Sometimes the journey of learning any new skill is hard. But in my opinion it’s worth it. The hardships and challenges is part of the process and is what ultimately helps you attain new knowledge and wisdom. This is expressed very good in these two quotes.
“If this Lean stuff seems easy you’re probably not doing it.”
James P. Womack
“If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you.”
Zig Ziglar
Deming is know for droping a number of big truths when it comes to quality, leadership and lean. This is no exception, always get your facts straight.
“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”
W. Edwards Deming
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
W. Edwards Deming
From the energizer bunny of Lean, Mr. Paul Akers, this gem is reminding us about the absolute basics of Lean.
“Lean is learning to see waste. The moment you begin to see waste, everything else will take care of itself. Until you don’t see waste in everything. You don’t understand lean.”
Akers, Paul
In the world of Lean, Shigeo Shingo is a superstar. It is not hard to find wisdom in his writings. Here are two gems that I think are very inspirational.
“Lean is not so much about eliminating waste, it is about finding waste.”
Shigeo Shingo
To me, Shingo is saying that the acts of eliminating waste must be based on the proper understanding of waste, where to find it and how to see it. Figuring out where you want or need to go is just as important is starting the journey to implement the changes.
“There are four purposes of improvement, easier, better, faster and cheaper. These four appear in the order of priority.”
Shingeo Shingo
This, in my humble opinion, is something extremely important. Many get stuck in the money-saving aspect of lean, and it is least important purpose. Spending your energy on the other purposes will doubtless get you the savings over time.
“Try and fail, but don’t fail to try.” – John Quincy Adams
Also, as I get on with my journey I strive to grow and learn, to take the next step on my journey. This have become my passion. As part of this I am experiencing that coaching other is an excellent way to develop my own skills.“The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.” – Aristotle
Happy New Year to you all!“Well begun is half done.” – Aristotle
Within Lean we often try to bring out problems to the forefront, showcase our opportunities for improvement and illustrate the bottlenecks of our processes. This is important, but how we move on from these discoveries is where we find success.“It is of no use to discover out own faults and infirmities unless the discovery prompts up to amendment.” – John Quincy Adams
It is easy to get stuck in one mode of thinking. With the myriad different challenges it is important to be flexible and to adapt thinking to the problem and not trying to adapt the problem to the solutions you prefer.“We can’t solve the problem by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein
The more I know, the more I stand by the creed of Plan, Do, Check and Act. Preparation is the key for a successful execution.“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln
Always stay curious!I am on my second week of summer vacation, being away from work sets your mind free to wander. To focus my mind I go back to some inspirational quotes of ancient and recent wisdom.
First we have something from antiquity that I truly live by and have most of my life.
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotele
Next we have two Deming quotes. Quite different but very important when it comes to leadership and Lean. The first one is straight forward, if people fear showing results they think will displease their managers they will find a way to make the numbers more pleasing.
“Whenever there is fear, you will get wrong figures.” – W. Edwards Deming
Then we have the role of a leader, some think it is important to have all the answers and stand tall with having all the facts. You can never have all the facts and if you think you do you will close your mind from further expansion from learning more. One very important role of the leader is to ask the right questions but also to coach the people in your charge to ask the right questions thenselves.
“If you do not know how to ask the right questions, you discover nothing.” – W. Edwards Deming
And the last one today is something I struggle with but something I strive to improve every day.
“Follow effective action with quiet reflection, and then from the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” – Peter Drucker
I hope you all are having a good summer!
The more time I spend researching quotes the more pumped up and inspired I get. It is so fascinating to me how so much wisdom can be condensed into a single phrase or paragraph.
“Those that know do, Those that understand, teach.” – Aristotele
I found this very funny. A popular saying goes “Those who can’t do teach”. It seems obvious that there is a connection. The original quote is quite profound and to me it means that when you learn a skill or task you can perform it very well but when you reach a level of mastery and understanding you cannot help but become a teacher.
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” – Sir Winston Churchill
In a team environment it is very important to speak up and share what is on your mind. However, it is also very important to trust those around you, to listen and not push your own view in every discussion. In listening to others trying to understand rather than to answer there is much to be learned.
“People don’t resist change, they resist being changed.” – Peter Drucker
This might seem like a very thin distinction but the way I see it people don’t mind change and development if they truly feel they have a say in it. To have changed forced upon you will naturally make you defensive. If people are involved in the process of change it will become a natural part of life.
“The only thing worse than training people and loosing them is not training them and keeping them.” – Zig Ziglar
I have heard this attributed to Richard Branson but I think Zig Ziglar pre-dates him. Companies who expect excellence from its employees must invest in their development. How to go about it is different for different people but if you don’t you risk having unmotivated people since the ones with their own drive tend to move on.
Todays new inspiration in the quotes section.
“Where there is no standard, there can be no improvement. For these reasons, standards are the basis for both maintenance and improvement.” – Masaaki Imai
To go on a journey need two things, you need to know in what direction to but for this you also need to know where you are. The standard represent where you are now, and between now and your goal you have the direction you must travel.
“Experience is not what you’ve been through, it’s what you take from it.” – Frank Tyger
In everything, good or bad, lies the oportunity to learn something. To further your knowledge and understanding of the issues at hand or the world at large. With reflection you can greatly increase what you are able to take from any experience and it will empower you in the long run.
“If you don’t have time to do it right in the first place, when will you have time to do it over?” – John Wooden
This is so obvious but still, time and time again this gets us into trouble. If we could just step back, breath and contemplate a proper solution rather than set up firewall upon firewall and all temporary patches and solution we would spend a lot less time and energy in the long run.
Whether something is old or new says nothing of its value to us today. Among quotes from ancient thinkers this become very self-evident. Today I present three quotes that I find very inspiring.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotele
For me this is the essence of Lean. If we create good habits with respects to the work of continuous improvement it will become a natural part of our lives and it will feel less like chore.
“Do nothing that is of no use” – Musashi, Miyamoto, 1645
This quote really made me laugh, it is so direct but through the veils of time we have the reduction of waste, muda, in a nutshell. The less you do of that of no use the more focused you become on what is important.
“You can only fight the way you practice” – Musashi, Miyamoto, 1645
Not that we should see every day as a struggle or a battle. But this is really the Aristotele quote above from the viewpoint of a samurai. The modern truism we hear to this effect would be “Practice makes perfect”.
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“If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you.”
– Zig Ziglar
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
– Mark Twain
