The following is an excerpt from the book The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. And this post also includes some material that was cut from the book. Get a free preview of the formatted paperback book. Mistakes are actions or judgments that turn out to be misguided or wrong. […]

In the not too distant past, Boards of Regents or Trustees who hired university presidents demanded that the candidate be qualified for the position. Typically, that meant the candidate possessed an earned terminal academic degree, rose through the ranks of the professoriate, and then rose through the ranks of university administration. A 30-year career in […]

You may be familiar with the term “additive manufacturing.” It refers to a new manufacturing process in which digital designs are used to create a 3-dimensional component by depositing material in successive layers. This is in contrast to “subtractive manufacturing,” where material is removed in order to create a 3-dimensional component, such as by machining (turning […]

It is unfortunate that managers are not allowed to smoke cannabis at work. If they were high, they might go for a weed walk and finally see what is actually going on. Here is a conversation between three managers and their boss, all stoned on Rocket Science while watching a batch-and-queue process: Boss: “Whoa, that’s […]

This is an op-ed article that appeared in The Connecticut Mirror, a respected nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet that reports on government policies and politics. I wrote it in response to the ongoing contract negotiations between the Connecticut Board of Regents and the AAUP. Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy recently wrote the Foreword to a book titled […]

This is the back story to seven of the more than 30 research papers that I have written about Lean leadership. The seven papers and six books listed below highlight the nexus of research and practice, grounded in my own experiences as a Lean leader while working in industry, since 1994. Lean leadership in the early […]

There has been much consternation as well a strong, negative emotional response among CSU faculty to the Board of Regents opening proposals for the AAUP contract. Faculty, who once viewed the Board of Regents as merely bumbling and incompetent now view them angrily and as the enemy. That is an unfortunate development and will surely […]

“We are all guilty of one of the greatest sins with lean – not having the patience to really understand the problem we are trying to solve and then jumping to a solution that may or may not be the right way to solve this problem.” — Daniel T Jones JumpingDownload

TEKsystems is located on the 12th floor in the old BB&T/now called 200 South College building uptown. 200 South College, Charlotte, NC 28202 https://goo.gl/maps/RGyH5e3esT6op7NZ6 Entry is between the corner of 3rd and College and 4th and College – across from Charlotte Plaza Building [ Panera Bread] The BB&T parking deck can be accessed from College […]

DMAIC (pronounced də-MAY-ick) is a data-driven technique used to improve processes. It is a key tool of the Six Sigma methodology, but it can be implemented as a standalone improvement method or as part of other process initiatives like Lean. The technique is simple, yet powerful. It brings structure to the improvement process and helps […]

My new book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation, is still only in a draft state before final proofreading (actually, the proofreading is taking place now). Trying to get some proof copies printed by Amazon sure does open up the possibility of mistakenly hitting “Publish Your Paperback Book” instead […]

Conflict between management and employees seems inevitable, but that is not always the case. When I worked in industry, there was near-perpetual conflict between senior management and labor unions, but less so between senior management and salaried employees. Overall, there was broad alignment in the mission of the company to design, manufacture, and service the […]

Getting feedback on both a personal and professional level is critical to an individual’s development and advancement. However, if the feedback is done incorrectly, it may sound like criticism. This can damage the relationship between the leader and the follower, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The person in authority must recall that […]

By Pascal Dennis Hi folks, recently I spoke with Brad Jeavons and the fine Enterprise Excellence podcast. Topic: Getting the Right Things Done in a Digital World. Hope you enjoy it! Full Episode: 2-Minute Tip: Best regards, Pascal In case you missed our last few blogs… please feel free to have another look… The Seven […]

It used to be that the leaders of companies, CEOs, and of state governments, Governors, would make cuts to avoid budget problems. But in recent times, they create budget problems to make cuts. In industry, companies spend hundreds of billions of dollars on mergers, acquisitions, share buy-backs, and dividends. State governments spend billions of dollars […]

Chihiro Nakao leading genba kaizen at Whitcraft LLC in Connecticut. Photo by Bob Emiliani. I am pleased to assist in the promotion of Shingijutsu’s Super-Genba-Kaizen Workshop in Connecticut on 25-29 April 2016.* This is a rare opportunity to learn genba kaizen from Chihiro Nakao, perhaps the world’s greatest industrial engineer. Nakao-san has more than 50 […]

Those of you who teach part-time or full-time in colleges or universities will be interested in the following resources to help teach Lean management to students. Use these books for senior-level undergraduate courses and graduate-level courses in engineering and business school curricula. Corporate training and leadership development professionals will also find these books helpful to teach Lean […]

One of things I tell my undergraduate and graduate students at the start of the semester is: “Your success in this course will be determined by your ability to follow instructions.” Invariably, the students with the highest marks follow instructions, while those with the lowest marks ignore instructions. The same is true for Lean transformations. […]

Company presidents and CEOs steeped in conventional management have proven to be nearly impossible to convert to Lean management. They have decades of experience with a type of business practice rooted in sellers’ market, batch-and-queue processing, complete with dozens of familiar metrics that they know how to manipulate to achieve favorable outcomes. Their mindset and daily practices […]

In my previous blog post, “The Lean Movement’s Strategic Errors,” I noted five strategic errors that were made in how Lean management was presented to business leaders and subsequent efforts over the last 30 years to promote and advance Lean management: Presentation of Lean as a method for wealth creation Ignoring leadership’s critical role in […]

In the previous blog post, Something Revolutionary Sees as Ordinary, I discussed how the representation of Lean as a means for wealth creation is a simplistic and conformist narrative of both the outcome and purpose of business that undercuts the revolutionary nature of the Toyota Production System and The Toyota Way. This blog post picks […]

Lean world has long had a “do as I say, not as I do” problem. Telling OthersDownload

The following describes the evolution of my Lean leadership training courses. First Generation | Behaviors | 2002-2005 I began teaching Lean leadership to executives in 2002 (and to university students since 2001, based on my work published in 1998). The first generation started as a half-day training course that consisted mostly of lecture focused on Lean leadership […]

It seems to be common knowledge that the Lean movement is now suffering from a midlife crisis. Lean movement leaders are perplexed at the widespread continuing emphasis on Lean tools, narrow focus on cost cutting, and the slow uptake of the “Respect for People” principle over the last 15 years. This is the outcome, despite […]

If Lean management were to pass away someday, what might its obituary be? Lean Management passed away this year at the age of 38. The cause was complications from confusion, complexity and, in the end, apathy and neglect. Lean management dedicated its life to helping people improve processes in ways that did not harm others, with […]

In recent years, many organizations have lost interest in learning about Lean tools and Lean management in a classroom setting. They choose an alternative learning method called “action learning,” and may augment that with “change management,” “systems thinking,” or “design thinking.” All of this in an effort to create “the adaptive enterprise,” “learning organizations,” “resilient […]

Nearly 30 years after the start of the Lean movement, there is widespread agreement that things have not gone according to plan. Of course, there have been some notable successes (particularly those who worked with Shingijutsu), yet they are far fewer in number than anyone expected given the wide-ranging benefits of Lean management to all […]

In today’s blog, we detail six different types of kaizen methodologies. But first, let’s briefly get into what kaizen is.  What is Kaizen? Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning change for the better or continuous improvement. It is a business philosophy that encourages all employees at all levels of a company to work together to […]

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) circa 1900. Every day, thousands of people confuse Lean management with “Taylorism,” properly known as Scientific Management. The negative association brings out those who work hard to create a great separation between Lean and Taylor. This is an ill-informed and inappropriate response. It is also an irresponsible response because it misleads […]

On 26 January 2016, Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced the status of LeanCT in a press release titled: “Gov. Malloy Announces State’s Use of Lean Tools Makes Government More Responsive and Efficient” (watch video here). As a long-time student of and advocate for Lean management, I am happy to see Lean in my state Government (Disclosure: […]

Nearly 30 years into the Lean movement, successes, failures, and future challenges are becoming increasingly clear. The successes make us happy and keep us motivated. The failures and their causes, however, are usually diminished or ignored. That means the information used to help define and execute future actions is distorted. That should be a source […]

It seems there isn’t a university administrator anywhere, and most faculty too, who claim the mantle of “academic excellence.” What is “academic excellence?” The words typically connote the span of university activities related to the degree programs, scholarship, learning, and teaching. It is common to read how funding must be preserved or increased to maintain or […]

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on […]

These slides were posted on LinkedIn on 8 June 2023 with the words “Let’s Get Real.” The slides push back hard on misinterpretations about my work by Lean community leaders as well as their disinterest in acknowledging the big problems. Click here to view the post and comments on LinkedIn. Lets Get RealDownload