About Us

Value-Centered Management is a business management philosophy designed to help businesses focus all efforts on what their customers’ value and then provide that value seamlessly through smooth flowing operations and a team member friendly culture. Michael E. Parker created Value-Centered Management Institute (VCMI) as an educational vehicle that would give other businesses and entrepreneurs an opportunity to learn the benefits of the Value-Centered Management approach to doing business. VCMI is dedicated to the delivery of value-centered solutions and tools to allow our clients to gain insight on methodologies that will ultimately help decrease cost, increase productivity, improve business culture, and manage organizational change. Our mission is to provide knowledge and solutions through innovative technology, products and services, and a relentless commitment to coaching businesses into implementing Value-Centered Management in diverse working environments. Comprised of scores of highly motivated professionals, VCMI brings cutting edge business and life management information and coaching that will help to improve any business and the lives of those who work in them. The delivery of Value-Centered Management knowledge comes through three vehicles which are:

1. Corporate coaching and certifications 
2. Dynamic seminars and educational training events
3. Specialized products such as DVD's, Audio Books, Software, and user friendly Workbooks

Introduction to Author, Michael E. Parker 

At Toyota in the 1990s, Michael was fascinated with what made operations work. The thought of several processes and groups of people all working together to accomplish a goal sparked his attention and curiosity, but not for the first time.

Michael had grown up in the rough neighborhoods of Richmond, California, trying to avoid the evils of the inner city. Since he was often alone, he had plenty of time to think, and plenty of time to learn about human nature. Thankfully, he focused a lot of his teenage energy on studying people and dreaming of how they could work together.

Eventually Michael found his way to Cal State University Hayward, where he studied purchasing and operations and then earned an MBA. Finally, he was ready to tackle the corporate world. A post with Toyota was Michael's first journey toward understanding lean management. It opened his mind to this brilliant approach to production efficiency. While working there, he ended up doing a presentation at the same time as Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the auto giant's founder was on site. Akio and other leaders noticed Michael and selected him to be on a team that would implement lean management principles throughout North America. Michael was on the fast track and had a chance to work with many brilliant executives and team members.

Even with the amazing opportunity in arguably the world's strongest operations environment, he wasn't satisfied. Along the way Michael had developed a love of the service industry, and he had a feeling that what he was learning about lean manufacturing could be applied there. From what he could see, few service organizations were working anywhere nearly as efficiently or with as much consistent customer focus as they could. And so, during his years at Toyota, he spent lunches and breaks grilling lean experts from Japan on how these principles might be applied outside of manufacturing. They admitted the concepts could work, but had never thought of implementing them that way. Michael brainstormed about using lean in a kitchen, in consulting work, in processing mortgage loans, and in a dozen other applications. At night, he began to think about starting an organization that could use these principles in a manufacturing and service industry setting.

Years ago, Kirchiro Toyoda, Taichi Ohno and those who developed lean manufacturing had come to America to study business processes. Legends claim they visited giant grocery stores, manufacturing plants, warehouses, and anyplace where processes could be found. Everywhere they went, they learned. And they took back what they found to Japan where they worked with it, molded it, and eventually created a philosophy that would change the way most of the world builds products. For Michael, the experience at Toyota was a similar beginning.

Lean management principles taught him to get rid of waste and improve processes. And yet he wanted to make the principles his own, as well as add the component of a stringent focus on value and a value-centered culture. So in 2001 Michael went out on his own to show what the concepts might do outside of manufacturing. Founding Stellar Enterprise, he began to employ his own approach to business that he calls Value-Centered Management. It is a philosophy that looks at every part of a business, helping managers and team members understand how to truly serve the customer - from the founding philosophies and approach to business, to determining the tangible structure, processes and approaches that will get the best results.

Today, our Value-Centered Management Institute teaches businesses and people to build stronger organizations that serve real customer needs and unleash team members to achieve all they can. In short, we help create lean organizations centered on what the customer values. And when you think about it, that's what all business should be about. For too long have we accepted traditional wisdom taught in business schools and by many leading our organizations. We have followed because their wisdom produced acceptable results. But who said acceptable is good enough? Who says we can't achieve more? Successful businesses are not run on tradition anymore. Their leaders are tuning into the spoken and unspoken desires of their customers and are building organizations and team members that focus on value in every aspect of their delivery.

We have found that anyone can learn how to take these principles and apply them in their work lives - whether they run a consulting firm or manage a team in a multi-national company. We have applied Value-Centered Management in retail, service, financial, manufacturing, technical and other industries, and the results are consistent and remarkable.

After all, if you know what your customers want and deliver it day by day, how can you fail?