When leaders have the courage to admit they don’t know, this can have a transforming influence on an organization. Let’s face it – when a senior executive walks onto the shop floor, or the hospital ward, or the customer service department, the words “I don’t know” aren’t news. The front line workers already know what… read more.
Archives for June 2015
Is this the dawn of a lean era?
After the miracle of Toyota was introduced to the world, the story line goes, the business world got the tool part, but not the people part. I think there’s a missing piece in that narrative. The clue is in the article “The Age of Consumer Capitalism” (Harvard Business Review, Jan, 2010) by Canadian business guru… read more.
Doing Lean Right – Are we asking the right questions?
The wrong-headed approach to lean, characterized by the desire for short-term gain only, is widely reviled in the lean community. Leaders, it seems, want to get the benefits of lean without committing to the hard work that a lean transformation requires. I think the conversation about committing to lean is contingent on a much larger… read more.