Recession Pain? Leaner Thinking Offers a Better Way
Posted in Adam Zak, Employee Engagement, Leadership, Lean Business Strategy, Operational Excellence on March 4th, 2009 by LeanThinker – 2 Comments“There is a better way for everything. Find it.” 
Thomas Alva Edison
Turbulent times provide ample opportunities for success, if we approach things with the right frame of mind.
by Adam Zak
In my role as an executive recruiter specializing in helping companies with Lean transformation, I’ve been spending a lot of my time lately speaking with people all over the world who are wrestling with complex decisions. I thought I’d share some of my observations with you, and in turn, hope that you will share your thoughts with me.
Everywhere we turn, there’s advice heralding “How to manage in a crisis,” or “New rules for surviving the crunch.” Just the other day I heard a discussion on PBS involving business writers trying to agree on a title for what the economy is going through. And there was no consensus (imagine that, from business writers).
Crisis Breeds Opportunity
Craig Barrett, recently retired CEO of Intel told Newsweek readers, “There is a general rule in business life: market share is won or lost during transitions. You cannot save your way out of a recession, you can only invest your way out.” No one is denying that cutting costs is essential to surviving 2009, but we Lean disciples have always practiced a different philosophical approach. As we look for ways to eliminate waste and improve productivity, we are always focused on getting better. In early February Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola’s CEO told the Wall Street Journal “I’ve been through this movie in smaller versions a number of times in the past…times like these are not an excuse to sit back and ride out the storm.” And this week, at a global sustainability conference in Chicago, I spoke with Rick Frazier, Coke’s VP Supply Chain, who told me they were leveraging their Lean & Green efforts even more dramatically during this time of uncertainty.
“A recession creates winners and losers just like a boom,” observed Mauro F. Guillen, a professor of international management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in BusinessWeek. Let’s chose to be among the winners. read more »
I learned that, without question, the start-up team is absolutely the most critical element in the success or failure of a new company. Analyze carefully your own strengths and weaknesses and recruit others who can balance and complement these. Sure, it may be your brilliant idea for a phenomenal product or service, and you may be hesitant to share decision control, execution responsibility and eventual profits with others. But unless your business is high-powered consulting (think Deming, Drucker, Ram Charan, or James O. McKinsey – well, you get the picture) you are not likely to make the big time on your own. 
