"Lean and Mean?" Sir, No, Sir!

TIME.com: Lean and Mean — Jul 10, 2006 — Page 1

I haven't had time to read this yet, but I'll invite your comments. I'll add comments when I have a chance to read and digest this.

My first instinct is that I'm really frustrated when I see the perpetuation of this rhyming “lean and mean” thing. Lean is not mean. I have a talk that I give at healthcare workshops and my central theme is that “lean is not mean”. I'll have to blog about that more here.

I had a chance to ask one of the guys who was real close to MIT and the Lean Enterprise Institute what they thought about coining the term “lean” and it rhyming so well with “mean.” The measured MIT-ish response was, “That was unfortunate.”

Here's my comments on the article, you can comment there.

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Mark Graban

Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker who has worked in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. His latest book is Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More. He is author of the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, as well as The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen. He also published the anthology Practicing Lean that benefits the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation, where Mark is a board member. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.