Lean Connections

It’s that time of the year again when many of us Lean Thinkers, and even those who are still perhaps among the  ”Muggles” of the Lean community, are driven to at least a bit of reflection on the year (decade?) which is passing and will soon be a distant memory.  And it’s also not surprising that we who so diligently adhere to PDCA principles and utilize A-3 forms in our day-to-day work activities might be prone to applying a variety of similar tools and processes to our  thinking and planning for the year ahead.

I’d like to offer a suggestion to help you with this task.  Keep this one guiding word in mind:  “simple.”

I believe that by keeping things simple, as simple as possible, in both your personal and professional life, you will be able achieve “simple excellence“ in everything towards which you strive. “Simple excellence”  is a key theme to which I will return again in 2010 and throughout the coming decade in my speaking, writing and of course, my Lean executive search practice.

As a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder of many years, I’ve been listening to Warren Buffett for a long time. My notebooks are filled with his words of wisdom gleaned from annual meetings I’ve attended. My bookshelves are weighed down considerably with books and magazine articles by and about him.    While I’m certainly not the first to have uncovered some of Warren’s ”secrets” to investing, I’ve also discovered a treasure trove of his thoughts on human nature and the non-Wall Street side of life , which he’s shared with us through quips and comments over the years.  Guess what?  There’s a lot of simple excellence here. 

So without further delay, some quotes from the Oracle of Omaha to help keep our 2010 New Years’ resolution making simple and excellent.

 “The best way to own common stocks is through an index fund.”

Simple investing leaves you time to do other things in your life.  Allow professionals to do for you what they’re better at doing than you are. Yes, there is truth in the concept of core competency. And no, not all outsourcing is bad. But it takes thought and purpose to achieve simple and excellent results, in operations and supply chain as well as in investing.  Berkshire Hathaway is itself something akin to an index fund. Thanks Warren, for keeping it simple to understand what you (and therefore I) own. But I’ve got to ask, are you really, really sure about the Burlington RR thing?

“I want to be able to explain my mistakes. This means I do only the things I completely understand.”

I’ve never heard about Warren employing the “5 Whys” technique, but he is legendary for drilling down to root cause. In all his investment decisions (and, even more importantly, in his decisions not to invest) Buffett focuses on breaking complex businesses into simple, understandable components. In setting out our objectives and making our resolutions for 2010, how can we more effectively focus to gain true understanding?

“Making money isn’t the backbone of our guiding purpose; making money is the by-product of our guiding purpose. If you’re doing something you love, you’re more likely to put your all into it, and that generally equates to making money.”

As Lean Thinkers we are called to deliver value to our customers, both external and internal. Isn’t that really the simple and excellent underlying purpose of all the principles and practices we espouse and adhere to?  Are we thinking the same way about our careers and also the lives we lead outside those careers? Simple, focused goal setting  – on the right goals, for the right reasons – makes sense and leads to excellence.  A business, or an individual, who sets goals and objectives on delivering value will be rewarded financially when others benefit from their receipt of that value.

And, finally, how often do we consider that the simple pleasures of life might perhaps offer us deeper and more lasting satisfaction than we could ever hope to derive from the many gadgets and gizmos and toys we’ve been accumulating in an attempt to achieve happiness and fulfillment?  Are we truly engaged in something?  Are we respecting those who surround us in our personal and professional lives?  Hey, are we having fun?  Some final thoughts from Warren:  

“I have simple pleasures. I play bridge online for 12 hours a week. Bill [Gates] and I play, he’s “chalengr” and I’m “tbone”.“ 

and…

“I just naturally want to do things that make sense. In my personal life too, I don’t care what other rich people are doing. I don’t want a 405 foot boat just because someone else has a 400 foot boat.“

 And that’s the way I see it.  Happy New Year.  Adam Zak

And to all a good night!