Lay First the Foundation of Humility

I came across this great quote by St. Augustine.

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.
These words work on many levels.
When corporate board rooms far removed from the day to day realities of the gemba talk of operational excellence, they may wish to rise but will struggle or fail to achieve sustained performance gains. They need to begin by descending to their places of business where the seemingly mundane tasks are performed: the practice Toyota calls genchi genbutsu.
When an ambitious airframe manufacturer wishes to soar above the competition by cleverly sending out nearly all complex manufacturing work to their suppliers, they will struggle until they descend to the planning rooms of the first tier suppliers, and visit the second and third tier suppliers to see whether their plans will in fact pan out. This requires a foundation of humility.
When managers or lean consultants wish to raise the performance of a production line, they need to begin by descending from dreams to the facts, and start by scrubbing the machines, tools and floors clean and removing all obstacles to a safe workplace.
What are we here to do? Serve others. Why? Because none of us are better or more important than others. That’s all there is to it. Humility.

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