Comments on: Lead With Humiliation

By: I’m Against It! | Old Lean Dude

I’m Against It! | Old Lean Dude — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 12:33:06 +0000

[…] 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 […]

By: Half Full or Half Empty? | Old Lean Dude

Half Full or Half Empty? | Old Lean Dude — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 16:59:23 +0000

[…] trying to solve, but I clearly remember that the meeting was unusually contentious. We promoted openness in our team discussions, so this situation was not unusual, just on the high end of […]

By: Accidental Revolution « Old Lean Dude

Accidental Revolution « Old Lean Dude — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 15:21:10 +0000

[...] “Perhaps you insulted some employees because they can’t speak English.” Suddenly I felt stupid. It should have been obvious to me that communication in our plant was severely limited by lack [...]

By: GMo

GMo — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:10:09 +0000

I think your headline was supposed to read Lead with *Humility*”? Leading with humiliation isn’t leadership at all and your essay seems to strongly support that.
I enjoy your blog and as an OB/OM guy I especially appreciate your nod to the behavioral aspects of OM in this essay.

By: pcwilson5211

pcwilson5211 — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 15:44:30 +0000

The first two years were difficult. Learning the new lean tool kit while clumsily implementing it plus changing a static, change averse culture led to a lot of conflict at all levels of the organization including the staff level. Managers squared off for direct conflict and some waged guerrilla warfare. My leadership and wisdom were called into question directly and indirectly. My patience was tested often.

My secrets were not quitting no matter what, admitting mistakes, cheering successes, serving on Kaizen events, teaching skills and pushing myself to learn the Lean tool kit too. Like a sports coach starting up a new program, I worked at finding those teammates who could help us “win games” and funneled resources to them while removing obstacles. Winning games help silence critics and win converts. As we “won” Kaizen events, I used those successes to build momentum. We turned a corner when I received the first complaints about a department NOT being on the Kaizen schedule instead of the reverse.Yes, we were more proficient at applying lean tools but a cultural shift had occurred as well.