When Customer-Supplier Partnerships... Aren't
16 July 2020
Many years ago I wrote about how many companies were trying to get a one-time boost in working capital by extending their purchasing terms from typica…
Southwest Solitude: A COVID-Era Road Trip Through America's Sacred Landscapes
26 June 2020
Our June 2020 Southwest road trip came at a unique moment in American history - when international travel was impossible and domestic exploration beca…
Metrics from the Perspective of the Customer
8 May 2020
A core concept of lean is that value is defined from the perspective of the customer, and therefore waste is as well. We are familiar with both types…
Restart to a Future State, Not the Previous State
15 April 2020
One of my favorite books is Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. When I first read his book several years ago it put a new…
Deepening the Lessons of Crisis
15 March 2020
I'm sure all of us are paying close attention to the evolving coronavirus (COVID-19) situation and thinking about how it has and will affect our f…
Leverage Learning Environments to Create Customer Value
18 February 2020
A couple weeks ago a consultant friend of mine, who coincidentally focuses his practice on lean in healthcare, was complaining about issues with his h…
Refining and Reinforcing Principles
17 January 2020
Earlier this month Ron discussed his top ten lessons from the last decade and Jon what he believes is the most important word of the year ("daily…
Empirical Evidence for the Power of Kata
17 December 2019
We've long known that embracing failure with an aim toward learning and improvement can create future success. Organizations that see failure in…