From Continuous Improvement to Continuous Reinvention: The Next Frontier of Process Excellence

Program Description

For decades, organizations have mastered the art of excellence—eliminating waste, reducing variation, and driving reliability through Lean, Six Sigma, and Quality systems. But what happens when those systems work so well that there’s little left to optimize?

In this thought-provoking session, Yoni Stern of SIT – Systematic Inventive Thinking, Ltd. introduces a disciplined approach to creativity that begins where traditional Process Excellence leaves off. Drawing on SIT’s proven methodology—used by leading companies worldwide—Yoni challenges participants to rethink how innovation can thrive within constraints, not by breaking the rules, but by re-imagining them.

Participants will:

• Discover how Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT) complements Lean and Six Sigma by adding a structured method for inventive problem-solving and opportunity identification.

• Explore why excellence often plateaus—and how to reignite momentum through a mindset of disciplined creativity.

• Experience a live mental exercise demonstrating how SIT transforms constraints into catalysts for breakthrough ideas.

• Leave inspired and curious about the next step: bringing SIT-powered creativity to their own continuous improvement initiatives.

“SIT is to innovation what Six Sigma is to quality—structured, repeatable, and powerfully effective.”

About our speaker

Yoni Stern is a Senior Partner at SIT – Systematic Inventive Thinking, Ltd., a global innovation consultancy active in over 75 countries. For more than two decades, Yoni has helped organizations such as 3M, Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, General Mills, and AXA Insurance embed SIT’s structured approach to creativity within their operations—transforming the way teams think, collaborate, and achieve measurable results.

In addition to his consulting work, Yoni serves as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University in New York and as an annual guest lecturer at Harvard University, where he teaches the application of structured creativity in business, engineering, marketing, and healthcare contexts.

A sought-after speaker, Yoni has delivered keynote sessions and executive programs for professional associations including ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association), ISPIM (International Society for Professional Innovation Managers), and the PDMA (Product Development and Management Association)—bridging the worlds of process excellence and innovation with clarity and practicality.

Yoni’s work demonstrates that creativity is not a mysterious talent but a systematic discipline—one that empowers quality and operational leaders to move beyond continuous improvement toward continuous reinvention.

JOIN US FOR THIS FREE WEBINAR

Date: Wednesday, December 17

Time:  12:00 - 1:00 pm EST

Location:  On-line, via Zoom

Cost:  Free to GRQC members and non-members

Registration:  Click below to register.  

Can’t make it live but interested in the content?  Register anyway: all registered attendees get a link to the recording after the session!

If you require special accommodation, please let us know by December 8

Please direct questions to events@grqc.org.

Greater Rochester Quality Council events, programs and initiatives are supported in part by the Greater Rochester Chamber Foundation.