I enlighten people to see work entirely different to benefit the individual first and then align the new learning to helping the business improve.

What is the definition of INSANITY?
Doing the same thing over and expecting different results. Stop doing that, LOL…

Others have described me endearingly as an Improvement Zealot, a Sensei, a pure process thinker….The dude with the magic bag of tools and tricks that creates value at every turn of thought, a thought transformer, someone that makes my head hurt by applying contradiction and paradox. Again LOL

What do we really do?
In the youthful Western World, we are viewed as Overhead - you must earn your way and pay for yourself (short term and limited from my point of view), to the aged and wiser Eastern World we are deeply respected for what our eyes see (we are special), our drive, our innovation and creativity, respect, humility, and seen as Leaders that should be immediately plugged into succession planning (Long term and supportive with a solid foundation).

2 diametrically opposed yet interesting perspectives.

I am a Student/Teacher first.
Learning from Others and Teaching individuals, to Learn to See waste anywhere and everywhere, at work and at home. Once they succumb and see they are positively inflicted for life. As all of you know Seeing Waste, drawing waste, measuring waste, verbally describing waste is a curse and a blessing at the same time.

My Belief:

The difficulty in explaining what a Lean Thinker does is based on the sometimes backward mental models that the recipient has produced over time of what “true” continuous improvement is all about. I have heard, Oh we tried that before, my reply why did you stop? As Chris stated above one must change Paradigms to become more enlightened about the religion of Continuous Improvement.

My Background: I am a scientist based on academia.

I try not to explain what I do, my approach is to lead folks to what I do by asking questions of them; Introspective Questions. Paradigm Shifts occur at various rates based on the roots of their current thinking processes. Again, Change comes slowly for some for others once they Learn to See they are positively impacted for Life!

Don’t forget the Adult Learning Model - Hands on GO SEE Learn by Doing.

Take those who ask the question Genchi Genbutsu, Go See the “operations / mechanics” of what is going on at the Gemba for yourself.

Learning by Sharing: I ask them to describe what they see and then describe what you see. Every time the points of view are entirely different, 180. But most will respond I never looked at it that way before. Ever experienced this phenomenon?

Those DEEP LEAN THINKERS out there should be aware that there are others who see waste, and see it very well.

As I was taught and will always remember,

Never throw the Ignorance Card, Seek to Understand, Learn / Teach by Doing through involvement, Suspend all Assumptions (Senge)- In God we Trust please show me the data!

Cheers: Oscar

Lean is just continuous rationalisation of the production. Simplification, improvements on a participatory way.

Cheers: Lajos

Further questions requires additional beer, but the “respect for people” angle does strike a positive chord.

Often, I’d mumble something like, “we’re into some methodologies that help companies reduce or eliminate defective products.”

Somehow this gets through to them. I think because everyone of us can relate to a defective product, and no one wants to have it.

Or in the case of Lean, I would say, “we’re improving delivery delays…”

Again, they can relate to late deliveries, so they get interested and the conversation becomes more interesting.