The Difference Between a Lean Leader and a Regular Leader

Many people dream of becoming a leader, but few truly understand what it takes to be a great one.

When we teach leadership courses, we often hear the question:
“Are leaders born?”

I like how John Maxwell answers this:
“Of course they are. I’ve never seen a leader who wasn’t born!”

While humorous, John uses this line to make a key point: leadership isn’t about being born with special traits. Great leaders are developed—not born.

The Three Types of Leaders

In my experience, most leaders fall into one of three categories:

1. Bad Leaders

2. Good Leaders

3. Excellent Leaders

Most people land in the first two categories. But if you want to be excellent, Lean can help you grow into that role.

What Does Lean Have to Do with Leadership?

Lean is all about taking care of people by removing waste from processes. And leadership is about inspiring others—not controlling them through title or authority.

In Lean cultures, titles don’t matter much. What matters is your ability to build trust, foster teamwork, and solve problems with your team—not for them.

How Do You Become an Excellent Leader?

One of the first and biggest challenges leaders face is change management—the process of helping people and organizations move from the current state to a better one. Lean leaders learn how to guide this process effectively and respectfully.

At Gemba Academy, we teach that there are seven common challenges in change management:

1. Resistance to Change
   People naturally resist change. Lean leaders engage the team early, present the problem, and work with them to develop solutions.

2. Lack of Urgency
   Change fails without a clear need. Use tools like SWOT, benchmarking, and customer feedback to create urgency and drive action.

3. Lack of Clarity on Goals
   Without clear goals, success is hard to measure. Lean leaders set measurable objectives and align change efforts with company goals.

4. Failure to Identify Risks
   Ignoring potential risks can derail progress. Excellent leaders assess technical, people, and timing risks and plan accordingly.

5. Inadequate Resources
   Even the best ideas fail without enough time, money, or people. Leaders must secure both the resources to make changes and to manage the change process itself.

6. Poor Communication
   Miscommunication leads to confusion and resistance. Lean leaders use structured processes to ensure messages are clear, consistent, and reach all stakeholders.

7. Failure to Empower and Engage People
   People support what they help create. Leaders must empower others, provide opportunities for involvement, and address concerns openly.

A regular leader may rely on authority. A Lean leader inspires through purpose, problem-solving, and people-first thinking. By understanding and addressing the human side of change, you can move from being a good leader to an excellent one.

In a future article, we will dive deeper into each of these categories to give you more insight into what you can do to become an excellent leader—what we call a Lean leader.

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