A McKinsey study states that there are four most important behaviors of successful leaders. As the report says, “Over 90% of CEOs are already planning to increase investment in leadership development because they see it as the single most important human-capital issue their organizations face.” McKinsey’s research has often emphasized the importance of good leadership […]

This is the back story to why some of my books are written in a tough tone. I receive a lot of feedback on my books. Most of it is positive, though occasionally it is negative. The negative feedback most often relates to the tone of my REAL LEAN and Lean Is Not Mean books, which are […]

Here is a thoughtful opinion piece titled, “I studied computer science, not English. I still can’t find a job.” The upshot is that college and university professors teach what they know, and if all they know is theory then they cannot convey practice to students. The hiring process in most college and universities strongly favors […]

This recent article from The Wall Street Journal, “Four Ways to Spot a Great Teacher,” underwhelms. The author cites the following elements of “superb teaching” among K-12 teachers: Have active intellectual lives outside their classrooms Believe intelligence is achievable, not inborn Are data-driven Ask great questions In my view, superb teaching (K-12 and beyond) is […]

Click on image to enlarge. For nearly 15 years, I have taught a graduate course on Lean leadership that has prominently featured the “Respect for People” principle and Lean behaviors and behavioral waste concepts that I developed in the mid-1990s. The course, consistently rated 4.8 out of 5.0 for quality of course and instruction, is taken […]

Faculty, in their interactions with top administrators, can be unruly, confrontational, and plain-speaking at times – especially those with tenure (which, we all know, is not a license to say whatever you want, misbehave, or be rude or disrespectful). Administrators dislike these behaviors, which is understandable. Deep down, they would probably rather get rid of […]

If I told you that only 50% of meeting time is used effectively, would you believe me? (Don’t answer. I can hear you nodding from here.) There’s evidence that virtual meetings score even lower. And not only are pointless meetings annoying, but they are also a drain on your revenue: two hours per week spent in pointless meetings […]

What does it mean to lead with respect? Is it simply a matter of embracing a handful of new behavioral practices? That is where everyone starts out in their quest to understand and practice Real Lean. I did as well, more than 20 years ago. So did the Scientific Management people 85 years ago. But […]

Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more Joining us for Episode #479 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Arnout Orelio, a returning guest (from Episode 403 in 2021). He has been working with Lean management since 1995, the last 15 years as a trainer, coach, and consultant in healthcare.  He is the […]

At the start of this semester (Fall 2014), I asked my students (n = 97) in my courses (one undergraduate and 3 graduate) the following questions: What do you value in a degree program? What do you value in a course? These are students in a school of engineering, science, and technology studying various technical […]

The “Respect for People” principle is not a toy to play with. It is not something to arbitrarily reconfigure to suit one’s narrow view of Lean leadership or a commercial interest. It must never be reduced to a tool, formula, or simple model. But, that’s what is now happening. What can we expect when the “Respect […]

Today, we celebrate Independence Day in the US. The 4th of July is an extremely patriotic holiday where we celebrate the independence of our country. People celebrate with family and friend gatherings, barbecues, parties, games, food, fun, festivals, parades, musical events and fireworks. Freedom is not just the natural right of every human. It is […]

Continuously moving assembly lines are commonly found in industry, especially high-volume production. Most final assembly lines in automotive are continuously moving lines, but there are also many more examples in industry. Such lines have many of the same requirements of pulsed or untimed lines, but in a few specific circumstances continuously moving lines can have […]

Faculty and faculty labor unions (AAUP) have a loud voice when it comes to shared governance: it’s importance, the good it has done, threats to shared governance such as the rising use of adjuncts and corporate management style, and so on. They argue for stasis of a concept that has evolved over time and continues […]

In a recent interview, “Teacher tenure has little to do with student achievement, economist says,” Washington Post reporter Max Ehrenfreund asked the following question of Jesse Rothstein, former Obama administration economist: Eherenfreund: “Everyone agrees that the goal should be to make teaching a respected profession, a profession that talented and able people want to enter. So far, […]

Image Source: Wilson Bentley (1865–1931) The word “symmetry” comes from the Greek word “symmetros,” meaning balanced proportions or balanced measures. The word “symmetrical” means the quality of parts matching one another, as in mirror image or features that correspond to one another through angular rotation. There are many examples of symmetry in nature: starfish, birds, […]

The previous post, Breaking Symmetry, illustrated how business is an unnatural process when it is asymmetrical and how learning from nature can help to restore symmetry. Part of the unnatural process, and a big reason to want to restore symmetry, is the negative effect that asymmetry has on people’s health – employees, but suppliers as well. […]

A philosophical question often prevents the start of process improvement activities in universities: Are students students? Are students customers? Are students clients? What are students? Here is how I have long looked at it: I consider students to be my direct customers; parents, spouses, and payers, to be intermediate customers, and employers and society to be […]

Here is an article worth reading from Times Higher Education (25 September), “No place for introverts in the academy?” The author, Bruce Macfarlane, criticizes those who demand that students be actively engaged in class and who award points for class participation: “…university students are no longer allowed to be shy. ‘Active learning’ has become a […]

We have all heard people at work say: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” In other words, people who make the most noise get what they want. That’s a process problem if ever there was one. It also illustrates people’s acceptance of problems rather than trying to understand its root cause and applying practical countermeasures. […]

Have the leading figures in the Lean community walked the “Respect for People” talk? Not in my view. Most of these leaders have only recently – around 2007 or later – begun to understand and embrace the “Respect for People” principle. That is incredibly late. While there are many dimensions to the “Respect for People” principle, the […]

An important thing that professors can improve upon is to overcome the perception, or reality, that teaching is static. By that I mean, courses that remain largely unchanged from one semester to another, in their content, assignments, evaluations, pedagogy, and other elements. Lean principles and practices applied to teaching mean that courses undergo change both […]

A recent article in The Chronicle for High Education “Goals for Enrollment and Tuition Revenue Elude Many Colleges” (13 October 2014, subscription required), gives interesting insights on the simplistic and unimaginative actions taken by colleges and universities when enrollment goals and tuition revenue are not met. The graphic to the right is from the article […]

What is “lean thinking?” Over the last 18 years we have seen four different definitions from the two gentlemen who coined the term, James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones. Two definitions in the first ten or eleven years, and two more definitions in the last 30 days. In their influential 1996 book Lean Thinking, Womack and […]

The world of project management is as dynamic as it is challenging. Every project is a journey that brings new experiences and challenges but also a wealth of lessons. As a seasoned Project Management Professional (PMP), I have learned the importance of extracting valuable insights from past projects and using them to refine future strategies. […]

Forgive me for one additional announcement about my new book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation: The print editions are available now through Amazon! That is in addition to the Kindle version. The audiobook should be available in a few months. And it’s a #1 New Release in the […]

Are education and student satisfaction antithetical, as is argued in this article written by Prof. Joanna Williams in Times Higher Education (16 October 2014)? The premise is that resources are expended on facilities and services to ensure student satisfaction erodes the authority and importance of academic work and subject matter knowledge. Of course, there is some truth […]

This is the back story to the first Lean leadership course in higher education. To my knowledge, I was the first full-time university professor to teach a graduate course in Lean leadership in the spring of 2001. I created this course because of the profound differences between how conventional businesses are led compared to how […]

It seems whenever a college or university is criticized for tuition increases, the defense given is: “This allows us to provide the high-quality education that students and families deserve.” Everyone accepts that without question – with no critical thinking. Hmmm. Of course, quality in higher education is loosely defined and poorly measured. Despite this, the […]

Years before James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones helped give us the popular version of Toyota’s production system, “Lean production,” there was a professor in Japan seeking to carefully understand and document in detail Toyota’s production system and their overall management system. That professor was Yasuhiro Monden (learn about Professor Monden here). Professor Monden’s […]

I have commented previously (here, here, and here) about how bosses want new hires to possess good critical thinking skills. But, due to a lack of critical thinking, bosses mistakenly ask for critical thinking when what they really want is people who can solve problems. It looks like bosses did not learn much about critical thinking […]

Over the decades, many people have tried to make the business case for Lean in an attempt to gain senior management support. They typically start with arguments based on removing waste or improving efficiency. But that, surprisingly, proved to be unconvincing to most executives. So they moved on to arguments such as improving productivity or […]

This semester I introduced a form for graduate students to use during the semester to document key learning week-by-week. It is called the “Weekly Leaning Reflection.” The course, Supply Chain Strategy, is taught as a hybrid, meaning about 50 percent of the classes are face-to-face and 50 percent of the classes are online. My concern […]

Members of Kaizen Team 1 learning the basics of kaizen before going to the shop floor. Sensei Nakao is at right. I have just returned from Shingijutsu’s 64th Japan Genba Kaizen Seminar. In addition to being a world-class experience, there were dozens and dozens of valuable learnings. I’d like to focus here on one particular learning: […]