What my Mother taught me about Lean
Today is Mother’s day and gives me cause to reflect on what my Mother taught me about lean. From an early age, my mother managed to instill an innate ability for lean thinking. Managing a household and being able to orchestrate a host of tasks and demands, all the while keeping the place clean, is by no means an easy task. As if by instinct, I learned about 5S and the 7 types of waste, although at the time I didn’t recognize them as such.
I’m always amused when I see “Your Mother Doesn’t Work Here” signs posted in cafeterias and kitchens in the workplace. The most fundamental principles of 5S – a place for everything and everything in its place – and Kaizen were ingrained in me at home. My mother taught me to keep things organized, clean, and to ever improve on what was, is, or could be. Could it be that my mother inspired “There’s always a better way and more than one solution” or “What you see is how we think”? Perhaps so.
More importantly, my mother taught me that life and leadership is about people, relationships, and love. All is for not without them. My mother is the very essence of what it means to love and lead with a “servant heart” and that is why I think “people are first and business is second nature.”
Happy Mother’s Day!
Until Next Time – STAY lean
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