Bob Emiliani

Leadership for the Digital Age

CEO

The Fraudulent Claim of High Wages

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For more than 30 years, CEOs have claimed that wages for workers are too high. American CEOs were the first apprehend and exploit this claim followed by CEOs in most other countries. Is this true? Are wages too high? Consider that Western-style business is normally conducted under the doctrine of … [Read more...] about The Fraudulent Claim of High Wages

Confronting the Arguments Against Lean Management

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In previous work, I explained in extraordinary detail why leaders resist or reject Lean management. Unfortunately, leaders will never explain their dislike for Lean as I described it because it gives away too many of their deepest secrets. Instead, they will justify their dislike for Lean using … [Read more...] about Confronting the Arguments Against Lean Management

What Happened to Lean?

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Leading authors and luminaries in the Agile community have, after only 19 years, begun to publicly question its de-evolution from something grand (Agile Manifesto, to improve software development) to something "misdirected, misattributed, ineffectual, and misshapen." They are calling Agile a failing … [Read more...] about What Happened to Lean?

Recent WTFU Articles

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Karl: What you are trying to do is get people to wake the fuck up. Isn't that right?Bob E. Yes, that's right.Karl: People need to wake the fuck up. Lean management, TPS, or any effort with the wholesome intention of "change for the better," is destined to struggle or fail if people won't wake … [Read more...] about Recent WTFU Articles

Ahead Yet Still Far Behind

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Nothing disappoints me more than to see my impassioned colleagues labor to advance Lean management using arguments that go back 100 years and which are known to be ineffective. What the purpose of doing that? Is it stubbornness, ignorance, clinging to an outdated worldview, or an inability to … [Read more...] about Ahead Yet Still Far Behind

Lean Management Seen as Corruption

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I sometimes joke with people and say: "Thirty years ago, 1 percent of CEOs were interested in Lean transformation. Thirty years later, 0.1 percent of CEOs are interested in Lean transformation." In humor there is truth -- declining demand for Lean transformation, despite our many and varied efforts … [Read more...] about Lean Management Seen as Corruption

Lean Must Learn From Black Lives Matter

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In a recent blog post, "Dr. Emiliani’s No’s for Lean," I challenged people to solve the problem, in the words of Gregg Miner (Vice President Enterprise Excellence at Trane Technologies), of "how to make 100% of CEOs Lean zealots." This is next problem now that the prior problem, why CEO resist or … [Read more...] about Lean Must Learn From Black Lives Matter