Why “Simple Excellence?”

Today more than ever, to help today’s leaders figure out how to more effectively organize and align themselves and their management teams to create sustainable Operational Excellence in their spheres of influence.

It was 10 years ago this month that we published Simple Excellence: Organizing and Aligning the Management Team in a Lean Transformation.  And despite all the Lean Learning (often trial and error, with quite a bit of error, unfortunately) companies still struggle with getting the senior leadership team on the same page when it comes to vision, planning and execution.  Which is why Simple Excellence – with it’s focus on agile, flexible alignment and rock-solid organizational principles and practices – matters today just as much as it did 10 years ago.

I believe that every organization can attain and sustain operational excellence. Because I believe that each individual within the organization can achieve personal operational excellence through the work he or she performs there. And because I believe that the organization must, as part of its core purpose, enable its members to fulfill their unique potential through the work they do there.

The critical ingredient required for each of these to occur: operationally excellent leadership. Leadership of the highest integrity, which aligns action with purpose, practices respect for people, promotes transparency, and demands accountability.

For many years now my career mission has been to help build the best Lean and Operational Excellence Leadership teams in the world for organizations that truly view continuous improvement as the vehicle for growth and profitability. Excellent people, driving effective processes, to build innovative products (and services, of course) resulting in sustainable growth and profitability.

By sharing some of what I’ve learned through my work in “Simple Excellence,” I hope to spread the message of Lean Transformation “done the right way” to a broader audience of readers for whom my lessons might also add value. May we never forget to listen to the voice of the customer.

Thanks for reading.

Adam Zak