Derrick is the CEO of The Center for Management Terms & Practices, the standards body for general management. Founded in 2018 after a successful pilot with the SBA, it is a for-profit association that trains managers at every level from every sector in size. The Center standardize the terminology of management so departments can communicate. It standardized a kit of one-page tools so people can collaborate efficiently. Information about training and events is at theindex.net.
“Well, my professional world, it's changed quite a bit really; giving up a consulting practice of 25 years, evolved it, evolved it a lot, I think it's fair to say into The Center. And one of the most common problems I saw when I was doing work with people, managers of all organizations at all levels was what I called a dodgeball meeting.”
“We work with people who have general management responsibilities. So, those are people, and we have lots of terminology for this, who connect the dots to see the big picture, who have P and L responsibility, who are on the management track…”
“The value add is really this fundamental point that if people don't really understand the common language of management, it's really not the words. It's really the concepts. That's what words are really.”
“it's not just a way to optimize performance, it's a way to break down, you know, fundamental social barriers too. People love to work. It's important to them. And um, you know, you can't really treat people fairly unless you can understand them clearly.”
“the center has been formally organized for a year and we're starting to develop, and we have developed our core installers and CEO soon, and senior managers from different departments and they've gotten to know each other which is great. So, I gathered them together yesterday to think about ‘how are we going to organize our first chapter’ because we have to build community, personal community, among our membership.”
“we're proud of The Index. If you want to take a little step further, you're going into a meeting and you know, it's about some management topic, you know, market research, workflow process, writing the employee manual, you know, financial accounting, whatever it is. You know, go to The Index and you'll see the General Managers Index.”
“my vision of success is an international conference. People from different regions, different languages, literally different languages, people from across difficult, you know, political and cultural borders sharing ideas about management. It's not just a universal language, it's a universal activity.”
You can get in contact with Derrick at:
Phone: 608-260-9300
Website: www.theindex.net