Washington, D.C.
Alston & Bird has been ranked on FORTUNE's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for 13 consecutive years, including placement in the top 25 for nine years, four of which were in the top 10
Alston & Bird ranked 5th on the 2012 BTI Client Service 30 among U.S. law firms in providing superior client service. The ranking resulted from interviews with approximately 240 corporate counsels at Fortune 1000 companies
Alston & Bird has been named by Working Mother magazine as one of the 2009 "50 Best Law Firms for Women."Firms were evaluated according to workforce profile; family friendly benefits and policies; flexibility; leadership, compensation and advancement of women; and development and retention of women.
In the 2012 "Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law firms," Alston & Bird ranked 11th for overall diversity, 10th with respect to LGBT, and 8th with respect to minorities and 16th with respect to women.
The firm embraces diversity at all levels and the only criteria that guide them in their selection is that they should be amongst the best in their fields. Alston & Bird promotes diversity both within the firm and in its community. Through its continued efforts it has maintained an open, receptive and nurturing work environment and a varied workforce of attorneys and staff.
The firm has a Diversity Committee that provides objectives and guidance and works to implement programs, events and sponsorships relative to their locations. The Diversity Task Force supports the firm's efforts by providing opportunities for learning through events, recognition and cultural celebration.
The firm bases its diversity efforts in five precise areas, recruiting, retention, mentoring, promoting diversity and communication.
The firm's commitment to diversity and inclusion is constant and unending. It continues to look for ways to improve the environment, developmental opportunities for its attorneys and staff, and mandatory diversity education programs.
The firm organizes a wide range of forums, seminars and workshops for its attorneys, staff and clients throughout the year, in an effort to promote and encourage diversity in its own ranks, in the legal profession and the community as a whole.
Summer associates at Alston will find work fun, where they will interact with the firm's associates and partners in a mutually respectful atmosphere. Work here is a perfect amalgamation of good business judgment, lucidity, and cordiality. It will soon dawn upon the summer associates that the people who own, operate and are employed by the firm, really want to be here. Alston & Bird has a special culture that not only allows, but celebrates individuality, creativity and leadership.
From the moment the associate accepts the offer to be part of the firm's summer program; the firm takes him through a program that is designed with the associate's entire career path in mind. The firm does not merely perceive the associates' first, second and third years of law school but sees in them future partners, firm and community leaders, clients and mentors.
Statistically speaking, Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list 2014 shows a 20% increase in the presence of law firms. However numerically, there were ...
Alston & Bird LLP is an international firm with a worldwide clientele. It has a wide range of practice areas that include corporate and finance, intellectual pr...
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We have over 200 lawyers in 23 offices across the country, including three of counsel affiliate offices. Adhering to the principles of the FH Promise, our attorneys strive to provide clients with sound legal advice, practical counseling and excellent client service FordHarrison attorneys understand that organizations must operate in a highly regulated, litigious business climate. We help employers minimize the legal risks involved in making employment decisions without compromising business nee...
The Law Offices of Russell I. Marnell, P.C. was founded in 1985. Since that time, Mr. Marnell and his attorneys have sought to provide excellent representation in divorce, custody, and family law proceedings to residents on Long Island in both Nassau County and Suffolk County, and all areas of New York City, at reasonable cost....
Since the year 2000, the founder of BCG Attorney Search, Harrison Barnes, and his expert legal recruiters have placed thousands of attorneys and are at the top of their field in servicing attorneys. These businesses include the largest and most popular legal job site in the world, LawCrossing; the l...
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This month we'll spend time with Carla O'Dell, the CEO of the American Productivity and Quality Center as she and one of their Education Consultants gives us the inside scoop on how Lean Six Sigma is helping to give our children a better education.
We'll tell you about an app that helps you find out what your employees are really thinking. In the news we'll hear how sharing a backhoe, among other things, helped Ventura County, CA save over $7M and why the "Golden Dump Truck" is like the Stanley Cup to a 5S team in Iowa. We'll discuss a ground-breaking book that explains why the infamous "carrot & stick" no longer motivate us and we'll answer a question from one of our learners about the difference between Lean Six Sigma and ISO 9001. It's summer somewhere so grab an iced coffee and we'll meet you at the Just-In-Time Cafe!
Also Listen On:
- 2:34 Appetizer of the Day
- 5:07 Bulletin Board
- 10:57 Tools of the Trade
- 19:23 Special Request
- 23:10 Today's Special
- Interview with Carla O'Dell and Dewey Dorsett
Tools Referenced
- Suggestion OX
- Lean Six Sigma News: Add Skills to Your Resume and Avoid Millions in Organization Costs
- Lean Six Sigma News: Expanding New Hire Horizons and Working Hand in Hand
- Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
- How would you compare Lean Six Sigma and ISO 9001 in Quality Systems? Any advice to new learners who already have ISO 9001 knowledge?
Podcast Transcript
Welcome to the Just-In-Time Cafe, GoLeanSixSigma.com's official podcast, where we help you build your problem solving muscles. We share best practices from over 20 years of success helping organizations from the Fortune 500, to small and medium size business, to government achieve their goals using Lean Six Sigma.
Tracy: Hey Elisabeth!
Elisabeth: Hey Tracy!
Tracy: How are you today?
Elisabeth: I'm great, except I'm incredibly hot.
Tracy: I know, we really need some iced coffee here at the cafe.
Elisabeth: I would also like to be in the private dining room where there is air conditioning.
Tracy: Yes, thank the Lord for that!
Elisabeth: Okay, I'm grabbing a menu. I will meet you.
Tracy: Okay.
What's on the Menu (Podcast Agenda)
Elisabeth: Okay!
Tracy: Okay, so on the menu let's hear about our appetizer Elisabeth.
Elisabeth: Okay, on the menu we've got an Appetizer. We've got an application that helps you find out what your employees really think. Intriguing.
Tracy: Oh?
Elisabeth: Yup! In the news on our Bulletin Board we've got, "How sharing a backhoe, helped send Ventura County, California on the way to saving 7 million", and then, "How the Golden Dump Truck, is the Stanley Cup for the Cedar Rapids, Iowa 5S team."
Then we're going to get into our Tools of the Trade. We're gonna discuss a ground breaking book that shows how the carrot and the stick fail as ways to motivate us, and what do you do about it.
Then today's question (Special Request): we're going to explore the difference between ISO 9001 and Lean Six Sigma.
Today's Special is an interview with the CEO and an education consultant with APQC, and they're going to tell us how they managed to apply Lean Six Sigma to public education.
Tracy: That's an exciting line up, can't wait to hear about it!
Appetizer: Suggestion Ox
Tracy: Okay, so Elisabeth why don't you tell us a little bit about the appetizer, or how do we figure out what employees really think?
Elisabeth: This is a great one. This is today's appetizer and it is called, Suggestion Ox. It's a way to create your own digital suggestion boxes, and it's a way to get employee input. What's great about this is that it's 100% anonymous, no way to trace who has given the information. It's also free (I don't think there's paid versions, but we always love free), you get automatic updates that will tell you if someone has a suggestion into your suggestion box. You can output it to excel if you want to do more analysis on the different themes that came in the suggestions, and I think in our world it's a great way to create or extend a project pipeline.
We always say, "we want projects from top down, but you always want it from bottom up". This is a way to get employees to tell you what bugs them, because they are on the front line. They know what's wrong and they can give you great project ideas. So this is a great way, especially when people are afraid to showcase problems. I know we've run into that, where people don't want to be the one to say, "hey we don't do this as well as we could". There's a little stigma to that which there shouldn't be, but this is a way to get pass that stigma.
Tracy: Yeah. You know what I really like about this too, is that it probably could be used when you're piloting something to check in on a process right?
So a lot of times when we're in the Improve Phase and we pilot a new solution, we're usually pretty cognizant of the feedback early on to make sure we get it right to see an improvement.
Later there might be a couple of glitches we missed, so this sounds like it may be a great way to get feedback on the process change, and the people that are doing the process change. If it's broader, you have to do a multi phase implementation, and involve a lot more other employees. This might be a great place to put that in there, too.
Elisabeth: I think that's great. I never thought of that one, but I love that because it's tough to get feedback. In general people don't really want to get bad news, and you really want to hone these things with the best improvement possible, so I think that's great.
Tracy: Yeah.
Elisabeth: Suggestion Ox is free, there is a link so you can look on their website to find it.
Bulletin Board
Elisabeth: So next up, Tracy why don't you tell us what's on the Bulletin Board.
Tracy: Okay so something that we discovered on the roundup that we do at GoLeanSixSigma.com, is we gather all the news about any Lean Six Sigma news. One that came up was about Ventura County, Public Works Agency, and how they have been able to implement Lean Six Sigma.
Those savings have generated, or those efforts have generated 2 million dollars in cost avoidance for this fiscal year, and 7 million dollars in cost avoidance in the past 6 years. They attributed all of that to applying the techniques of Lean and Six Sigma.
Some of the improvement opportunities they have had included things like as you have mentioned, an expensive backhoe. They decided to share with another agency, so that they didn't have to buy two. Things like that, that's not hard it's simple stuff, but it can really make an impact on the bottom line.
They have conducted about 175 events since they started the Lean Six Sigma initiative, and those efforts have helped reduce defects, mistakes and waste out of the process. Hey! Doesn't it make you feel good there's a lot of cost savings? They are being better, more efficient and more effective about saving, and spending taxpayer dollars.
Elisabeth: Yes.
Tracy: So I think the most compelling thing to me is the results, they are always really compelling. One of the pieces that I really liked about this subject, is the director of the Public Works Agency, Jeff Pratt, basically said, "His people are empowered through trust, communication and safety. So the department is fiscally responsible, customer focused and accountable." What I love about that is, that's typically not what people might consider a government culture. Safety, trust, and feeling empowered. Unfortunately, there are a lot of agencies in government that really struggle with a culture that will allow for process improvement to flourish. It sounds to me they have found the secret code, or cracked the code for their organization. So kudos to Ventura County, on their savings and success with Lean Six Sigma! Whoo Hoo!
Elisabeth: Yeah, you know I back you on that. Every time I hear a county, a municipality, a state, or a city using Lean Six Sigma to reduce cost to better serve their citizens, I am just filled with my little Lean Six Sigma joy, because it means it's possible for others. Right? We see it spreading, but it's just incredibly hopeful. I love to see it!
Tracy: Yes. I would agree and I would say too, that government workers get a bad rap. Most people think that it's impossible to apply process improvement techniques in government, and it's just untrue. I mean, there is a lot of good workers out there, and you know as Americans we should acknowledge that government workers are trying.
Elisabeth: They are, and clearly these guys are trying so well that they are saving unbelievably large amounts of money. They're doing things that hospitals do, hospitals will share very expensive big testing equipment, because why do they need two right? They can send patients to use the same machine and share it, so similar to their sharing of the backhoe. I love that!
Elisabeth: Well, Tracy for mine I looked into the private side. I saw a great article on Henderson Products, these guys are in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This is a truck equipment distributor, but they clearly have a Vice President of Operations that lives and breaths Lean Six Sigma, and they are incredibly lucky for it.
We talked about what people had thought what Lean meant. That it was about removing waste, efficiency and cost reduction. I love that he brought it back to, "Lean is about problem solving", and that's exactly what it is.
So it's about problem solving, and he lets his people do the problem solvings. It's a great approach to 5S, and I loved that he pointed out "5S doesn't mean sweep, sweep, sweep, sweep" (I haven't heard that before), but that's great! Right? It's not that!
He told his people, "Walk through the shop as if you were a customer." Would you want your products if you saw this kind of disorganization? This kind of clutter? So, that was the first start. When they did their first phase of 5S, they did the Sort. They threw out seven dumpsters of stuff from the previous one. I mean we do it in our own homes, "I might need that, I'll put it in the closet", "I might need that, I'll put it in the attic", and you never look at it again. So these guys looked at the stuff and said, "We don't need any of that, we're not using it and out it goes."
What's nice what he did was, he had 11 people on the shop floor team (11 people from the shop floor), on his 5S team and they're the ones that came up with the idea of having a Golden Dump Truck, which is kind of like their Stanley Cup. Whoever scored the highest on their 5S, (they do a continual audit for each area), got to hold on to the Dump Truck. They were just showcasing that Dump Truck with each other, because it meant so much. So, huge success reducing lead time, totally owned by the workers. Their mantra is "solve one problem everyday." I love that. That's a nice mantra.
Tracy: That is nice. It seems achievable, manageable and meaningful.
Elisabeth: Yes, all that.
Tools of the Trade: Drive by Daniel Pink
Elisabeth: So next up, Tracy is going to talk about Tools of the Trade. Tracy, what's on the docket today for our latest book?
Tracy: So the book we are going to be talking about today is Drive by Daniel Pink. This book is about the surprising truth about what motivates us. I really think it has (it's been out for a while and it has been one of my favorite books to read) the misnomer out there, or the myth is "what drives people is money."
He basically has a very comprehensive, and robust case about how that is not true. That dangling a carrot, or dollars in front of an employee is not going to drive them, or motivate them. I think that's a really important concept. So he really spends sometime talking about that.
I know that you've got some ideas on driving people. What are you thoughts on that Elisabeth?
Elisabeth: Well, the carrot and the stick aspect hits home to me. It feels like if anyone out there has a kano analysis, and you separate customer requirements, delighters, satisfiers, and dissatisfiers I think about getting a bonus. If you get paid, because you came up with a great idea, did good work then you basically are now expecting to get bonuses. Think about when you get on a plane and you get just a random upgrade to first. It's your lucky day, or you had a complaint and they decided to solve your complaint by giving you an upgrade. The next time you take a flight, and you don't get upgraded to first you are disappointed. So what starts as an incentive, and something that feels like a reward quickly becomes a dissatisfier. You just need more. More money, more of whatever it is that you're getting as a reward, and it doesn't really work after a while. I totally get that piece of it.
Tracy: Yes, and as a matter of fact it says in the book that, "money can sometimes demotivate people". It can actually suck the enjoyment out of something, because now you're saying, "okay here's some money". It takes away from other things like, feeling that sense of accomplishment, you accomplished and did something that nobody had done before, or that you were super creative about it. So sometimes money can be a demotivator. Daniel Pink talks a lot about that as well, that it's not always about money.
There are some things that motivate employees, that don't cost anything. Organizations are not leveraging these things, or identifying these things well enough so that they can actually motivate their employees more. So there are 3 elements that Daniel Pink really focuses on, about what motivates us humans. These 3 things are: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. We're going to spend some time talking about each one.
Autonomy, I can really relate to autonomy. Autonomy to me is freedom. Freedom to choose how much effort you spend on something, how you do something, the way you do something and when you do something. An example, sometimes my creative juices are most in play at 3 in the morning! So if I have to work from 8 to 5 only, I might just go back to sleep. I know I have to get up and work 8 to 5 anyway, so why don't I just go back to sleep and then actually put the thinking in at 8. So sometimes not allowing people to have that autonomy, or having them do things a certain way without any freedom, or collaboration can really demotivate somebody. That is one of the primary drivers of motivation, is autonomy.
Elisabeth: Yeah, I hear that one! I think it's a question you should ask yourself if you're in a position of management. Do I need to micromanage? Do I need to take charge of this particular activity? Can I refer authority to somebody else? If they took this and run with it, how much energy would they have in enjoyment if it was theirs?
Tracy: Yes, absolutely! So the second thing that Daniel Pink talks about is purpose. People do things when they are motivated, because there's a strong purpose behind it. Just think about all the people in government. Do they actually work there because it pays a boat load of money? No! Many of them do it, because they are driven towards a higher purpose of giving back, and making a contribution. That is a huge driver of motivation for humans is to give back, contribute, volunteer and feel like you're apart of something bigger than yourself. Something that you believe in. That's really what all the purpose piece is. If there's a strong purpose behind an organization, how do we leverage that more to help motivate employees, and really help them be the best that they can be?
Elisabeth: That one resonates with me. I saw a fabulous speaker at a Lean conference in Seattle, and this is someone within government, where they have a very impressive Lean effort and she used the question, "For the sake of what?"
We are teaching our prison inmates skills and our goal is to teach them more skills, "For the sake of what?" The more skills they have, the possibility they have of getting hired on the outside once they're released. Great! "For the sake of what?" Well, the more they're able to get a job the less recidivism we have. The more less people are reentered into prison, the less recidivism there is, right? "For the sake of what?" Well, the safer the citizens are. So really the purpose was safety of our people, and that people can get involved and get energized. So knowing the purpose Tracy, I think that's huge.
Tracy: Purpose can be a huge driver. Probably the most I think people can relate to, they go "yeah, I get that." I think maybe Autonomy and Mastery aren't as a quick jump, or shorter jump, but definitely important.
So let's now talk about the final piece, which is Mastery. The idea behind this, is that people want to be really good at something. They want to master something. A great example of this, is anyone that plays an instrument. Most people that want to play an instrument, learn how to play an instrument. They don't do it, because they want to be a millionaire, they don't necessarily do it because they're going to get paid more. They do it in their spare time because they enjoy it, they love it, they want to get better at playing the instrument, just simply because they want to master it. So a driver of motivation is Mastery.
To your point, how do we as managers or leaders leverage that? A lot of that is providing the ability to learn, and get better at skills. Providing additional training opportunities and coaching sessions, letting people feel like they're growing. I think a big motivator for me is growth. I mean, am I growing? Am I learning? Am I Mastering something? I tried to master ice skating a little while ago, that didn't really work out well, but it was fun!
Elisabeth: Tracy, I don't know about you, but this book changed my attitude completely about motivation, and changed my focus when I'm working with other people.
Tracy: That's great! Yes, I really like it too, and definitely people "get it." When we think about rewards and recognition in a Lean Six Sigma program, how do we incorporate these three elements into rewards and recognition, more so than gift cards or dollars? So I think that's something to really think through, because I think that you can leverage many pieces of motivation, not just one dimension.
Elisabeth: Great point!
Tracy: So, coming up next we have a Special Request from our website, Elisabeth is going to answer.
Special Request
Elisabeth: The question please, Tracy.
Tracy: The question is, "How would you compare Lean Six Sigma and ISO 9001, in quality systems? Any advice to learners who already have ISO 9001 knowledge?"
Elisabeth: This is a great question, and it brings up something that I remember bumping up against years ago, when I kept hearing about this thing called ISO. When you're in the Lean Six Sigma world, you're in that world, that's the method you're looking at, that's your bible.
What was this ISO? When I first started studying ISO it looked like the core was, that for many industries you had to be certified in some level of ISO. So if it's applied to that particular industry, it meant that you followed a process, and you had to document what that process was.
Then, if they did an inspection they would have the documentation and they would check, "Were you following the process that you said you did?" Basically, do what you say you're doing, it was pretty simplistic.
I looked at that, and I thought our world is about looking at how you do something, getting an "as is" process, figuring out how you can do it better, fixing it, and coming up with a new process map. I think somewhere in there, ISO clued in and said "Oh, well they were in the middle of mapping and they saw things should change too." So that started to change and I think that there's a place for Lean Six Sigma inside ISO.
You can use Lean Six Sigma to basically meet your customer requirements, and bring your process to a level that will satisfy customer requirements profitably. Then document that, and that will be when ISO comes in and checks you against.
Is that your experience?
Tracy: Same thing, the popular term in Lean Six Sigma that really made me think of ISO 9001 is standard work. So do you have standard work? If you so, do you follow standard work? I hate to say that ISO 9001 is all about that, but those are the two questions if I had to simplify ISO 9001 and compare it to Lean. That's what I would say, "Do you have a standard work? Are people following standard work? Then when you actually improve it, are you updating the standard work?" So I think that's where there is a significant overlap between Lean and ISO.
Elisabeth: Yes, and a good overlap.
Tracy: Alright! So coming up next is Today's Special.
Elisabeth: So Today's Special, is an interview with Carla O'Dell, she's the CEO of APQC, that stands for American Productivity and Quality Counsel, along with a colleague of hers, Dewey Dorsett, who works in the education field. So what's interesting is that APQC is known for knowledge management and benchmarking, but they took on bringing process improvement into public schools. Their efforts have resulted in improved attendance, improved test scores, and freeing up cash to spend on teachers. Education is different, clearly different from the public sector, so we're gonna find out exactly how in this fascinating interview with two leaders in their field.
Tracy: Exciting! Yes, that's definitely one industry that again has a lot of opportunity for improvement in terms of processes, so that's gonna be great to hear about.
Today's Special: Interview with Carla O'Dell and Dewey Dorsett from APQC
Elisabeth: Hey there, we have Today's Special! For Today's Special, I have here today with me in the cafe Carla O'Dell, CEO and Dewey Dorsett, Senior Advisor at the American Productivity and Quality Counsel center, otherwise known as the APQC. Welcome to the cafe Carla and Dewey!
Carla: Thank you, glad to be here.
Dewey: It's good to be here.
Elisabeth: Carla, could you share a little bit about yourself and your role with APQC for our listeners?
Carla: Sure. We are member based non profit research institute, we've been around about 40 years. I wear a couple of hats. One, is that I am the CEO, which is all the work and joy that comes with that while representing APQC to the outside world. Also, I have helped virtually every job here.
I have a lot of experience in benchmarking, best practices and how organizations can better share knowledge on what they know. They can build on what they know, "best practices" which is certainly an educator's topic.
Elisabeth: All of that! Great! Many hats! Thank you. Dewey how about you?
Dewey: I am a senior advisor with APQC, and I have been with APQC for my second year. Prior to that I worked for the Summer of Excellence for Continuous Improvement with Air Products, for 2 years, 2013 and 2014. I have quite a bit of history in consulting in process and performance management, which is of course the services that I provide with APQC. A long time ago when the internet was just a network of research labs and colleges, I got my first paycheck from a company called Springs Industries, that's way back even before we had cell phones.
Tracy: Wow, that's back! Thank you.
Dewey: Yes.
Elisabeth: That's nice! Thanks Dewey. Thanks Carla.
So just a big starting question for you guys. APQC is largely known for it's incredible depth and breadth in the world of project management, and best practices. Process improvements is largely associated with things like, lean manufacturing. How did APQC come to focus on improving processes of public education?
Carla: What a great question. Can I take you on a very brief trip down memory lane?
Elisabeth: Take us down there.
Carla: I have been here for decades, so here's what happened. We first started APQC in the late 70's, early 80's. People were clueless about what improvement looked like, all these things that you have just mentioned: Lean, Six Sigma, Process Improvement and Knowledge Management were not even a gleam in anybody's eye. One of the first things that we did was, we began to look around the world for people who seemed to know something about it. We brought to the United States, Six Sigma (one of the first people to bring it here). In the 80's, we brought all the concepts of Lean, (we helped bring that here). We started the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which a lot of educational groups, school districts and others have won. That whole era was the beginning of process improvement in business and government industries and education back then. Until 15 years ago, most of our focus was helping organizations improve their processes.
We have the world's biggest databases of metrics around cost quality, cycle time and so on for all kinds of processes. About 15 years ago we said, "You know what? There are about (and here's a real count) 322 process improvement techniques, or concepts that businesses spent the last 30 years perfecting for government and healthcare. Don't educator's deserve to have those at their fingertips? Why can't those be adapted for education?" So that's what Dewey and others at APQC in our education division have been doing the last 15 years. Saying, "Process matters, and the kids matter." The best way for education to take advantage of all these years of experimentation in business is to leapfrog, take the best and run with it right now in education.
Elisabeth: Thanks for reminding me about the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, I had completely forgotten that is something instigated by APQC. You are right, an incredibly rich history, and incredibly rich process improvement history and really lovely pivot to say "How about education? Why not education?"
So what's so different about education when it comes to process improvement?
Carla: Oh, Dewey! Do you want to tell them?
Dewey: Well, I think actually the short answer is, education is just like everyone else. I think the challenge is making the connection to the processes within education, from the classroom, to transportation, to food services, to maintaining the physical assets. Really dotting all the I's and crossing all the T's. Looking at, if we're talking about education, if we're talking about a school district having the superintendent and the superintendent's cabinet as well as the other leaders in the district, even the board's. Understanding that the districts infact are a system unto themselves, and that all the parts have a key relationship with each other.
They can't be managed by themselves, but they need to be managed holistically. What I've just seen in the two years that I've been here, is that when we can work with superintendents, cabinets at the district level, state departments and making that tie, helping educators see themselves as the whole system. Then understanding as Carla said, that process matters. When you need to achieve objectives and you have resource constraints (education is severely constrained on resources), we have to be very efficient, consistent and very good at what we do. Thats process and performance management.
Elisabeth: That's really ringing true. The educators I speak with just tell me every year the cut to the budget and how do they manage to teach and run a school holistically or not holistically on less money.
What were you going to say Carla?
Carla: Well, just saying that it all comes back to what is different. Their, quote unquote "product" is the education of our children for the future, for the quality of their own lives. I mean, there could not be a more important outcome they're trying to achieve and their doing it with less. So how do you do more with less? Their being asked to do a lot more, because of their international competitive situation, which APQC is right in the middle of. We serve companies in governments and schools all over the world, including school systems in Australia. The competition is enormous and the quality of life.
It's not a theoretical problem. These children are not going to have good lives for the first generation. We may have a generation of kids who live less well than their parents did, and an education is the only way out of that. For us, it's a mission. Can we give? Can we give whatever we can to improve the processes around the teaching process, so that those teachers can do the jobs that they want to do?
Dewey: Education is really the true knowledge management industry so to speak, or enterprise process if you will. If you look at what our education system has to do, it's not just about knowledge management and subject matter expertise. Schools are also being tasked with the emotional intelligence. The students are being developed emotionally as well as physically so you've got really mind, body and soul. An example around process, we have to feed our students, and we have some schools where a students only meal was just what they get in school. So you tie processes that link together. Getting students to the school on time, having them go to the cafeteria and eat a meal (it should be a meal they want to eat, but hopefully they get to the cafeteria and they eat a meal), then they go class. Now, they are awake, nourished and ready to learn.
Those transportation, food services and now you have a child who's ready to learn and behaves in the classroom. Now it's easier for the teacher to meet their learning objectives.
So all these things are very mind, body, and soul. It is very important how it all ties together in the education system particularly K through 12th.
Elisabeth: That's such an incredibly lovely way to put it, because I think about comparisons to lean manufacturing and you're building a better student. The humongous difference is you're dealing with mind, body and soul.
Dewey: Yes.
Elisabeth: Kind of an incredible mission, and just pivotal to all of our lives. As you say Carla, this is world wide, this is the first year where this is going to be an issue, or it's starting. This generation is going to take a hit if things like this don't come through.
Carla: That's right. To make it real, we work with a North Star Project. Aiming for that north star, that achievement to our kids is to the north star. We have about 124 school districts that have used process improvement, and have these phenomenal results. It's everything that Dewey has talked about: transportation and food service. They get great results on everything curriculum development, to how to optimize the the copy center for making copies for teachers. They don't have to spend all their time doing it, freeing up teacher time, to how do we schedule the classes during the day for optimum use. They benchmark inside their district, they do process improvement. We also help them look outside the district for best practices. More and more school districts are open to spending the time it takes to find out what are best practices, and how could they adapt them.
Elisabeth: So really you're running the gamut. Dewey was using the word holistic, you're looking holistically from making paper copies to improving grades. I remember hearing Dewey's point, one of the issues about getting the student in on time, getting them in a place where they can get a good meal and into the class on time. I heard one district was working on just the stack up of busses. The fact that they were laid end to end, meant the last busses were late and students were late getting into the classrooms. So just moving and changing that process made a huge difference in terms of that goal of getting students in there.
Dewey: That's right. I was going to say, that one of the things I'll point out also in education is that educators are highly dedicated to student achievement, the students in the classrooms and passionate about what they're doing. What I have seen from just the past couple of years, they're very task driven. They look at things as a task, and I think they tend to simply because of how they have been trained, raised and it's in our pedigree. They look at things from a task and project perspective, and what is missing is that a lot of these are tied to processes that are repeatable, measurable and need to be managed.
An example, we're talking about efficiency's at the beginning of the school year. A school district making first aid packets for all the students to take home, sign forms, making sure they have everything in order, get accounts setup and content books signed for. That one district putting that together and and they looked at it as project and tasked it year in year out. The time it took teachers to make the copies for all the classrooms, and get all that put together before the first day of class. Over time buildings had to be open, and security had to be called.
This is a process that goes on, and on and on every year. We are doing the same thing, and stepping back and saying from the process perspective, "How can we do it differently? How can we leverage the resources we have?"
A lot of that manual work was put into digital content, and digital format. We actually ended up giving hours and hours back to the teachers, because they don't have to copy, and put things together. They look at it as, a process that somebody has to own it every year.
In July we have to start getting ready, but now it's digital we're leveraging the resources that we have from the digital content delivery perspective. Now teachers can spend more time planning their classrooms, rather than doing manual copy work and that's the kind of efficiencies and improvements that when districts get them, they go "oh this is great!". So like you mentioned, those are the types of exciting successes that we have.
Elisabeth: The analogy to healthcare strikes me. One of the focuses in healthcare is, how do we relieve nurses of tasks that are repetitive manually, so that we can somehow make it faster, and take less time, so they can spend much more time with patients?
You have the same attitude I can hear, about teachers. How can we take these tasks, this time consuming process and give them time? The goal is to get with students spending time on planning for the classroom, or spending time actually with the students, it's a similar effort.
Dewey: Yes, absolutely. That is one of the things we need to be mindful of is our organization from federal level, down to state level and down to the classroom. Things that are asked for, has been a big issue in the schools, it's not something necessarily that APQC deals with, but we see schools affected. It ties into their reporting processes, when state agencies or federal agencies ask for a piece of information, the amount of paperwork that it causes at the local level is tremendous! We have to step back and say, "What's the right balance of consistency in reporting? Do we want the teachers more in the classroom, or more on the filling out paper and forms?" The fact is they have to do both, and what's cut short is their ability to plan after the class and before the class. They have to spend a lot of time filling out paperwork.
Elisabeth: Carla?
Carla: I'm so excited that Dewey had brought that up, I had thought about it before. I mentioned before that there were over 300 techniques, and concepts that educators can use to improve their processes and methods.
There is a merging of this whole area of automating the reporting process. Basically having a little smart machine or piece of software look at a set of scores, database of time spent, or what ever reports the state agencies require. It will turn that into a text based report, infact if you'd like it too it will speak to you in a nice voice and deliver it. Most people don't know, but the weather report they read every morning, that forecast was not written by a metrologist, it was written by a machine. The ESPN sports scores, or the "so and so knocked it out of the park last week, surprising everyone who thought he was a jerk!" That was written by a machine, so that's called narrative science. I'm just saying right now that may be a little out of the ball park on the continued metaphor for the cost in education, but the cost of that is coming down very rapidly. So when I say there's stuff that can be adapted, it's not just adapted, it's not just the classic process improvement techniques. It's the ability to automate the honorest time consuming no value added parts of knowledge workers time, and work is perfect for educators. Was there ever somebody who was more of a knowledge worker, than a teacher? No.
Elisabeth: Alright! What an incredible way to put it, and you are forgiven for the baseball metaphor, it is baseball season we'll let that go.
Carla: Thank you!
Elisabeth: I think what strikes me, if I think about the process world and the 8 Wastes and the 8th one is, the waste of an electrical capitol. That's really what you are talking about with teachers. Can we use their skills that they were hired for, to really produce that educated student? Find ways whether it's these incredible advances and narratives, or other arenas that will give them a leg up and a way to knock down some of those tasks and take it on another day.
So what are some of the resisting forces, or what are some of the reasons we can't move faster with process improvement in schools? It feels like "oh my god it's holistic, teachers get to teach their students." What could possibly be against this? Why aren't we moving any faster?
Carla: Oh, who gets to go first Dewey, you or me?
Dewey: Well all I can is what we've seen and that is part of it is competing forces, communities wants and desires, and understanding what the districts are trying to do with a process and performance framework.
I think actually the educators themselves seek the unknown. What does this mean? How is it going to change things? What are my roles and responsibilities? What am I accountable for? How do those things change?
There's really the typical change management issues that you would see within any organization, but the fact is it's not fear. It's understanding that if something goes wrong then the community is immediately calling parents, key stakeholders are immediately calling the superintendent and cabinets are in the principal's office.
So I think that there needs to be a solid base, a solid case for change, a business case for change if you will, to help everyone understand what the benefits are. Also it takes time, it's not done in a day, it's not done in a meeting, it takes a couple years for a district to really get fully organized and put a process framework in place.
Elisabeth: Yes, and you guys have done amazing work. You got into so many districts, and made so much of a difference. It's exciting! Is there anything I didn't ask, that you'd like to tell our listeners before we rap?
Carla: I have something Elisabeth, and it's just to pick up on what Dewey said. What we've learned over the years is that the techniques and tools were never the problem, or the solution in any organization. It's all about having the right strategy for getting started. Involving the right people, communicating to the right people, addressing the right concerns and that's what, quote unquote "intervention" that works looks like.
How do you get started? You find the leadership team that's interested in finding out a little bit more about whether this process stuff is worthy of distraction and willing to spend 2 ½ to 4 hours giving an intro into this. What has worked? What has not worked? Find out what's of interest to them? Who needs to be involved? You know it's all about empowerment, engagement, change management, communication and the tools are what you get to use once you figure out the wheel change.
Elisabeth: Yes, and that's true in the process world, and the business world as well, everything you guys are pointing out, the change management and the need for a strategy. I think what's most compelling with what you guys are describing is just the mission that you're on to transform U.S. education, and Australia. That's exciting and moving! I can't see not wanting to get onboard with that.
So if people are interested, where can they find you online?
Dewey: They can find us at APQC.org, or apqceducation.org specifically our education site. I can be contacted [email protected]g, thats my email so I'm happy to take emails and respond. On Twitter we're at @apqceducaiton.
Carla: We have tons of free stuff on both of those sites, the education specific site and the larger apqc.org sites, so go in and mess around and give us a call.
Dewey: If I can say one thing that we worked on that's been quite exciting, is the transformation of the classroom. We worked with the Gates Foundation, and the group called The Center for Educational Leadership and Technologies (CELT), on personalized learning. You wanna talk about change from (that's another thing on terms of adapting processes) traditional classroom teaching where you basically have a batch of 25 students going from grade 3 to grade 6. To personalize learning where you have to have individual students, with their own individual plan, it's basically going from batch teaching to single piece flow.
The transformation in the classroom is going to be huge and it's going to be very challenging, because it's talking about digital resources, and the skills of the campus and the teachers manage individual lesson plans from the student. It's a challenge also for the student resources, with what they have at home and in their community. That's sort of the cutting edge of what's coming down and it's kind of a frontier.
Elisabeth: That's exciting.
Dewey: It will be enabled by process. You have to have process in order to make that work.
Elisabeth: You do, and that's exciting and it's right in line with anything that I've heard from educators, where teachers will say, "You can't just sort of move on, every single kid has to pass". Being personalized about their learning is key.
Thank you so much, both of you for joining today. For sharing what's happening with APQC, in their efforts to transform public education in the states. I really appreciate it.
Our listeners, I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Just-In-Time Cafe, we would love your feedback. Please give us a review on iTunes, or on our website and don't forget to subscribe.
It's still warm, so you can all enjoy iced coffee courtesy of the Just-In-Time Cafe.
Bye everybody!
Tracy: Okay, so we hope you enjoyed this episode and found it valuable. We'd love your feedback on our podcast, so please leave us a review on iTunes, on our website and don't forget to subscribe! And we hope you enjoyed your iced coffee today, because it's a hot one!
Elisabeth: It's a hot one people, so drink up!

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The latest updates for the PS3 and PSP adds a pretty fair amount of useful functionality. You can customize when your PS3 and controllers go to sleep, and can set your PS3 to shut down after finishing a big download. There's support for the new SOCOM bluetooth headset, you can now see more info on friends who aren't online, and you can take screenshots in-game now, if the game so allows. I'm a stickler on power consumption so this update sounds pretty awesome to me.
The PSP now can access the Playstation Store directly and download games whenever it's in wi-fi, which is pretty awesome (it uses the same account as your PS3). They've also added a full-screen keyboard and a sleep timer for mp3 playing, both of which fall under the "oh yeah — I guess I did want that" category.


text: Fine and coarse aggregate are fundamental requirements for construction. Sand is the superior choice of fine aggregate for the preparation of mortar and concrete and it also plays a vital role in the mix design. In developing countries such as India, there's a greater demand for sand because of the rapid growth of infrastructure. The grading and maximum size of aggregates are critical parameters in any concrete mix as they affect the relative proportions in mix, workability, economy, porosity, and depreciation of concrete.


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|About this Recording
8.223703 - GUARNIERI: Violin Sonatas Nos. 4-6
Camargo Guarnieri (b. 1907)
Violin Sonatas
Nos. 4 - 6
Camargo Guarnieri was born in 1907 in Tiete in the province of São Paulo. His father came from Sicily and his mother was Brazilian and at his baptism he was given the additional name of Mozart, a firm statement of parental aspirations. He studied first with his father, a flautist in a wind band, and with a local teacher, before taking piano lessons in São Paulo with Ernani Braga and Antonio de sá Pereira. At the Conservatory he was strongly influenced by his teachers Lamberto Baldi and Mario de Andrade, the latter encouraging him to an interest in folk music. In 1927 he joined the teaching staff of the São Paulo Conservatory and the following years brought a number of piano compositions, songs and in 1931 a wind quintet, preceded in 1930 by the first of a series of six violin sonatas, the last of which was written in 1965. In 1936 his choral Coisa deste Brasil won him the first prize of the State Cultural Department, founded the year before. He also distinguished himself in São Paulo as a choral and orchestral conductor, notably with the Coral Paulistino. In 1938 a scholarship took him to Paris, following the example of Villa-Lobos fifteen years before. Here he studied with Charles Koechlin, his most important teacher, and the Paris Symphony Orchestra devoted a complete concert to his works. Other important contacts in Paris included the conductor Ruhlmann, from whom he had lessons, and Nadia Boulanger. At the outbreak of war he returned to Brazil.
1942 brought the first prize of the Philadelphia Fleischer Music Collection for Guarnieri's first Violin Concerto, an invitation from the Panamerican Union for a concert in New York for the League of Composers and a performance of his Abertura concertante (Concert Overture) in Boston, for which Koussevitzky handed the baton to the composer. Other performances of his works and awards followed in the United States, while at home he won a Brazilian competition in 1946andin 1954 the first prize in celebration of the quatercentenary of São Paulo. He became a life member of the Brazilian Academy of Music set up by Villa-Lobos in 1945 and was later president of the Academy and from 1960 director of the São Paulo Conservatory.
In style Guarnieri belongs to a third generation of national Brazilian composers, following the first stage, initiated by composers like his teacher Braga, and the second stage epitomized in the work of Villa-Lobos, twenty years his senior. He was strongly influenced by Koechlin, who helped him consolidate his orchestral technique, without sacrificing his national tendencies, now absorbed more fully into his musical language. Although he very occasionally experimented with twelve-note technique, in general, like Villa-Lobos, he kept apart from the serialism that the German emigre Hans Joachim Koellreutter was promoting, with other contemporary European techniques.
The fourth, fifth and sixth Violin Sonatas of Guarnieri were written in 1956, 1959 and 1965 respectively and remain fully tonal. Sonata No.4 opens with passionate energy, vigorous and demonstrative in its musical gestures. The emphatic ending of the first movement leads to a gentle slow movement, the portamento and glissandi of the violin suggesting another mode of national musical idiom. The sombre mood restored after the dynamic climax of the movement is broken by an outburst from the piano, introducing a finale of strongly stated and dramatic melodic contour and colour, in which the opening figure undergoes various transformations.
Sonata No.5 starts more gently with a movement marked Comodo. Here again the melodic idiom, whatever its origin, is thoroughly absorbed into Guarnieri's own distinctive musical vocabulary. Once more much use is made of a recurrent melodic figure in a texture that often suggests the neo-classical. A violin moto perpetuo brings the movement to an end, to be followed by the characteristically titled Temo (tender), with its immediate suggestion of motivic unity, but in a very different mood. The piano starts the last movement Gingando (swaying) in declamatory style, answered by the violin, in music of force, energy and brilliance, which brings occasional moments of lyrical relaxation.
The first movement of Sonata No.6, marked Tranquillo, is opened by the piano in a statement of thematic simplicity, taken up by the violin and growing in intensity as the movement progresses. A livelier section leads to a return of the earlier mood and material. The second movement, marked Misterioso, briefly introduced by the piano, unwinds with a sustained violin melodic line over vestigial piano comments, spare in texture and generally restrained in gesture. To this the last movement, marked Grandioso, offers a strong contrast, opening, in the mood implied, with a violin declamation over the fierce chords of the piano, moving on to energetic motor rhythms, lively sequential writing and further declamatory passages, all demonstrating the motivic unity of the movement and of the sonata.
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Western 19068 Gut Hook Fixed Blade Knife
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Melnick in the Afternoon
There is one show where insiders share their secrets in this city. One person that they trust and respect. Opinion, reaction and the highest level of informed sports talk in Montreal. Melnick in the Afternoon, with Mitch Melnick. Weekdays from 3 to 6p.
Hosted by
Mitch Melnick


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Flip flops instead of shoes, tan legs instead of pantyhose, T-shirts instead of business suits...all signs of summer vacation. But, at Believe, we know of one more: Beards! Throwing off the tyranny of daily shaving, more and more men are choosing to grow beards and summer vacation is the perfect time to get growing.
Here's a few tips to get your beard off to a good start:
- Make a commitment: Just like anything worth doing—like running or learning a new language—growing facial hair takes a while and you should commit to a certain time period to see it through. Don't quit in the middle and the results could be great!
- Seeing is believing: You should at least try to grow a beard once in your lifetime. Until you do, you'll never know if you suddenly sprout a full red beard (though you are a blond) or if it will come in silver (so distinguished) or if you have bald patches on either side of your chin just where your dad did. You can't fight genetics, but how do you know that your great-great-great granddad wasn't Blackbeard (whose luxuriant facial hair—into which he wove lighted sparklers—made the ladies swoon and the men quake in fear)?
- Tell everyone else to put a cork in it: Make a pact with your wife, kids and friends that you want to try to grow this beard and that, for awhile, you will look like a beach bum. Ask that they hold their opinions until the growing season is complete. (Your opinion is the one that counts in the end anyway.)
- Prepare to be a little uncomfortable: Yes, yes, as your beard grows in, it will be itchy, but let it grow for six weeks—no cheating. Don't trim it, shape it, or cut it during this time. Just let Nature takes it's course (and try to look like you are deeply pondering the problems of the universe while scratching your beard.) Wash it with gentle shampoo, like AESTELANCE G and condition it with IDEN TREATMENT. A little extra moisturizer like ZUM BODY(in assorted scents) rubbed into the skin beneath your beard will also lessen the discomfort.
- Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow: Even if you have only a goatee or a luxuriant mustache in mind for the finished product, why not let everything grow so you will have more hair with which to decide how you want it styled in the end? You can always cut hair off, but it takes a while to grow back.
- Get it professionally trimmed: Make an appointment and come into Believe for us to professionally shape your beard. In the trade, this is called "designing a neckline." Usually where the beard grows to its upper limit on your cheek is best left natural. Our trained stylists will then take into account your jawline, the measurement from your sideburns to the proper section of your neck, your ear placement in correlation to your jaw—many things that will make your beard look natural, clean and neat. (This is not a job for amateurs! Come let us teach you how to trim your beard properly or visit us at Believe every time you need a trim and enjoy a little pampering. You deserve it.)
- Put down the dye: Here is the problem with do-it-yourself beard dyeing—the final result looks like you are wearing a fake beard. Products like "Just For Men" dye your beard (and usually parts of your neck, ears and bathroom counter) one flat shade making it appear much darker than your hair and looks as unnatural as if you had dunked your chin in shoe polish. If you truly can't stand the grey, come on in to Believe. We are experts at multi-tonal dyeing and can help hide the grey in a way that won't scream out "I dye my beard!"
- Don't be hasty: Put off the decision to ditch the beard until after your "neckline design" appointment at Believe. If you then decide to shave it off (or leave a soul patch/imperial or a luscious mustache) we can do it for you. Trust us; Our sharp scissors, professional handling of a beard trimmer and follow-up skin care will save you from lots of bumps cuts and ingrown hairs.
From Abe Lincoln to Jerry Garcia and Jim Morrison to Sigmund Freud, famous men have been almost as celebrated for the facial hair as for their deeds. Should you decide to join such renown company (and agree with an anonymous ancient Greek who said, "There are two kinds of people in this world that go around beardless—boys and women—and I am neither one," call us at Believe to make an appointment for that shaping and put down the razor!


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On Saturday May 27 (from 10 AM – 2PM) FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) Endurance is sponsoring the annual Wilderness Road Bike Ride for cyclists, which spans a whopping 79 miles across the New River Valley.
Northstar Church Pulaski has another unique opportunity to BE THE CHURCH as we partner to support this event and operate an aid stations near the Draper Mercantile. This will be an excellent opportunity to hang out, serve, and meet bikers from of all ages from all over the New River Valley. We will be responsible for providing riders with a place to take a break, cool off, get a snack, and enjoy the company of the wonderful people of Northstar. So whether you enjoy bike riding, being outdoors, and/or simply like serving others this is a great opportunity to take advantage of.
For more information on how you can get involved by volunteering and/or providing supplies contact Nikki Lockhart at (540)616-4546 or email@example.com. Hope to see you all there!
Supplies that will be needed include:
- Extra lawn chairs
- Baby wipes
- Fruit for snacks (i.e. watermelon, oranges, etc)
- Drinks (i.e. gatorade, water, etc)
- Cups


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Mark Rabe has been appointed to head Yahoo's UK sales team, replacing Blake Chandlee who left the firm for Facebook last October.
Rabe will move over from Yahoo's main office in the US next month to take up the role of vice-president and managing director for UK sales, responsible for strategy and marketing solutions for the internet company's UK advertisers.
He joined Yahoo in 2003 and has 10 years' experience in online advertising, most recently as vice-president for global sales.
His UK predecessor, Chandlee, also joined Yahoo in 2003 but left to take one of the first roles at Facebook's new London office.
The UK has a very advanced online advertising market that has stayed buoyant in the face of a gloomy economic climate, according to a recent report by the Internet Advertising Bureau.
IAB said 2007 online ad revenues were ahead of its forecasts at £2.8bn for the year, with display – one of Yahoo's key services – expected to rise 31% in 2008.
· To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email firstname.lastname@example.com or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332.
· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".


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Is Intermittent Fasting Actually Harmful for Women?
Nisha Gopalan・July 11, 2017
If you're always up for a good gut reboot (hello, humming metabolism and through-the-roof energy), you've probably heard about—or tried—intermittent fasting. The practice of abstaining from food—which has global roots in ancient Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic cultures—made a non-religious comeback in recent years, starting with The Fast Diet craze in the UK (where you limit yourself to about 500 calories two days a week, followed by five days of eating pretty much whatever you like).
And that's only one way to approach meal-skipping. (According to Ayurveda, maintaining a 12-hour distance between dinner and breakfast is crucial, for instance.) But whatever type of plan you choose to give your digestive system a break, as proponents argue you should do, you've probably noticed that pro-fasting perspectives have one thing in common: They tend to skew male.
"Fasting can be great. But if you have thyroid, adrenal, autoimmune issues—sometimes not."
In Silicon Valley, intermittent fasting is huge with biohacking startup execs. And at the recent Goop wellness summit, a couple of big-name male doctors shared their (non)eating plans. For Alejandro Junger, MD, best-selling author of Clean, creator of the Clean Program, and one of Gwyneth Paltrow's go-to gurus, the "most important meal of the day" thing doesn't ring true: He never eats breakfast. And renowned heart surgeon (and inflammation expert) Steven Gundry, MD, chimed in, saying that he only eats one meal a day, each evening.
So does the extreme give-your-gut-a-rest philosophy work just as well for women? "Fasting can be great," says Amy Myers, MD, a functional medicine specialist who was on the Goop panel with Dr. Gundry and Dr. Junger. "But if you have thyroid, adrenal, autoimmune issues—sometimes not." (Reminder: Almost 80 percent of people with autoimmune disorders are female.)
Especially for women, there's a fine line between fasting and depriving your body of nutrients, Dr. Myers adds. She encourages women to look at health through a broader lens. Her holistic view considers the impact stress, exercise, and even endocrine disruptors from beauty products can have on your health. "I want to throw out there that food is important. But don't overlook the other issues," she says.
So before you jump on the empty-plate bandwagon, remember that giving your makeup bag and skin-care regimen a clean-beauty makeover and reducing your stress can have a major impact on your metabolism all on their own. (And taking a dreamy, tension-erasing mermaid bath is way more fun than listening to your stomach grumble.)
Other ways to bring those cortisol levels way down: Get out in nature or enjoy silence (which counts as a luxury these days).
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Package Availability
- Can
- 12 oz Can 2/12 19.2 oz Can (12)
This beer is a blend of old and new school hops that play bright citrus and rich tropical flavors, all on a solid stage of English puffed wheat. Light, yet full-bodied, 12th of Never is everything Lagunitas has learned about making hop-forward beer expressed in a moderate voice. Pale, cold, slightly alcoholic and bitter… it's all they know.