As a Lean professional, what is your vision of the future?
It is narrowly focused on you to…
- acquire new knowledge?
- acquire new skills?
- gain certifications to add to your resume?
- learn how to use more problem-solving tools?
- build your resume for advancement?
- speak in ways that only a select group understands?
- get promoted or make more money?
Is it narrowly focused on your company to…
- eliminate waste, unevenness, and unreasonableness?
- reduce workers’ struggles?
- simplify and improve processes?
- reduce costs?
- improve teamwork?
- generate higher profits?
- help your boss earn their incentive compensation?
Is it broadly focused on others to…
- reduce workers’ struggles?
- eliminate classical management?
- improve leadership and workplace management?
- create incremental change (kaizen) or radical change (kaikaku)?
- reduce greenhouse gases and other negative externalities?
- improve human mental and physical health?
- make the world a better place for human beings?
Why do you do what you do, and for whose benefit? Are you driven more by a social need than a technical need? Are you trying to prove your alignment with and support for workers? Do you like being an underdog? Or, do you seek the social superiority of being a “Lean thinker? Is Lean your antidote to unreason or despair?
Why did you defect from classical management? Did you, in fact, defect? Or, are you still perpetuating classical management, knowingly or not?
Do you have a compelling vision for the future, or are you more interested in maintaining a comfortable conception of the past? Or, are you a passenger on the Lean bandwagon just to see where it goes? Who or what is guiding you? Where are you going?