Beware Prizes, Belts & Self-appointed Experts

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.

Sir Isaac Newton

Indeed, who cares if Joe Schmoe is a Master Lean Sensei (MLS) and a Super-Duper Advanced Black Belt (SDABB)?

Or if Questionable Financial has received the Mortimer Snerd Prize for RGQ (Really Great Quality)?

Ever known a chest-thumper who is also a sensei? What happens to chest-thumping companies? Jim Collins has written a fine book about it: How the Mighty Fall.

What’s the most common quality of all great senseis – and great companies?

Humility, no? A deep understanding that the world is much bigger than we are, so well expressed by Sir Isaac.

Don’t want to be misunderstood. Building a career sometimes entails achieving certain professional degrees and certifications.

And plenty of fine organizations have committed themselves to achieving some prize or other.

The best ones recognize that the prize or certificate is nothing more than a kick-start, a proxy for the hard work of building a management system & getting results.

And some awards are worth pursuing, but these are almost always based are on detailed feedback from the customer.

At TMMC, our old Toyota Cambridge site, we were lucky enough to have Mr. Hayashi, a venerable sensei from Operations Management Consulting Division (OMCD).

Hayashi-san and his small team would visit a few times per year. He’d give us homework, check on previous homework, and provide very tough feedback, (often very funny, in retrospect,).

(“You have learned nothing since my last visit, Pascal-san…”)

I remember one time, Hayashi-san standing by himself by the Final Assembly line, taking notes. I asked the great sensei how his visit was going.

He smiled, “After many years, I finally understand this important assembly problem.” He went on to explain in great depth to this lowly, not-so-bright manager.

Always practicing, always teaching.

Best regards,

Pascal



In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

Aikido & Lean – It’s All the Same
The Power of Purpose
Why is laughter important in business?
Target, Actual, Please Explain

Aikido & Lean – It’s All the Same

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

Great to be practicing Aikido again. After a class, I’m exhausted and often aching, but full of energy.

The Japanese call it Ki, which very roughly means life force, spirit, energy, motivation, and ‘spirit of movement’.

“When your body makes good movements, you feel good!” Kawahara-sensei used to say.

KI is close to the Western concept of Flow, which means complete absorption, and energised focus and enjoyment in the process of what you’re doing.

At times I’m so engrossed in the technique, I lose myself. Mushin, the Japanese call it - ‘no mind’.

Flow was one of our core goals at our old Toyota factory (TMMC). Flow of automobiles, materials, people, and information. In fact, TMMC had Seven Flows, which our senseis helped us understand and improve.

(They didn’t use such words, of course.)

Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to work in many industries including auto manufacturing, consumer goods, healthcare, software development, financial services, construction, and universities.

Each industry has characteristic flows. It’s the sensei’s job to help our colleagues see them, so we can fix them.

The great martial arts masters describe how the arts converge. There is an underlying unity of thought in Karate, Judo, Taiichi, Jujitsu, Aikido, Taekwondo…

Similarly, there’s an underlying unity in management, which the great senseis uncover and teach.

Each of the industries noted above look very different on the surface. But over time, you’ll begin to notice the same patterns.

If I may mix metaphors, the same chess positions arise. The pieces and board may look different, but it’s all the same.

Our job is to recognize the different positions, and to help our colleagues make good moves in our (ceaseless) pursuit of Purpose.

Best regards,

Pascal



In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

The Power of Purpose
Why is laughter important in business?
Target, Actual, Please Explain
Success is the Enemy of Future Success

The Power of Purpose

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you know why." Craig Forman

Great piece on the Power of Purpose.

Nothing beats it - not talent, courage or luck.

Talent & courage, exercised in the wrong direction, are aimless.

(At worst, they can be destructive. Who needs a talented, courageous terrorist?)

And Luck generally evens out in the long term.

But Purpose is Polaris, the star by which we navigate, which forever pulls us forward.

Some people are lucky enough to know their life's purpose very young.

(My late father-on-law, the great Dr. Robert Guselle, knew at the age of five that he'd be a physician.)

Others have happy epiphanies, like Starbuck's CEO, Howard Shultz. "I'm going to bring European coffee culture to the world!"

Most of us struggle though, and when we figure it out, it's a happy day indeed.

The same applies, of course, to organizations.

Defining Purpose remains the senior leader's Job One, (followed by "What do we believe in?").

What's your Organization's Purpose?

Best regards,

Pascal



In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

Why is laughter important in business?
Target, Actual, Please Explain
Success is the Enemy of Future Success
There is No Right Answer in Strategy

Why is laughter important in business?

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

Because it makes things small and personal -- and thereby helps to dispel Big Company Disease.

Big companies take themselves seriously. Laughter punctures the balloon and drenches things in the light of sanity.

For organizations big & small, I'd say "embrace your inner smallness".

I give a talk called "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Greek Restaurant"

People seem to like it.

Greek restaurants are the epitome of small, fast and funny.

Small and fast always beats big and slow.

That's it.

Pascal



In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

Target, Actual, Please Explain
Success is the Enemy of Future Success
There is No Right Answer in Strategy
Content Follows Form or Acting Your Way to New Thinking