Leadership

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

Guest post: Shawn Patterson is the Executive Director, Enterprise Performance Management and Chief of Staff to CEO at DTE Energy. Shawn has held numerous positions in multiple industries and is passionate about influencing lean transformations in organizations. A recent CNN Money article stated, “In headier days a CEO’s must-have accessory

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

My latest column for Industry Week, Lessons from the Road, titled “Building Manager Standard Work” has been posted. Here is an excerpt:   …People resist building standards in knowledge work because of natural variation. Yet if you already have variation, why would you want to add more by having no

Sam Walton was fired as a J.C. Penny store manager before starting WalMart. Countless world champion coaches were fired before reaching the ultimate prize. So many individuals want to do more, push harder, say what’s on their mind, and take some risks. But something’s stopping them. But it’s the courage

Netflix has been and will be written about extensively. I won’t write much but just want to highlight how Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings began his recent customer communication: “I messed up. I owe everyone an explanation.” Notice he didn’t say “We messed up.” Nope – it was “I”.

Leaders are often unaware of the power of their communication. The words they say are interpreted down to the last word and tone. People extrapolate what is said to try and add additional meaning to the message. Some leaders are unaware of this, which can make their communications reckless. Other

What do you do when you see one of your directs exhibiting the wrong behavior? Do you react? Do you pretend you didn’t notice? Do you call it out immediately? There is a common phrase, which I don’t is well understood, that states: “praise publicly, criticized privately.” While I do

Guest Post: Jauna Werner is a certified Lean and Agile practitioner with experience in the retail, technology, medical and defense industries.  Besides her work in industry, Jauna enjoys teaching Operations Management at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs and introducing the next generation of managers to Lean thinking and