Revolutionary UnSquaring the Wheel Project Rolls Out at GRAPH EXPO

On Tuesday and Wednesday, September 15 and 16, print business owners and executives will have a unique opportunity to participate in the debut of a new approach to strategy and operations.

It’s called UnSquaring the Wheel,  the brainchild of Professor Chris Bondy, Gannett Distinguished Professor at  Rochester Institute of Technology; Dr. Joe Webb, Principal at Strategies for Management and Director of WhatTheyThink’s Economics and Research Center; and Wayne Peterson, Principal at the Black Canyon Consulting Group.

“The objective of Unsquaring is to guide top executives in the assessment of their business and guide it in reinventing and transforming itself,” said Peterson. “It is comprehensive, covering sales and marketing, operations, and other key decision areas.”

Bondy added, “We wanted to create a program that applied to graphic communications organizations of all sizes and across all operations. It stresses the integration of company functions as essential.”

To assess a company, the business is divided into three broad areas: Platform, Resources, and Customers. Each of these is subdivided into three specific areas of concentration, representing nine spokes of a wheel. “Platform” assesses a company’s services, processes, and technologies; “Resources” assesses a company’s employees, financial situation, and strategic alliances; and “Customers” assesses the overall customer experience, the “brand,” and business development strategies.

All of these elements are evaluated on a scale of 0 to 5 and plotted on a circular grid, with 0 in the center and 5 along the circumference. If all nine of the assessed elements score a 5, the graph describes a perfect circle, or wheel. Elements scoring less than 5 cause the wheel to become less round—or more square. Identifying where the “squareness” occurs shows what the company needs to improve to thus “unsquare the wheel.”

GRAPH EXPO attendees will have an opportunity to unsquare their own wheels during the show. On Tuesday, September 15 from 2:00 to 5:30 p.m., attendees will receive an introduction to the methodology and learn about the three disciplines and the nine vector areas, including case studies. Then, on Wednesday, from 8:00 to 11:30 a.m., they will reconvene for the continuation of the topics and the Q&A session. At that time, they will complete the company assessment. Within two weeks after the program, attendees will review their confidential results with one of the UnSquaring leaders. Program attendees will receive a copy of the UnSquaring the Wheel book.

Both sessions will be held in Room S105abc McCormick Place South. Attendees can sign up for this event at the registration area at the entrance to the show.