Do you ever ask yourself that question? Likely never. Is the age of your thinking the same as your age? No, definitely not. If you are like most people, you believe that your thinking is thoroughly modern; that it reflects the time you are living in, from a young age to now. But that is not the case, except for a small portion of your thinking. The vast majority of your thinking is rooted in the recent, and more likely, long ago past. Think about it. I will use myself as an example. My father was born in 1922. I was greatly influenced by him. His father was born in 1888, and my father was inf ..read more

In this video, I clear up some persistent (decades-long) confusion about kaizen and problem-solving ..read more

Over the last 40 or more years, many leadership and management improvement innovations have come and gone. While some may be backed by rigorous scientific or empirical research, as well as good intentions, they can all be considered fads in the sense that they share the inability to solve the persistent problems that plague traditional leadership and management practice. These include: Management by Objectives Transformational Leadership Design Thinking Matrix Management System of Profound Knowledge Lean Management Theory Z Total Quality Management Lean Six Sigma Business Process Reen ..read more

If Taiichi Ohno rejoined the living, what would he have to say about Lean? The conversation might go something like this: Bob Emiliani: Hello Ohno-san. I am happy to see you. I have a lot of questions that I hope you will answer. Taiichi Ohno: Can you not think for yourself? Emiliani: I can, thanks to you and some others. Then, please let me just ask just one question. It seems you have become aware of this thing called “Lean.” What do you think of it? Ohno: Yes, I am aware of it. But I do not understand it. Why did people not take the Toyota production system and adapt it to their own circums ..read more

If Taiichi Ohno were alive today and witnessing what Lean has become — from a generic term for Toyota Production System (TPS) in 1988 to a product that sells quite well but does little to alter the status quo — I think he would be quite unhappy. Ohno-san reportedly hurt himself with Toyota executives more senior than him for bringing TPS to the world. He sacrificed his own interests for our benefit by writing three books (here, here, and here), creating the New Production System Research Association in Japan, and launching Shingijutsu Consultants (here and here). He gave us these great gifts ..read more

Lately, I have been thinking more about these words I write in the blog post “Lean Zombies:” When one looks at all the great management thinkers over the last 100 years — from Taylor, the Gilbreths, to Follett, Mayo, Deming, Ohno Drucker, Argyris, Kanter, Senge, Schein, etc. — they have all had senior leaders’ attention (and lucrative consulting work) at one point or another. But whatever they may have taught executives has proven to be largely non-transferable from one generation of leaders to the next. All of this great thinking has proven to be largely ephemeral; curiosities that do n ..read more

Mark Graban recently hosted James P. Womack on his podcast titled: “Jim Womack’s Observations and Reflections on the Evolution of Lean.” Dr. Womack made a few interesting comments that are worthy of some analysis. Let’s begin here: So [it is] quite amazing to me that the book [The Machine That Changed the World, published in 1990] says very clearly, if you really want to get the full result, you need to do the whole system. And nobody got that… So it’s interesting what people hear, and the same thing with the Lean Thinking book, that what they heard was all tools… So that’s one of the curiou ..read more

I am excited to bring you this great new feature! Introducing “Bob’s AI Book Chatbot.” As you know, I have written 28 books across a variety of subjects. Perhaps you, like many others, would like a way to obtain useful information but you do not have the time to read a book. The AI Book Chatbot will quickly help you get the information you need. So don’t let time constraints or a dislike of reading books stop you from getting the information that you need to succeed! The AI Book Chatbot gives you 24 hour access to US$635 worth of books for only US$20. And you can ask unlimited questions! There ..read more

Pull requires a significantly different type of CEO leadership than push. Click here to learn more ..read more

When you love something too much it can prevent you from seeing problems that you need to see. Love is blind. Many people are so in love with Lean that they are essentially “Lean groupies,” which I define as: Excessively devoted fans of Lean celebrities who intently and uncritically follow their words and work and heap praise on them to gain their attention and affection. The folks whom Lean groupies admire, as well as devotion to Lean itself, rigidly defend Lean against intrusion of anything that could tarnish the luster of Lean or its celebrities. This is commendable from the perspective ..read more