The 12 Herculean Labors of Lean Leaders

Seemingly impossible tasks can be conquered when you fight like Hercules.

When we say that a task is Herculean, it means it is extremely difficult. Heracles was a Greek hero (Hercules in the Roman version) who got into some trouble for killing a member of his family in a fit of madness and was assigned a series of challenging tasks as penance. Sometimes we face Herculean challenges as penance for far smaller crimes, or even for doing nothing wrong at all. In fact, change agents and leaders learn that many times we are “punished” with seemingly impossible tasks for trying to do the right thing, as is the case when we try to implement a lean culture.

Legend has it that for 12 years Heracles traveled all over the classical world to complete a dozen incredible tasks given him by King Eurystheus. Following are the 12 Herculean Labors of Heracles and what lean leaders can learn from them:

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Comments

Interesting

Dear Jon,

Thanks for this article. I really like it, since I am a fan of Greek history and litterature as well as a continuous improvement enthusiast.

You are right: it is a Herculean task, but it is possible to achieve and we need to work for it.

I am sharing the article with friends.

Atlas

Great article - it echoes Scott Paton's recent comments. Too bad the Gods don't confer job security on those who challenge the status quo. I've found it to be a dangerous, narrow path.

It's a common misconception that Atlas (and Heracles) held up the Earth. What would he stand on? He actually held up the sky. Atlas was so relieved to be free of the burden that he decided to hose Heracles and leave his post permanently. Heracles asked if he wouldn't mind taking back the sky for just a moment while Heracles adjusted his aegis to pad his shoulders. Atlas foolishly agreed, and Heracles grabbed the apples and bolted.