Take Care of Employees So They Can Take Care of Customers
As my breakfast platter was being rung up, I saw this sign behind the register (and came back to discretely take a picture)... click for a larger view.
Tag Restaurant
Are You Really Listening to Your Customer or Just Going Through the Motions?
Mark’s note: Today’s guest post is by Rodrigo Bernal, with the first post on this site contributed from Mexico. Rodrigo uses a lunch outing to raise important questions about customer focus and the voice of the customer. If there is a…
What a Sushi Company’s Policy Teaches Hospitals About Operational Excellence
tl;dr: A sushi company’s safety and quality policy illustrates what hospital operational excellence really requires: visible leadership commitment, daily practice, and systems that make safety the default–not a slogan. I love the Texas-based grocery store chain “Central Market.” It’s basically…
What I’m Reading: Diner Muda, No Blame at Etsy, Toyota Treats Cancer Faster, etc.
In case you missed it, see Saturday’s post: “Why Toyota is Eliminating the Andon Cord from its Factories.” As I occasionally do, today’s post is one where I’m going to close out some open browser tabs and post links to…
Failure Is Indeed an Option if We’re Trying New Things
If we’re trying new things, there are bound to be “failures.” If our leaders want guaranteed success, we won’t be trying many new things. The best way to guarantee that we won’t fail is to not try. A Domino’s Pizza…
Lime Shortages, Cost, Price, and Lean
Limes are a very big deal here in San Antonio, between the cuisine and, of course, margaritas. Hint: life is too short to drink “margaritas” with some corn-syrupy pre-made mix. All you need is tequila, lime juice, and agave nectar.…
A Lean Guy Reads Inc.: Lean Handbags and Micro Failures
I enjoy reading the magazine Inc. for my interests in startups and entrepreneurship. There are often examples and case studies that directly reference Lean thinking or just sound like Lean and Kaizen with another label. There were two articles in…
Misplaced Milkshake Blenders & Unclear Water Dispensers
Last week was the annual LEI Lean Transformation Summit (see my notes here). There were many inspiring stories, but are always reminders that it’s not always a Lean world around us. Tom Ehrenfeld (who blogged about the two days of…
Learning Not to Blame: “Jerk Bartender”
In the Lean methodology, building upon the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming, we work hard to shift away from “naming, blaming, and shaming.” Dr. John Toussaint is one of many who provide alternatives to the “blame and shame” approach…
If Indian Restaurants Can Be Transparent, Why Not Hospitals?
I was happy to see that one of my local Indian restaurants not only has very good Yelp reviews… they also have a top score (a perfect score!) from the health inspector. This is proudly displayed (as it should be)…
I Wholeheartedly Approve the Violation of this Visual Control
I’ve had a really nice time during my first 30 hours in Helsinki, Finland. It’s been warm (72 F) and sunny — and more than 18 hours of sunlight each day, to boot. I will blog more substantively about my…
Podcast #157 – Nick Sarillo, ‘A Slice of the Pie’ – Leadership Lessons from a Pizza Chain
Joining me for episode #157 is Nick Sarillo, founder of Nick’s Pizza & Pub and author of the new book (out September 13) called A Slice of the Pie: How to Build a Big Little Business. I had a chance…
