This week, I’ve been reading and listening to a lot of articles about working conditions at the Foxconn facilities in China. These stories are primarily focused on Apple, but nearly any computer, gadget, or mobile device is made there, ranging…
As I’m reading the new book by Eric Ries, The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, I’m reading it with an eye for concepts that can be applied more broadly than traditional startup…
Here’s a thought starter for a Monday morning – I’m looking forward to hearing your perspectives. A few weeks ago, I heard a leader from a healthcare organization (one that will remain unnamed) say this: “In healthcare, we get results…
One of my goals for the next few weeks is to catch up on blogging about some great speakers I’ve seen recently. Coming soon, a post about seeing Dr. Atul Gawande (The Checklist Manifesto) and Daniel Pink (Drive) in the…
Freakonomics: Official Site I know this wouldn’t count as “leisure reading” for many folks, but I’m reading (and very much enjoying) the book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. I’m a nerd, I read books like…
I love books. I’d also love to have more time to read books, or finish books. People often ask me what I’m reading. Here’s what I’m trying to read or am wanting to read: “WIP” — started, but haven’t finished…
Metal expands when it’s hot Here’s a story from a small company that’s grown from $3m to $10m in revenue, in part due to Lean methods, but also due to apparent notions of “respect” for employees and customers. There are…
I’m traveling internationally for ten days and I turned on one of the British news channels. There’s a major story about NHS England. First, the awful reality that a nurse would willfully kill babies in the NICU. Then, the second…
Season 2 of The Rehearsal opens in a cockpit. Two pilots are on final approach. The first officer thinks they’re lined up wrong and says so, mildly. The captain brushes it off. The first officer tries again, a little more…
Twice in the past two weeks, I have talked with people who want to write a book about Lean. Both were early in the process and trying to figure out what they were signing up for. I’ve had a lot…
You came back with real energy. You’d seen how the work could be. You had notes, a few ideas, maybe a plan you’d already started sketching on the drive home. Then you walked back into the same building, run by…
I’ve been rereading Takehiko Harada’s book Management Lessons from Taiichi Ohno. Harada joined Toyota Motor Corporation in 1968 and spent about four decades there, including time as project general manager of the Operations Management Consulting Division, the group Toyota used…
