A recent viewing of a Marx Brothers film caused me to reflect on one of the questions I’m frequently asked: “How do you deal with people who are against lean?”

My stock response is to quote Shigeo Shingo’s advice that “99 percent of objection is cautionary,” that is, people who appear to vigorously object to lean are really just asking for more information. This answer puts a positive spin on objection, but depending on who is doing the objecting, it doesn’t really answer the question.

For example, early in my Toyota Production System (TPS) discovery process while I was away from the plant for a week’s vacation, two of my fellow middle managers, armed with apocalyptic predictions about employee empowerment, took advantage of my absence to make an end run to the corner office. Upon my return, our CEO confronted me: “I understand that you’re turning all of the decision-making over to the employees,” he said.

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