Lean Leadership on a Napkin

Lean Leadership on a Napkin

by Ken Pilone
Released September 2021
Publisher(s): Productivity Press
ISBN: 9781000433951

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Book description

This very concise and straightforward book is aimed at top executives in virtually any industry who are either new to the concept of Lean and its benefits to them or who have stalled in their transformations and are trying to resurrect their momentum.

The book is written in a style that mirrors a typical interaction with an executive across a table with a knowledgeable, experienced Lean coach/consultant. Its style and substance reflect what a candid and casual conversation would sound and feel like. The book includes simple hand-drawn images (thus the title Lean Leadership on a Napkin) to facilitate and simplify basic concepts as if a real dialogue was occurring in an informal setting.

It assumes that the executives have a little or no previous knowledge of Lean methodologies or Lean Leadership but have awakened to the possibility of their promise to grow themselves and their enterprises dramatically. Most executives have little time for extensive reading or patience with "sales" presentations. Those same leaders will therefore appreciate the simple, uncluttered, and, above all, objective summary this book provides.

The book breaks down the process of transforming the organization around Lean principles into three component transformational phases or steps, namely, Introduction, Integration, and Internalization (i.e., the I-3 strategy). Each phase includes critical factors to understand, do, and share as well as deep reflection questions to help leaders decide on an appropriate path forward for themselves as leaders and for their organizations. While the Integration and Internalization steps are introduced here, the primary focus of this work is on those critical issues arising in the early, Introduction, step.

A unique advantage of this book is that it braids together four critical elements of success—Lean concepts/methodology, culture change, leadership, and business performance.

Essentially, the reader will obtain a broad, basic, and solid understanding and leadership foundation about Lean, the leader’s unique role in transformation, and confidence to make appropriate decisions about the how and if to proceed. In addition, it will offer a path forward by providing the reader with abundant resources and consulting support for those seeking to launch a Lean transformation.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Foreword
  8. Preface
  9. Acknowledgments
  10. 1 In the Beginning
    1. Some Background
    2. A Word about Cultural Transitions
  11. 2 The Introduction Phase
    1. Typical Dialogue
    2. End of Dialogue #1
    3. Story Time: Show Me Your Weed, Man!
    4. And, While You Are at It, Think about This
  12. 3 What Do I Need to Know about Lean Leadership?
    1. Humble Beginnings
    2. Back to History…
    3. Little Known Fact: What's in a Name?
    4. Story Time: Getting Dirty
    5. Little Known Fact: Unscathed by WWII—Almost.
    6. Little Known Fact: Mustache Man
    7. Shifting Market Demand
    8. Story Time: The GM and Toyota Partnership
    9. Enter NUMMI
  13. 4 Lean Speak—Do I Need to Learn Japanese?
    1. Common Lean Terminology
    2. Story Time: How Much of Your Job Is Waste?
    3. Let's Dig a Little Deeper into Value Streams
      1. Value Streams and Christmas Lights
  14. 5 Common Lean Tools
    1. The A3
    2. Random Thought: The Wit and Genius of Abraham Lincoln
      1. Box 1: Background
      2. Box 2: Current State
      3. Box 3: Future State
      4. Box 4: Analysis
        1. Let's Look at Each Bone Separately
      5. Box 5: Proposal
      6. Box 6: Plan
        1. Example
      7. Box 7: Follow-Up
    3. Andon (Light or Signal Board)
      1. Story Time: The Lost Screw
      2. History Lesson
    4. Poka Yoke
      1. Story Time: How Did This Happen?
    5. Kamishibai Boards
    6. 5S
    7. Standard Work
    8. X Matrix
    9. Spaghetti Diagram
  15. 6 The Two Pillars of a Lean Culture
    1. Pillar #1: Respect for People!
    2. Random Thought
      1. Random Thought: On Blue-Footed Boobies and Flying Fish
    3. Let's Look at This Another Way…
    4. Story Time: The Lone Cypress
      1. The Secret Sauce; Discretionary Effort
    5. Effort vs. Leadership Attention
    6. Reflection Question: So, What's Left of Your Attention for the Average Workers?
    7. Random Thought: The Opposite of Love Is?
    8. The Moral of the Story
    9. Story Time: Hurricane Sandy
    10. Pillar #2: Continuous Improvement (Kaizen)
    11. Reflection Questions
  16. 7 What Key Principles Drive a Lean Culture?
    1. Key Principle #1: Keep It Simple
      1. Story Time: The Power of Simplicity
      2. Reflection Questions
    2. Key Principle #2: Humility
      1. Reflection Questions
    3. Key Principle #3: Zero Defects “Mentality”
      1. Reflection Questions
    4. Upper Left Box
      1. Right Work Right (RR): The Golden Zone!
    5. Upper Right Box
      1. Right Work Wrong (RW) on the Right Track But Needs Improvement
    6. Lower Left Box
      1. Wrong Work Right (WR): A Trap! Improvements Made Here Are a Wasted Effort
    7. Lower Right Box
      1. Wrong Work Wrong (WW): STOP NOW! Trash— Poor Quality of No Value
      2. Story Time: Meaningless Pursuit of Perfection
    8. Key Principle #4: Add Value to Your Customer
      1. Story Time: What Business Are We REALLY In?
      2. An Example
      3. Reflection Questions
      4. Other Things to Think About
    9. Where Does ‘Value Creation’ Really Come From?
      1. The Missing Middle
    10. Key Principle #5: Visual Management (VM)
      1. Learning from Surfers
      2. Some Questions
      3. Random Thought
    11. Key Principle #6: Make Problems Visible
    12. Creating a ‘Problems First’ Mentality
      1. Story Time: Fail Faster Than Your Competition
      2. Story Time: First Learn the Rules; Then Break Them
    13. My Recommendations
      1. Reflection Questions
    14. Key Principle #7: Maintain a Long-Term Perspective
      1. Reflection Questions
    15. Key Principle #8: Simplicity
      1. A Hypothetical …
      2. On Baseball and Bureaucracy
    16. Random Thought
  17. 8 How Will Lean Leadership Affect Me Personally?
    1. A Word about Personality
      1. Two Different Approaches to Lean Leadership Transformation
    2. Another Way to Think about This
    3. On the Other Side of the Coin …
    4. Random Thought: Why Do People Get Shorter and Shorter by the Day?
    5. Story Time: Why Do You Hate That Guy?
    6. Reflection Questions
  18. 9 Key Lean Leader Behaviors
    1. So …
      1. Will We Make It?
      2. Two Strategies
      3. Two Different Ways to Plan
  19. 10 What's the One Thing?
    1. Random Thought
    2. Story Time: What Can Curly Teach Us?
      1. Where's the Key Log?
    3. Building an Operating System
    4. Daily Management
  20. 11 What's Next?
    1. Keeping It Real
    2. Random Thought: I Can See Things That Don't Exist
      1. A Slow Ride to Nowhere
      2. Decision Time
    3. Random Thought: Who Needs Brakes?
  21. 12 A Sneak Preview into Part 2—Integration
    1. Random Thought: What's Happening to Me?
      1. Your Role in Leading Change
    2. Random Thought: Cement Mixers
      1. Key Functions and Relationships to Develop
    3. HR
      1. 10 Specific Questions You'll Need to Address with HR
    4. Manufacturing and Other Front-Line Employees
    5. Engineering and Design
    6. Story Time: After the Echo
    7. Quality
    8. Supply Chain
    9. Story Time: Toyota and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR)
    10. Random Thought: Howdy Pardner!
    11. Finance and Accounting
    12. Sales and Marketing
    13. Story Time: Watch Your Customers!
    14. Industry-Specific Notes
      1. Healthcare: Acute
      2. Healthcare: Ambulatory
    15. Construction
    16. Story Time: Planned Rework? What?
    17. Law Enforcement
    18. Story Time: In the Jailhouse
  22. 13 Some Great Resources
    1. Forums and Seminars
    2. Consultants
    3. Some Professional Forums
    4. Mailing Lists and Memberships
    5. Partial Reading List
    6. Articles
  23. Index

Product information

  • Title: Lean Leadership on a Napkin
  • Author(s): Ken Pilone
  • Release date: September 2021
  • Publisher(s): Productivity Press
  • ISBN: 9781000433951