[This article is excerpted from a draft of an upcoming book. It is the second in a series on the establishment and implementation of lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, ISO 9000 and Baldrige criteria to enhance company survival and to provide direction for companies seeking success and excellence. If you missed part one, read it now!]

One of the key objectives with this article series is to pique your interest in proven, focused management methods to help you grow your business. These articles are intended as a forum to present and explore management and business systems that work hand-in-glove with our ever-expanding technology solutions, changing markets, emerging digital workflows and increasingly unique internal and external customer issues. These "better business models" include lean manufacturing and lean enterprise, Baldrige, Six Sigma and ISO 9000. Each is different yet in some ways they overlap in approach.

In any business, those who know the most have the best chance to survive, and success and excellence require survival. To know the most requires information, and information drives knowledge. Knowledge tempered with experience becomes wisdom. Logically, then, wisdom is a key to survival. Every successful company has the "information-knowledge-wisdom" (IKW) cycle in place throughout the enterprise. IKW is a requisite survival skill in these tough times - without it, company failure is very likely.