Earlier this month, more than 350 LEAN thinkers from 21 countries attended the second annual Lean Transformation Summit in Orlando. This year’s theme was “Applying Lean Thinking Across the Enterprise.” The Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) again was the summit’s sole...

Seven areas of waste. Seven deadly sins.  They collided for me this week in a dramatic, disturbing and disruptive way. Every time I paused to consider what task to do next, I got distracted by the Eliot Spitzer sex scandal. And even when I was working, including...

“You may think you’re getting better, but you’re getting older.” Years ago, one of my college journalism professors wrote on my paper he was grading. It was a cruel twist on a classic campaign for hair color (Living Color’s "You're not getting older, you're getting...

LEAN Left is hardly a political position. Instead, it’s the concept of pulling back on the services and features you’re providing, which should make things simpler as well as less costly. And when budgets are tight, LEAN Left can be a very useful tool for LEAN...

The little word “ask” should always be on the tongues of LEAN communicators, who always need to do more with less. “Ask” is short, direct and flexible. Three terrific ways to “ask” are: Ask for feedback Ask for support. Ask for help. You have to say the word “ask.”...