In the past few weeks, I’ve had some great conversations about Lean leadership with Sam MacPherson, organizer and chief evangelist of the upcoming Summit on Lean Leadership in Jacksonville. (October 5 and 6, 2015)
What Sam has found out is that it takes more than Lean competencies to make a Lean leader, hence the distinction between Lean and Lean leadership. This certainly aligns with what I found when researching The Lean CEO.
Lean CEOs are called upon to break traditional rules that stand in the way of flow, continuous improvement, and other aspects of the Lean journey. Paving this path requires not only a deep understanding of Lean principles, but a thorough mastery of the rules that are being broken. You don’t tell your CFO that you’re doing away with standard cost accounting without understanding the many stakeholder obligations, fiduciary and otherwise, that a CFO is bound by.
Furthermore, the Lean CEO often has to play hardball. It took more than an understanding of Lean for Gary Kaplan, CEO of Virginia Mason, to explain to doctors that the covenant that they had known all their lives was about the change dramatically. He had to understand deeply what those doctors were about to relinquish. The same goes for leaders who have to confront managers with comfortable fiefdoms who have made quota for years, or line workers who have thrived in a piece work environment.
These are topics for special conversations that extend beyond traditional Lean competencies. I’m excited about the conference and taking part in it (I’ll be speaking at 3:15 PM on Oct 5). Given the roster that Sam has assembled, I think we’re going to see some exciting takeaways for aspiring Lean leaders.
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