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What Do I Tell My Leaders When Experiments Fail?
When experiments fail, it's natural for a leadership team to get nervous. But in the context of lean, they shouldn't be - it's just a…
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Action Plan for Hard Times
Last week I pointed out that the big leaps in applying lean thinking have all been made in hard times. I therefore urged everyone to…
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Lean Beyond the Factory
I've been thinking a lot recently about just what a business really is. As a lean process thinker, my best answer is that a business…
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Ask Art: Is There More to Becoming Lean than Conducting Kaizen Events?
Kaizen events may be a key part of lean transformation, but they're certainly not the only aspect of it. They're just one step on the…
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Who Owns Your A3? (Part One)
LEI Director of Strategy and Operations Mark Reich shares how he learned a key lesson from his time at Toyota: always ask who owns the…
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How to Scale Up Positive Social Change
Far more households globally have access to a mobile phone than a toilet, notes Ann Mei Chang, a tech executive turned social innovator and author.…
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Leading with Respect is Not a Soft Skill: An interview with Mike Orzen
By definition, a hard skill is a skill that can be defined, measured, and taught. Does that sound like it describes leadership? Probably not, but…
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Lead Lean by Being Lean
Lean just doesn't work if leaders don't actively, consistently demonstrate lean thinking themselves. In his first piece for the Post, lean coach Jim Luckman explains…
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Enabling Change Through the Power of Story
Roberto Priolo, editor of Planet Lean, shares why not just reflection, but writing (and storytelling) is so helpful for the lean practitioner. In short, a…
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How to Develop Healthy Habits for Mindful Coaching
Powerful lean coaches help others create productive habits that over time produce a type of "muscle memory" that forms a foundation for long-term growth and…
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In Search of Value Stream Architects
Recently I've been spending most of my gemba time walking through value-creating processes in organizations far away from manufacturing. And the further away I get…
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Multiply the Improvers in Your Organization Every Day
Be prepared to commit the time, patience and tenacity to unleash the power of improvement your organization, says Andrew Quibell. He illustrates how to actively…
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The Lean Genie Problem
"For leaders and CI professionals, it’s not practical to rely on the team you’re working with to institute every change that’s needed each time you…
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Sensing the Gemba
The next time you show up at the gemba to do a “go and see,” take a personal assessment of your level of focus, presence…
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What I've Learned About Planning and Execution
By the time I founded the Lean Enterprise Institute in mid-1997, I had been thinking for years about how organizations prioritize and plan. And I…
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3 Interview Questions to Gauge Candidates’ Problem-Solving Capacity
It's always great to promote from within when trying to fill lean leadership roles. But what if you have to fill the positions using external…
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Sometimes Smaller is Better - and Better is Lean
LEI CEO Eric Buehrens reflects on how lean relates to the deeply hopeful story of renewal, reconstruction, and citizen engagement in places that have been…
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What is the best way to start gemba walks and keep them focused ?
Dear Gemba Coach: We are looking to implement gemba walks in our facility. This is new to everyone including myself although I have been exposed…
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