The other day
while thinking of Lean and what it really means to be on the path or journey to
continuous improvement I wrote the following poem:
The Lean Path
With open mind,
I cultivate learning
With open eyes,
I go see the opportunity
With open heart,
I display humility
With passion, improve
the world.
I believe this
poem captures well my thoughts on Lean in simple way. Let me elaborate.
In my opinion
being open minded is one of the most important traits for individuals to have
in a Lean environment. Without an open
mind problem solving and learning will be more difficult and therefore delay
your pursuit of excellence.
An open mind
leads to new possibilities. New possibilities lead to new thoughts and
experiences. New thoughts and experiences lead to growth. Therefore an open
mind is important to our personal growth.
Being
open-minded also helps us with problem solving.
First it helps us look at more than one way to approach a problem; then
we find more expansive, ways of solving it. When we give ourselves more
options, better solutions are undoubtedly more available to us. Keeping an open mind means that you are open
to all possibilities.
Learning begins
with humility. The more you strive for
Lean, the more you realize how little you know, and how much there is yet to
learn. A sure sign of impending failure
is a manager who claims to "know it all" or says "we have tried that…"
Passion is the
driving force that enables people to attain far more than they ever imagined.
This enthusiasm
is literally the fuel that propels you toward success. Passion allows you to
think, feel, focus, act, attract and create the events conditions and
circumstances that you most desire to see you through difficult times. Passion
is what propels you to begin taking the necessary action steps that will allow
you to begin changing your current situation.
Lean is a
journey that never ends. There will always be a gap between where you are
(current state) and where you would like to be (True North). Since there will
always be a gap, there will always be an opportunity to improve. The road to
continual improvement can be a rocky one with many ups and downs. Failure will
occur. Its ok, the purpose is learning, and we learn through experimentation.
Trying new approaches, exploring new methods and testing new ideas for
improving the various processes is exercise for the mind.
Toyota has
taught us that Lean goes beyond just making cars. Our goal should go farther
than making our work easier and improving our businesses. We can improve the
world. Many businesses and leaders have made their mark through Lean thinking
for generations to come.
I have shared my
Lean poem but what poem would you write to share the essence of Lean with
others?
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Hi Tim - I like your poem. Very nice!
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