From the monthly archives:

February 2011

The Cynics, the Idealists, and the Pragmatists: What type of consulting partner do you have?

02.28.2011

In my work as co-founder of the Lean Learning Center, we focus primarily on our clients and their challenges. I’m generally not that aware of what our competition is doing. As a result, I am sometimes very surprised by some of the stories I hear from our clients about other consulting efforts, whether tied to [...]

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How Your Employee Performance Management Practices Can Benefit From and Contribute to a Lean Culture [Guest Post]

02.23.2011

Guest Post: Sean Conrad is a Certified Human Capital Strategist and Senior Product Analyst at

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The Fine Line Between Micro-Management and Surfacing Problems

02.21.2011

Not many people want to be the victim of micro-management. And most managers don’t espouse operating that way. But not all micro-management is created equal. As organizations pursue lean effort,s I see a tension between making problems visible and micro-management. Many organizations are very sensitive to anything that feels like micro-management, even just a detailed [...]

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Leading Lean: A Fond Farewell

02.18.2011

I have a new post published on Assembly Magazine. See the full article on that site. I have written “Leading Lean” for ASSEMBLY for over 5 years. This marks my 55th and final contribution. I still have plenty to say, but it’s time for me to move on from this particular role…. Continue reading….  

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Learning Zone vs. Comfort Zone [Guest Post]

02.14.2011

Guest Post: Shawn Patterson is the Senior Director of Corporate Services at DTE Energy where he is responsible for the Supply Chain, Fleet, Facilities, and Continuous Improvement organizations. Shawn has held numerous positions in multiple industries and is passionate about influencing lean transformations in organizations. In light of recent financial pressures, I’ve heard a lot [...]

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Don’t Limit Your Sources of Learning

02.11.2011

Everyone wants to copy the best. That’s why companies such as Toyota and General Electric have been popular sources of benchmarking. That’s why Chrysler was so highly benchmarked when we were the most profitable car company. In the lean community, I have observed a common practice of filtering ideas based on whether they come from [...]

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Launching the Israel Lean Enterprise

02.09.2011

Last week, I was in Israel to launch the Lean Learning Center‘s partnership with the Israel Lean Enterprise. Israel Lean Enterprise is an affiliate of the Lean Enterprise Institute founded originally by Jim Womack and now lead by John Shook. Several country-specific affiliates have been formed, and Israel’s was only recently formed by Boaz Tamir [...]

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In the pursuit of perfection

02.08.2011

“Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” These words by Vince Lombardi encompass a great deal of the lean mindset. Mark Graban at LeanBlog.org recently wrote about this quote, and so I was reminded of an article I wrote almost 10 years ago. The article was just a two-page [...]

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Changing Behaviors Through Daily Actions (long video)

02.07.2011

Changing Behaviors Through Daily Actions has been a common speaking theme for me lately, particularly in speeches inside companies. I recently did a webinar which some people could not attend who wanted to. As promised, I am planning on doing more longer videos this year, rather than the typical 3 minutes that might fit into [...]

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A Fond Farewell, and a New Beginning

02.03.2011

This is my last column of Leading Lean for Assembly Magazine. After 5 years and 55 columns, it is time to move on. The column can be found here. I will soon be starting a new column very soon for Industry Week magazine. The title will be Lessons from the Road. It will have a [...]

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