Off Topic Archives | Page 3 of 4

Thirsty Horses and a Call for Meta-Advice

By Jon Miller - April 27th, 2015

Some of the process-related questions leaders ask during their interaction with front line workers include variations on “What is the standard?” and “What is the actual process?” and upon finding a gap “Why is there a gap?�

Showered With Creativity

By Steve Kane - April 17th, 2015

By Steve Kane I spent the this week working from the Gemba Academy studios in Fort Worth, Texas. During my visit the subject of overburdening came up a couple of times:once in discussion with Gemba Academy’s business developmen

Leading Lean, Like Pioneers or Privateers?

By Jon Miller - April 13th, 2015

Several recent conversations with a few seasoned lean thinkers, authors and experts have made me aware of an emerging belief among them that the corporate “lean initiative” or “lean implementation” or “l

Find the Other Stories

By Kevin Meyer - April 10th, 2015

By Kevin Meyer I recently came across the following TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie where she talks about the “danger of a single story.” From growing up as a kid in Nigeria to studying in the United States and into

The Value of Less

By Steve Kane - March 24th, 2015

The Wall Street Journal recently reported Porsche is limiting production despite an increase in demand for its vehicles. Without going into too much detail on the article, the idea is that the brand should remain exclusive in order

Bowling Should Be Unnecessary

By Steve Kane - March 3rd, 2015

By Steve Kane We often hear or read about work/life balance. It’s as though work is thought of as not part of one’s life but as a countering force. The very notion of balancing suggests conflict. After all it is con

It’s Not Supposed To Hurt

By Steve Kane - February 10th, 2015

By Steve Kane Getting Started I bought a road bicycle a few years ago for physical fitness. It seemed to be the most enjoyable and least painful form of exercise that I could do from home on a daily basis. Riding, or spinning as cy

Swimming With Alligators

By Steve Kane - January 20th, 2015

By Steve Kane When I was a kid, I visited my dad at his office quite often. I remember he had a note on a corkboard that read “When you’re up to your [backside] in alligators, it can be difficult to remember your original objective

The Value of Not Knowing

By Steve Kane - December 30th, 2014

By Steve Kane “If I am wiser. . . it is because I know that I do not know.” ~ Socrates Is it possible that expertise on a particular subject can become an obstacle to learning and growth? There comes a point when a person

Skateboarding and A Path To Discovery

By Steve Kane - December 2nd, 2014

This article was written by Steve Kane Clarity of Vision Vision, mission and values are often thought to be guiding forces of an organization. These ideas give us a sense of who we are as an organization and where we’re headed—wh

Join us for a Lean and Six Sigma Networking Party in the Seattle area!

By Ron Pereira - September 29th, 2010

Gemba Academy is sponsoring the next iSixSigma Live! Social and Networking Party in the Seattle/Bellevue area. If you live in this part of America please be sure to come out and say hi! Here are the details of the event. Join us for an

The Don’t Quit Poem

By Ron Pereira - September 3rd, 2010

I absolutely love this. Enjoy. Oh, and if you’re reading this on an iPhone or via RSS reader/email you’ll likely need to click through to the site.

5 Ways to Improve Your Teaching Skills

By Ron Pereira - June 28th, 2010

Have you ever been forced to listen to a monotone, boring, and oh so irritating instructor teach a class? I’m guessing most of you are nodding your head up and down. Well I have and can tell you one thing… it hurts. A lot! But it d

What Are Your Thoughts About Toyota’s Situation?

By Ron Pereira - January 31st, 2010

As regular readers of this blog know, I am not a big “news” reporting guy. In other words, I rarely read a news story and then bang out an article around it since, honestly, this type of writing bores me beyond words. But, unless y

UK Folding Plug – Brilliant Innovation

By Ron Pereira - November 11th, 2009

As a frequent traveler to the UK I can definitely appreciate this device. It’s simple, yet profound. I am not sure if it is available for purchase yet… but if it is I plan to buy one next time I fly across the pond. Wha

Your Important Feedback Requested: A Simple 2 Question Survey

By Ron Pereira - October 26th, 2009

I would really appreciate your thoughts on this simple, 2 question survey that should take less than 30 seconds to complete. A big thanks in advance for your time and valuable insight! Click Here to take survey

Kaizen – FastCap Style

By Ron Pereira - September 28th, 2009

If you’d like to see kaizen in action, and I do mean real kaizen, you need to set aside around 23 minutes to watch this video of the FastCap team improving the way some items are packaged. As an aside, FastCap has been practicing

Toyota Stock Watch: Edition 1

By Ron Pereira - May 17th, 2009

John Hunter recently commented that he owns some Toyota stock. And since I value John’s wisdom I decided to take a look at the TM chart to see what it looked like. Now, before I go any further, let me be crystal clear… I am not off

Web Design and Control Charts

By Ron Pereira - April 23rd, 2009

I used to check my website stats several times a day. I’ll admit, I had a problem… but I’m guessing most bloggers have similar issues when first starting out. Well, I’m happy to say that I now check my website

Does Spiderman Save?

By Ron Pereira - April 18th, 2009

While it has nothing to do with lean or six sigma this was just too good to not share. My 4 year old daughter recently asked my wife, “Mommy, does Spiderman take away the sins of the world?” Sure, they ‘cost’ a

Leadership Standard Work

By Ron Pereira - April 3rd, 2009

Did you know that 50% of all leaders are below average? It’s a fact. With this said, a good friend of mine recently asked me what I thought the Standard Work document would look like for a “Leader.” In other words, if you could l

Brain Rules

By Ron Pereira - March 30th, 2009

The human brain fascinates me. As such, I was very excited to finally read Brain Rules by John Medina. In this book Medina proposes 12 different rules, that once understood, may help us all to be happier and more productive individuals

Proud to Be a Buckeye

By Ron Pereira - January 6th, 2009

As regular readers of the blog know I am a huge Ohio State University fan. Well, as many of my American readers probably know we lost to Texas in the Fiesta Bowl tonight with only seconds left on the clock. It was a true heart brea

The Kaizen Blitz!

By Ron Pereira - December 31st, 2008

Enjoy and Happy New Year all!

5 Characteristics of a Successful Person

By Ron Pereira - December 15th, 2008

I was recently asked to describe the key characteristics of a successful leader/person. Here’s my take on it. 1. Hustle Nothing beats hustle. I don’t care how smart someone is, in my opinion, if they’re not willing to work their

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