The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is a powerful metaphor for two important things:
The first is the rare kind of workplace that people hope to someday work in, one that is exemplified by a “Lean transformation,” where the entire top leadership team is totally committed to “Continuous Improvement” and “Respect for People” for the long haul.
Lean professionals know how truly rare it is from their experiences of bouncing around from one company to another every year or two. The kind of workplace Lean people want remains more wishful thinking than reality. The odds of it existing seem to be about the same as becoming a Bill Gates-type self-made billionaire — less than one in a million. Yet Lean professionals continue to think the odds are much higher than they actually are, and of course they lack the empowerment needed to make their wish come true.
Even in the companies that publicly profess their Lean prowess, employees know the real story. I have spoken to scores of insiders over the years from the most successful Lean companies, and they have all said the same thing: What goes on inside the company is not what the media stories, press releases, and conference presentations would have you believe. The weakness always pertains to “Respect for People” — significantly so. With one exception that I am aware of, The Wiremold Company under Art Byrne and his leadership team back in the 1990s, and likely a few others.
The idyllic Lean workplace is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It is certainly worth seeking, but the wise will first want to gain a thorough understanding of what they are up against.
Then there is the business of Lean. It has long sought to cash in on the true believers who hope against all odds that they will spend their careers in a “Real Lean” company, led by gifted leaders who are spiritually and materially devoted to Real Lean management no matter what happens. A business where there are no significant gaps between internal company reality and employee’s daily lived reality, and no significant gap between internal company reality and public perception.
The money that people spend on expensive Lean products and services, such as conference tickets and Lean training programs approaches something like gambling. It’s your money (or your company’s money), so spend it as you see fit. But you have far better odds of being a winning at the casino or betting on sports than working in a dreamy Real Lean company.
In 2015, I wrote a blog post titled “The Lean Industrial Complex.” Among the gimmicks the business of Lean uses is to make things complicated and confuse people so that they can then come to your rescue, for money of course, to help you overcome your difficulties and alleviate your confusion. That is the bread-and-butter business of Lean conferences, in addition generating hype to satisfy spiritual needs of participants and keep them committed to Lean management for as long as possible.
Retaining existing customers is typically less expensive than finding new customers. Thankfully for the business of Lean, customers pay again and again. They are the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
This successful business strategy has also succeeded in pushing aside the lower-priced folks whose aim has long been to make “Continuous Improvement” and “Respect for People” easier, not harder, to put into practice. It is not uncommon for customers to prefer inferior products and services that are expertly marketed over superior products and services that are poorly marketed. Needless to say, the business of Lean has zero interest in learning why coveted “Lean transformations” continue to be so rare. If they did, the pot of gold might vanish.
