Leadership

In my last Lessons from the Road column, I introduced the the idea that culture is the most important element of lean transformation. I was fortunate to have the opportunity early in my lean journey to see just how important the correct behaviors would be, regardless of how well you

Leadership is not universal. Someone being a good leader in one situation will be the wrong leader for the next situation. My own history with Chrysler is an example of this. There is little question that Lee Iacocca saved Chrysler in the 1980s. He was a visionary, a heroic leader,

The world is more complex. Competition is global. Information moves faster. Small aspects of every business require great depth of expertise. The result is that no CEO or Executive has the talent to lead an organization all by themselves. What are your choices? While this oversimplifies it, you either buy

A question frequently asked of me is “what do I do about the people who won’t get on board?” This is too broad of a question, because there isn’t a single answer to the question, except “it depends.” What does it depend on? Primarily, the reason for people resisting is

My friend John Hunter who’s mix of insight and intellectual integrity has been a strong role model in the blogging world of continuous improvement. His Curious Cat Management Improvement blog is a great tribute to its own name, and John’s comments often embarrass me by going deeper than my own

Although I’m a bit behind on many things, The Lean Edge asked a question that I’m just now getting around to answering. Is highlighting problems stressful and increased pressure on workers? There is a major difference between tension and stress, and this difference when not understood causes tremendous problems. Leaders

Today I am speaking to the pharmaceutical industry at the ISPE conference. My topic is on the 5 leadership moves for lean from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean. Like many of my presentations, I don’t use many slides but tend to tell a lot of supporting stories. 5 Leadership Moves

I head this approach many times, and in many different forms. Managers say “I don’t want people to bring me problems; I want them to bring me solutions.” Or “I don’t want more questions, I want answers.” I ran across this on the Harvard Business Review Blog in The No

Why do organizations build great workspaces? Get prime real estate with a great zip code? Buy the fanciest office furniture and features? We do it in an effort to be an employer of choice. We do it to recruit, and retain, the top talent. But is there a problem in

Leaders ask people to tell them what problems they have. This isn’t a practice exclusive to lean. MBWA, or Management By Walking Around, even incorporated this concept. In some organizations, there are systems in place (whether digital or on a board) for individuals to capture and surface problems. We ask