Dr. Domenico Lepore is an international expert and innovator in the field of systems-based management. For over 25 years, he has produced significant results in a wide range of sectors in Europe and North America through his systemic management methodology, ‘The Decalogue‘.
His background as an experimental physicist with expertise in Standards has provided him with a unique insight into the application of science to management to achieve robust, predictable and repeatable results. With a talented team of physicists, mathematicians, engineers, philosophers and writers, in addition to an effective management methodology, he has developed an innovative approach to organizational design based on network theory called the ‘Network of Projects’.
Professional Background in Europe
In Italy, following his research work on superconductivity, Dr. Lepore worked in Technology Transfer and subsequently at the Management School of the Department of Trade and Industry in Milan. There he developed programs for SMEs on Quality Management, combining education, training and on-the-field implementation. He was appointed Italian representative for the ISO 9000 Technical Committee 176 from 1993-1996. He became an expert in Deming’s approach to Quality and later teamed up with Oded Cohen to create a new management methodology called the Decalogue™. Cohen was Senior Partner of Dr. Eli Goldratt who developed the Theory of Constraints. Thanks to the effectiveness of the methodology, in 1996 Lepore created his own consulting firm in Milan to introduce businesses to this new approach.
Professional Background in North America
Between 2001 and 2005, Dr. Lepore worked intensively as Senior Advisor with Graftech International (NYSE:GTI), a seasoned US multinational that was facing grave challenges. Lepore oversaw the first company-wide application of the Decalogue that led to a major turnaround. As a result of the success of this work, he was invited by two of the senior managers to collaborate in the forming of a holding company with a view to acquiring a company to be managed with the Decalogue methodology. Thanks to his previous achievements, he was granted an special visa for Extraordinary Individuals and moved to New York in 2006 to become President of Symmetry Holdings, subsequently Barzel Industries. In 2007 Symmetry Holdings successfully acquired Novamerican Steel, renamed Barzel Industries Inc. Barzel became unique as a steel service center with a business model founded on speed and transparency. Using sophisticated statistical methods and analytical tools, the new management drastically reduced inventory and negotiated unprecedented agreements with mills, thus accelerating the speed at which they moved metal through the system, without compromising quality and pricing. They could therefore replenish materials faster than competitors and respond more quickly to urgent market demands. In 2009, an agreement was reached to sell substantially all the assets of Barzel to Canadian-based steel company.
In 2010 in Canada, Lepore founded Intelligent Management Inc. to further the insights and the application of the Decalogue methodology at an international level.
The Decalogue™ Methodology
Lepore developed the Decalogue™ management methodology together with Oded Cohen, a leading, world-renowned expert in The Theory of Constraints. The integrated 10-step process, The Decalogue™, is a method for whole system transformation, from conventional, silo thinking to a systemic vision and practice. It looks at the whole system that every organization is part of, from supply chain to end users. This approach inherently maximizes resources and production output, as well as quality and cash generation through effective marketing and sales. The ten steps uniquely combine the management philosophies of Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt. (See attachment on the Ten Steps of the Decalogue.)
Results
Dr. Lepore has led turnaround and improvement implementations of national and international businesses, primarily based in Europe and the U.S., in industries including aluminum, automotive, printing, software, diversified industrial products, healthcare and government as well as not for profit. The significant results of these implementations include:
- market penetration
- reduced lead time
- improved quality and resource optimization
- expanded production capacity previously unavailable
- increased cash generation through effective marketing and sales
- strategic thinking
- total turnaround
Over the last ten years, Dr. Lepore has guided the transition of management from one generation to another, protecting the legacy and ensuring continuity for multi-generation firms.
Personal Background
Dr. Lepore was born and educated in Salerno, southern Italy. From an early age, he has nurtured a passion for science and the scientific method. With a dynamic and outgoing personality, his interests extended far beyond the laboratory. While studying and researching solid state physics, he also acquired a pilot’s license and complete fluency in the English language. His dedication to achieving mastery of the English language sprang from his appreciation of Anglo-Saxon culture. He found inspiration in the England of Hobbes, Newton and Bertrand Russell, and the dynamism and mental open spaces of North America.
He has a passion for cinema, and since moving to north America he has developed a deep interest in a branch of Jewish philosophy known as Chabad Chassidus. He is married to his partner, Dr. Angela Montgomery, and they now live in Victoria, BC.
Books by Dr. Lepore
Dr. Lepore co-authored the management classic entitled ‘Deming and Goldratt: The Decalogue’ with Oded Cohen, published in the U.S. in 1999 by Dr. Goldratt’s publisher, North River Press. This was the first book on the Theory of Constraints to be published by North River that was not authored by Dr. Goldratt himself.
This is another of those books that belongs in every manager’s briefcase as urgent reading. Similarly, it belongs onthe desk of every supply management professional as a “must use” reference to develop organizational control and predictability. It should be part of a trilogy on your desk. You should also have a good book about Dr. Deming and right beside it should be The Goal by Dr Goldratt. You and your organization will be better for having studied them seriously. Robert A. Kemp, Ph.D., C.P.M. Professor Emeritus-Management
The book was translated into several languages, selected to be featured in The Deming Forum’s own Learning Library, is suggested reading and is cited in studies by several universities around the world. It continues to sell consistently over twenty years after its publication.
‘Sechel: logic, language and tools to manage any organization as a network’ is a book that offers further insight into the Decalogue™ methodology, as well as several chapters with practical indications on implementing the methodology. The Decalogue™ is also presented through the Intelligent Management blog.
In 2016, Lepore published a chapter on the Decalogue in a volume published by Springer dedicated to Complexity. The chapter is entitled “Managing Complexity in Organizations Through a Systemic Network of Projects”.
‘Quality, Involvement, Flow: The Systemic Organization’ from CRC Press, New York, 2017, covers over 20 years of in-the-field research and implementation of the Decalogue methodology in Europe and North America and is co-authored with partners Dr. Angela Montgomery and Dr. Giovanni Siepe.
Lepore was invited to write a book on transformation for the digital age for Business Expert Press: ‘Moving the Chains: An Operational Solution for Embracing Complexity in the Digital Age’, 2019
In 2023, a breakthrough in managing organizations as a Network of Projects was described in the Springer volume by Lepore and his partners, ‘From Silos to Network: A New Kind of Science for Management’
Scientific Papers
The following scientific papers are based on the implementation of the Decalogue:
‘Systemic Approach to Management: a case study’, G. Maci, D. Lepore, S. Pagano, G. Siepe. September 14 -19, 2008, Poster at 5th European Conference on Complex Systems, Hebrew University, Givat Ram Campus, Jerusalem, Israel.
‘Managing organizations as a system: the Novamerican case study’. G. Maci, D. Lepore, S. Pagano, G. Siepe. June the 23th-27th 2008, Poster at International Workshop and Conference on Network Science, Norwich Research Park, UK.
Dr. Domenico Lepore was interviewed by Gurmeet Judge, President and CEO of Encompass Business Technologies as part of their Business Leaders Podcast. We hope you will enjoy listening to Domenico’s insights on how to cope with today’s challenges, solving the problem where it needs to be tackled, at organizational level.
Organizations can achieve so much more when they are managed systemically and competencies are synchronized. Dr. Domenico Lepore presents a whole way new of thinking about organizations and managing operations to drastically improve performance.
Talking about Project Management in a way you never heard before – Dr. Lepore unleashed as he is interviewed by PMI Southern Maryland. You can watch the interview with Domenico below from MINUTE 15 ONWARDS.
Dr. Deming’s work is at the heart of everything Intelligent Management does together with a highly advanced way of using the Theory of Constraints. Dr. Domenico Lepore is interviewed about Deming and Goldratt in John Willis’s podcast. Click here to listen: https://profound.buzzsprout.com/1758599/10121886-profound-dr-deming-s2-e8-domenico-lepore-deming-and-goldratt
Organizations get stuck but there is a very precise method they can follow to get unstuck and create breakthrough solutions. Dr. Domenico Lepore is interviewed by Derek Hudson about this and much more. Click here to listen to the podcast: https://publish.obsidian.md/essentialdynamics/_Essential+Dynamics+Wiki/5.+Podcast/Episode+57+Domenico+Lapore+-+Getting+Unstuck
