The Lean Ceo: Leading The Way To World-class Excellence

By (author) Stoller Jacob
Description

As organizations strive to do more with less, many are turning to Lean methodology, which is based on the same techniques that propelled the legendary turnaround of Japan''s industrial sector after World War II. Few leaders, however, understand that the real secret behind Lean is a comprehensive approach to management that differs significantly from what is taught in business school. Lean initiatives, consequently, are rarely led by senior management, and seldom lead to significant change.

The Lean CEO reveals the true power of Lean through in-depth interviews with CEOs who have gone beyond tool adoption and established Lean as a corporate-wide management system. The all-star cast of twenty-eight leaders represents a wide variety of organizations, including global manufacturers Ingersoll-Rand and Barry-Wehmiller, healthcare icons Thedacare and Virginia Mason, the states of Connecticut and Washington, historical icons such as Wiremold, and many more.

In a series of provocative chapters, the CEOs tell in their own words how they applied Lean management to deliver sustainable financial results, empower and motivate employees, break down internal silos, and build solid partnerships with customers and suppliers. Their testimony provides a goldmine of practical advice for managers in Lean and non-Lean organizations alike as they share their unique personal insights on topics such as:

• Leading and empowering people.
• Building transparency and trust.
• Tuning into the customer experience.
• Aligning strategic direction with day-to-day operations.
• Instilling a corporate-wide culture that promotes safety and quality.
• Creating a learning organization

Thoughtful, sometimes brutally frank, these leaders challenge many of the sacred cows of traditional business, such as standard cost accounting, hierarchical management, emphasis on large batches, and our obsession with data and computers. Citing numerous examples from their experience, they provide a fresh view of today''s business challenges and a positive roadmap for any organization that is striving for excellence.

Table of contents
FOREWORD BY DANNEL P. MALLOY vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi
PREFACE xv

Chapter 1 How Waste Became Business as Usual 1
Chapter 2 Lean: A Radical New Approach to Production 21
Chapter 3 West Meets East and the Unbelievable 47
Chapter 4 A New Way Out of Financial Crisis 71
Chapter 5 Capacity Without Capital Expenditure 107
Chapter 6 A Realistic Approach to Worker Motivation 127
Chapter 7 Building Collaborative Management Teams 141
Chapter 8 Putting People First 159
Chapter 9 Building the Learning Organization 187
Chapter 10 Integrating a Diversified Corporation 217
Chapter 11 Reducing Dependence on the CEO 235
Chapter 12 Solving the Cost/Quality Conundrumin Healthcare 251
Chapter 13 Defining and Delivering Value in Government 283
Chapter 14 Conclusions 305

NOTES 317
READING LIST 321
INDEX 323

Biographical note

Jacob Stoller is a writer and facilitator specializing in communication between experts and outsiders in areas such as Lean management, information technology, accounting, and engineering.

Flap / cover copy

“an extremely readable account of how lean came to be and how top leaders can understand and harness its power for sweeping improvement. . . Anyone in top management at a company considering lean would be well served to read this book as a primer at the start of the journey.”
Quality Digest

“Give this book to your CEO. It captures the passion, challenges, fun and impressive results achieved by pioneering Lean CEOs. Now you know what is involved, you can do so too.”
Daniel T Jones, author of The Machine tha