November 25, 2009

“Lean Is Good” on 7 Lessons

Bruce Baker, author of the “Lean is Good” leadership blog wrote a post referencing 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis and I wanted to be sure to share it here.  He highlights the first lesson – “Face Reality, Starting With Yourself”:

Lean thinkers will recognize this as hansei or self-reflection.  Professor George argues that leaders have to be humble enough to admit weaknesses and flaws that they see. Too often, lack of introspection and an abundance of hubris (defined by classicist J. Rufus Fears as “the outrageous arrogance that inflicts suffering upon the innocent”) keep people from effectively leading people and organizations.  The willingness to look critically at yourself and the humility deal with that reality is something contributes to effective lean leaders.

I’d encourage you to read the blog in its entirety as Baker includes a very savvy, brief analysis of how this “self-reflection” is currently playing out in the automobile industry.