Oil and Water

“If you stay in this world, you will never learn another one.” – W. Edwards Deming

A lot of organizations call themselves Lean because they use the tools yet they still manage the same way as before their journey began.  You will never gain a deep learning of Lean by trying to live in both worlds.  This formula is like oil and water becasue they do not mix. 

When leadership asks their front-line workers to change, the managers have to change as well for it to truly work. 

If you liked this post, then try:

• Other improvement quotes I have posted 

My 2009 Hansei: Scarcity inspires creativity and innovation.  How can I help harness that inspiration?

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Psychological Impact of Change

“Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.” – King Whitney Jr, President, Personnel Laboratory Inc

If you liked this post, then try:

• Other improvement quotes I have posted 

My 2009 Hansei: Scarcity inspires creativity and innovation.  How can I help harness that inspiration?

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Gandhi Quote: Customer Focus

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.” -Gandhi

Lean thinking is focused on the cusotmer.  This quote help reinforce this perspective.

If you liked this post, then try:

• Other improvement quotes I have posted 

My 2009 Hansei: Scarcity inspires creativity and innovation.  How can I help harness that inspiration?

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Courage Quote

“Courage isn’t having the strength to go on-it’s going on when you don’t have the strength.” – Croft M. Pentz

Change management can sometimes drain your strength.  I hope this helps you press forth when times seem tough.

My 2009 Hansei: Scarcity inspires creativity and innovation.  How can I help harness that inspiration?

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Progress and Risk Quote

“Progress always involves risk; you can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.”— Frederick Wilcox. 

This great quote was brought to my attention on Twitter by Royce Williard, Lean Enterprise consultant, author, and educator.  There has been a great boom of Lean practitioners on Twitter lately and I have been finding a ton of value in reading their Tweets!

If you liked this post, then try:

• Albert Einstein and 5S? 
• Great Mark Twain Quote
• Galileo On Gemba
• Kant Go To Gemba 

My 2009 Hansei: Scarcity inspires creativity and innovation.  How can I help harness that inspiration?

 

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Follow me on Twitter 

Albert Einstein and 5S?

“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein  This quote makes me think about 5S!

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Great Mark Twain Quote

“My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine — everybody drinks water.”  -Mark Twain

Improvements do not always need to be perfect.  Small changes may seem like they do not make a big impact, but they will in the long run (as well as give you some momentum).  Do not wait until the wine is perfect when you are thirsty for change, get some water immediately!

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Galileo On Gemba

What was observed by us is the nature or matter of the Milky Way itself, which, with the aid of the spyglass, may be observed so well that all the disputes that for so many generations have vexed philosophers are destroyed by visible certainty, and we are liberated from wordy arguments.

Galileo Galilei was a Tuscan (Italian) physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the scientific revolution.

My paraphrase: “When going to gemba with a spyglass and learning to see, we are liberated from wordy arguments in a conference room.” 

If you liked this post, then try:

• Kant Go To Gemba 

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Kant Go To Gemba

“It is beyond a doubt that all our knowledge that begins with experience.” “Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.”  Immanuel Kant, German Philosopher, 1724-1804