The Lean Leader: A Personal Journey of Transformation

Without Lean leaders, there can be no Lean.

If an organization wants to be Lean, its leaders must lead using Lean principles. Put another way, until the top of your organization fully embraces Lean, the rest of your organization will never be Lean.

The Lean Leader: A Personal Journey of Transformation uses a compelling novel format to tackle the nuts and bolts of leading a Lean transformation. Readers follow along as the characters face real crises and what seem to be unreasonable deadlines.

As the story progresses, readers will see how the main character, Don, and his colleagues transform from being “command and control” autocrats—those who make decisions and bark orders—to more Socratic coaches and mentors.

As Don and his staff come to realize that the folks they employ are the real experts in the processes they control, you will learn why it behooves you to do more asking than telling. You will come to realize that a leader’s greatest skill must be in coaching great performance from their people. You will also witness the difference between managing and leading.

After reading this book, you will understand why it’s so important to shed the decision-making tasks that have cluttered your days, and how to delegate those decisions to employees who are closer to the action. You will learn how important it is to look over the horizon to identify upcoming challenges, define and communicate new courses of action, and compel others to follow.

Most importantly, you will learn exactly what it takes to lead a Lean organization that thrives socially, as well as financially.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: A Retrospective
Chapter 2: Charleston
Chapter 3: At Home
Chapter 4: First Request
Chapter 5: Change or Die
Chapter 6: First Who
Chapter 7: Oakland
Chapter 8: The Spears Estate
Chapter 9: Hoshin and KPI
Chapter 10: Meetings as a Form of Communication
Chapter 11: New World Order: First Who
Chapter 12: Cascading Metrics and KPIs
Chapter 13: It’s About the People
Chapter 14: Tightening and Straightening
Chapter 15: X-Matrix
Chapter 16: Metrics and Critical Resources
Chapter 17: A3 Report
Chapter 18: The Long March
Chapter 19: The End of the Beginning