Here's another journalistically-lazy reference to “lean and mean,” this time in an announcement for an Intro to Lean seminar in Florida. Ugh. Lean is not “mean.” Lean calls for respect for employees and not laying them off as a result of lean improvements. It's too bad that the words rhyme. It's also too bad that too many companies misunderstand lean and use it to slash jobs. Oh well.
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My eleven year old son tells me that when something is “bad” that means it’s really cool, and if he calls something “sick” that means it’s really awesome. Maybe “lean and mean” is really saying “lean with really great flow…?”