Many managers ask me, “How can I accelerate my company’s lean transformation?” My answer is twofold: First get the direction right, and then get everyone rowing in that direction.

One of my columns on this topic from about three years ago (worth reading for context if you don’t remember it), relates a story about the second point, getting everyone rowing. The rowing analogy was shared with me (on a cocktail napkin) by Ryuji Fukuda, a Deming Prize winner and author of Managerial Engineering (Productivity Press, 1983), which is still one of the best books on lean transformation.

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