OpEx/Lean, Innovation and Wakefulness

Pascal Dennis, co-author of Harnessing Digital Disruption

We spend our lives asleep. George Gurdjieff

OpEx/Lean is at heart is about wakefulness. Sages throughout history have argued that we are sleepers in a dream, and that our grasp of what's actually happening is, at best, tenuous. Many schools of philosophy and religion include prayer, meditation, or exercises, designed to "wake" the sleeper. Stoicism remains relevant today not in the least because it emphasizes regular reflection aimed at virtue and self improvement.

I’ve practiced regular reflection for decades now using the PDCA cycle, which surely Epictetus & other Stoic masters would find simpatico. OpEx/Lean methods like visual management, 5S and standardized work are all meant to jolt us out of our slumber. Defect-proofing usually entails a visual tool that loudly signals the abnormality – Wake up! - allowing us to contain it before it becomes a defect.

Strategy Deployment, essentially the application of PDCA to our enterprise, is also about wakefulness. Our Control Tower and operating rhythms, for example, entail stand-up meetings in front of visuals that make ‘hot spots’ obvious. All my business novels, include the latest, Harnessing Digital Disruption, entail the protagonists' gradual awakening.

Pema Chodron, the American nun and Buddhist teacher challenges us to see what’s there. Her practice entails disciplined meditation – sitting still, recognizing the many attachments that distract our minds from what’s there. And lest we forget, Socrates famously advocated ‘know thyself’, believing this to be essential for a good & virtuous life.

Innovation is also about wakefulness, and seeing what the customer actually values – even though they may not see it themselves! (Steve Jobs famously said, ‘The customer doesn’t know what they want, until I show it to them.’) And then envisioning & designing an entire customer journey – one that will blow the customer’s mind. This was surely another of Jobs’ superpowers. Did Jobs’ interest in mysticism and meditation, combined with his artistic temperament not enable his creativity?

Best regards,

Pascal Dennis

E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org

PS: To learn more about my executive mentoring programs: Exec 101 - Protecting the Core Business, and Exec 201 – Igniting New Growth, feel free to drop me an e-mail.




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

The Difference Between Protecting Your Core Business & Igniting New Growth
The Control Tower – Learning to See What Is
The Hardest Thing - Seeing What Is
Fundamentals of OpEx/Lean, Part 2