Posts tagged as:

Flinchbaugh

Aesop’s Fables: Hercules and the Waggoner

01.04.2012

Many of you know that I love Aesop’s Fables to present timeless lessons, and write about how they connect to lessons in the lean journey. This fable is titled: Hercules and the Waggoner “A Waggoner was driving his team along a muddy lane with a full load behind them, when the wheels of his waggon sank so [...]

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4 myths about the principle of “Respect for People”

12.07.2011

The principle of Respect for People has received greater attention in the lean community over the past several years. Books, blogs, and speeches have all given attention to its importance. Both companies and customers are made up of people, and the best profits and processes in the world are not worth it if they lay [...]

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Integrity is unrecoverable

07.26.2011

Lost money can be re-earned. Lost time can be clawed back. Lost love reignited. Lost integrity is unrecoverable. I posted this phrase on Twitter and Facebook recently. I took some “feedback” for it. Some argued that time lost was lost. Truly, it is. But if I needed x hours to get something done and I [...]

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A brief conversation on lean finance

04.25.2011

I recently gave a short interview on lean finance. It was more of an introductory conversation that spontaneously turned into an interview. It was a handful of questions. You can see the interview with Business Finance here.

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The Bee and Jupiter

03.10.2011

I have used Aesop’s Fables before, and here are some lessons from The Bee and Jupiter. A Queen bee from Hymettus flew up to Olympus with some fresh honey from the hive as a present to Jupiter, who was pleased with the gift that he promised to give her anything she liked to ask for. [...]

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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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Slow and Steady, and Routine

01.24.2011

You haven’t gotten any sleep all week, so you try to get one night of 12 hours to make up for it all. It doesn’t work very well, does it? You haven’t worked out in a month, so you spend all day in the gym to make up for it. It doesn’t work, does it? [...]

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“I lead through fear, intimidation, and public humiliation”

01.21.2011

Have you ever heard a leader say, out loud, “I lead through fear, intimidation, and public humiliation”? I doubt it. Have you ever seen a leader try to lead in this way? I would guess you probably have. I think most of the people who are leading through such means are not trying to on [...]

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3 Ways to Train on a Budget

01.11.2011

I hope you have plans to develop your people in 2011. And I hope they are actionable plans. I have yet to meet a company that over-trains or over-develops its people. I meeting plenty of companies that believe that they can’t afford it. To which I say: Baloney! Hogwash! Nonsense! There is always a way [...]

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Entropy is lurking

01.07.2011

Yes, I am an engineer by training, and sometimes look to principles of engineering systems for lessons in organizational improvement. One of my favorite classes, believe it or not, was thermodynamics. I found to be an innate beauty and how thermodynamic systems worked. The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of a closed [...]

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