Lean Quote: True Power is Worth Having

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"True power means being as strong as you need to be and no stronger." — Meryl Runion

True is real power.  It's not power over anyone.  It's not control of anyone. It's not power you take. It's a power with others, a power of influence, and a power freely given to you.  This kind of power enables you to say what you mean and mean what you say without being mean when you say it.

Search the word "power" on thesaurus.com and the first definition you'll find is competence. The second is capacity. The third is control. I like the first two definitions and the third as long as the control is self-control.  Here are some tips to help embrace your true power:

1. Become unflappable.
Don't confuse a strong reaction with power.  If someone can provoke you, then they have power over you. Master your own emotions, reactions, and choices.

2. Commit to life-long learning.
You're not done learning just because you finished school.  You'll become irrelevant is you stop learning.  Read at least a half hour each day, explore developments in your field, and be a continuous learner.  Then, share your knowledge to help others achieve their objectives.

3. Be a visionary.
Don't limit yourself to the confines of others people's thinking, what has already been done, and what's wrong. Powerful people spend more time talking about possibilities than limitations. Consider and communicate new perspectives, things as they could be, and possibilities. Elevate every conversation to the broader context.

4. Curry favor.
It's not unethical or "sucking up" to seek to win the hearts, minds, and support of colleagues and supervisors. It's only unethical if you are insincere in your efforts. Deliberately build alliances, connect, and bond. People like to support people who support them.

5. Practice patience.
Don't think you need to win every battle. The battle you win could cost you a war. Consider long term objectives when choosing what to do. True power is built over time.

True power means being as strong as you need to be and no stronger.  Meryl Runion says "The louder you talk, the less they hear." Power is not about throwing your weight around and making a lot of noise.  It's about getting results.


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Charity eBay Auction & Giveaway for Haiti Relief – Signed Lean Books & More

Want to buy some really cool Lean stuff and help a great cause at the same time? If so, read on!

It has been almost a year since the publication of Russell Maroni’s e-book After the Haiti Earthquake: A Healthcare Missionary’s Personal Journal, a fundraiser for ongoing earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. We have collected $395 in donations from readers of the free e-book along with $43 from Kindle version sales… but we hope this new project can raise even more.

A number of my friends in the Lean community have donated books or other items to be auctioned through the eBay CharityWorks program. 100% of the auction proceeds will be given directly to Friends of the Orphans, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that supports orphanages in Haiti and other countries. This charity was selected personally by Russell. This is Round 1 of the auction with a likely Round 2 to follow with more great Lean stuff.

You can refer people to this page by pointing them towww.LeanBlog.org/HaitiAuction. You can also enter a free contest for a few prizes by sharing this contest via social media or your blog – see details below the auction links.

What You Can Bid on via eBay (Round 1):

Note: Many of the book titles link to Amazon (via an affiliate link that earns 6% for Friends of the Orphans). To bid on an item, via eBay, click on the linked word “bid” in front of each item. The auctions run 7 days and all end at about 9 PM or 10 PM Eastern on Sunday October 30.  

You should be able to see all of the items I am selling via this link or go towww.leanblog.org/auctions. You can see the retail value of each item or set of auctions on the eBay page.  Shipping for these items is limited to the U.S. and Canada, due to shipping costs, unfortunately.

Mark Graban:

• Bid – Lot of 5 signed copies of the 1st edition of Lean Hospitals 
• Bid – 1 signed 2nd edition of Lean Hospitals, directly from the first box received from the publisher
• Bid – 1 MP3 player (4 GB) pre-loaded with all episodes of the LeanBlog Podcast

Norman Bodek and PCS Press:

• Bid – A complete set of Norman’s books - Fundamental Principles of Lean Manufacturing, How to do Kaizen, Rebirth of American Industry, JIT Is Flow, Kaikaku : The Power and Magic of Lean, The Idea Generator – Quick and Easy Kaizen, Kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking, and All You Gotta Do Is Ask.

Naida Grunden:

• Bid – A lot of  5 signed copies of her book The Pittsburgh Way to Efficient Healthcare: Improving Patient Care Using Toyota Based Methods

Jamie Flinchbaugh and Lean Learning Center:

• Bid – 1 signed copy of his book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road

Karen Martin:

• Bid – 1 signed copy of her book The Kaizen Event Planner: Achieving Rapid Improvement in Office, Service, and Technical Environments

 Jon Miller and Kaizen Institute:

• Bid – 1 copy of Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management
• Bid – 1 copy of  Total Flow Management: Achieving Excellence with Kaizen and Lean Supply Chains

Adam Zak:

• Bid – 1 copy of his book (with Bill Waddell) Simple Excellence: Organizing and Aligning the Management Team in a Lean Transformation

Goal/QPC:

• Bid – Bundle of these outstanding handbooks:
• Lean Enterprise Memory Jogger
• Black Belt Memory Jogger
• Six Sigma Memory Jogger
• Project Management Memory Jogger (1st edition)

Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits:

• Bid –  1 paperback copy of The Entrepreneur´s Guide to Customer Development

Pascal Dennis and Lean Pathways:

• Bid – 3 copies of Pascal’s latest book The Remedy, the sequel to Andy & Me

Productivity Press:

• Bid – Lot of 3 copies of Cindy Jimmerson’s book Value Stream Mapping for Healthcare Made Easy
• Bid – A bundle of all of these healthcare improvement books
• The Physician Employment Contract Handbook by Maria K. Todd
• Pursuing Excellence in Healthcare: Preserving America’s Academic Medical Centers by Arthur Feldman, MD
• Applying Lean in Healthcare: A Collection of International Case Studies by Joe Aherne and John Whelton
• Paradox and Imperatives in Healthcare:  How Efficiency, Effectiveness, and E-Transformation Can Conquer Waste and Optimize Quality by Jeffrey Bauer and Mark Hagland
• Workplace Clinics and Employer Managed Healthcare: A Catalyst for Cost Savings and Improved Productivity by Michael LaPenn
• The Definitive Guide to Emergency Department Operational Improvement: Employing Lean Principles with Current ED Best Practices to Create the “No Wait” Department by Jody Crane and Chuck Noon

5S Supply:

• Bid – 1 copy of the book Lean Kaizen: A Simplified Approach to Process Improvement

Bob Emiliani:

• Bid – 1 autographed copy of his book Better Thinking, Better Results

Paul Akers and FastCap:

• Bid – 1 signed  copy of his new book 2 Second Lean: How to Grow People and Build a Fun Lean Culture

Lean Enterprise Institute:

• Bid – Healthcare bundle of
• On the Mend: Revolutionizing Healthcare to Save Lives and Transform the Industry and 
• Follow the Learner: The Role of a Leader in Creating a Lean Culture
• Bid – Jim Womack signed book bundle of
• Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, signed by Jim Womack
• Lean Solutions: How Companies and Customers Can Create Value and Wealth Together, signed by Jim Womack
• Gemba Walks, signed by Jim Womack
• Seeing the Whole Value Stream, by Womack and Jones, signed by Jim Womack
• Bid – John Shook signed book bundle of
• Managing to Learn: Using the A3 Management Process, signed by John Shook
• Kaizen Express: Fundamentals for Your Lean Journey, signed by John Shook

If you would like to donate items to be auctioned in a “Round 2,” contact Mark Graban or follow up from our existing email discussions.

Alternative Ways to Help

Share this Page via Social Media or Blogs

If you cannot afford to bid on items and would still like a chance to win a prize, you can share this contest via social media. Three (3) social media sharers will be selected, at random, to receive a prize of our choosing. Thanks for spreading the word about our fundraiser. If you have donated and also share via social media, you will be entered into this pool of possible winners, as well.

• To enter the giveaway, tweet the following exact message before 8 PM EDT on Sunday, October 30:
• Bid on great #Lean books & items via @LeanBlog to support @FriendsUS charity & @Lean4Haiti Haiti relief – http://leanblog.org/HaitiAuction
• We will search Twitter.com for tweets and retweets and randomly pick the winners from those who tweeted.
• Make sure to follow @LeanBlog on Twitter so we can get in touch with you once the giveaway is over.
• Alternatively, if you want to share this via Google+, be sure to tag Mark Graban in the post.
• Also, if you write a post on your blog about these auctions, I will enter your name in the drawing. Leave a comment on this post pointing to yours.

These giveaway books, and possibly more, will be available for those who have shared the contest via social media (limited to U.S. and Canada only, except for the e-Book:

• 1 signed copy of the 1st edition of Lean Hospitals
• 1 copy of  The Definitive Guide to Emergency Department Operational Improvement: Employing Lean Principles with Current ED Best Practices to Create the “No Wait” Department
• 1 PDF-eBook of The Entrepreneur´s Guide to Customer Development
• 1 signed copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road
• 1 signed copy of The Remedy
• 1 copy of Pursuing Excellence in Healthcare: Preserving America’s Academic Medical Center
• 1 copy of 2 Second Lean: How to Grow People and Build a Fun Lean Culture
• 1 copy of On the Mend: Revolutionizing Healthcare to Save Lives and Transform the Industry
• 1 copy of Seeing the Whole Value Stream
• 1 copy of Lean Enterprise Memory Jogger
• 1 copy of Project Management Memory Jogger

Use the Amazon Affiliate Links

Also,  if you use any of the Amazon affiliate links on this page, we receive a 6% commission that will be given to Friends of the Orphans.

Donate Directly to Friends of the Orphans

Click here to make a flat donation directly to Friends of the Orphans or follow the link on the right hand side of www.LeanForHaiti.org (click on their logo)

Auction / Giveaway Fine Print

1. Prizes will be mailed to you, typically directly from the person or organization who donated the item(s).
2. Any personal information (name, email, address) collected during this contest will be shared only with the author or organization who will be shipping your prize directly to you.
3. All items must be paid for via PayPal, which you can link to a credit card or a checking account.
4. Shipping is limited to the U.S. and Canada.

After the auctions are over, we will report the total amount raised from your auction bids and any donations that are made directly to Friends of the Orphans. Please donate and bid generously, so that the amount raised is (hopefully) greater than the value of the prizes! :-)

Thanks to all who are participating!!!!

About Friends of the Orphans

For more than 40 years, Friends of the Orphans has worked to end the vicious cycle of poverty by giving safe and loving homes and brighter futures to children in Latin America and the Caribbean. We do this through fundraising and volunteer efforts that support Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH, Spanish for “Our Little Brothers and Sisters”). Together, we transform the lives of orphaned, abandoned and disadvantaged children by creating families for life through values of unconditional love, shared responsibility and education. This enables children to grow into caring and productive members of their communities. By making a difference in the lives of the children, our supporters’ lives may be enhanced as well.

Friends of the Orphans is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, Federal Tax ID#65-1229309, that meets all 20 BBB Charity Standards. Donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law. All donated funds are diligently appropriated and an audited financial statement is available upon request.

Friends of the Orphans is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. In addition to our national office located in Illinois, we have six regional offices, each of which has its own volunteer Board of Directors. The members of our boards have diverse professional backgrounds and expertise, but each actively works to raise funds for and awareness of Friends of the Orphans and our mission.

About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a consultant, author, andspeaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology, focused on improving quality and patient safety, improving access, reducing costs, and fully engaging healthcare professionals. He is also the Chief Improvement Officer for KaiNexus.

Stay connect to A Lean Journey on our Facebook page or LinkedIn group.
Follow me on Twitter or connect with me on Linkedin. 
You can also subscribe to this feed or email to stay updated on all posts.