Bella Englebach is a consultant with Lean for Humans, Inc, and in this article, she asks about the moral and ethical implications of the work we do as we confront systemic racism? Examples include: What do you say if there is diversity in those allowed to attend training classes? What if the client wants you to […]
Joy Mason is a Six Sigma Black Belt who spent many years at Eli Lilly in continuous improvement before taking on a consulting career. She introduces the idea of CARE, and more clearly defines the following words: inclusion, diversity, racism, equity and discrimination. She explains how Six Sigma and the DMAIC model can be used […]
Written by Brion
Sabrina Malter is a Kata coach at a major pharmaceutical company in Germany. Kata is a pattern you practice to learn a skill and mindset until it becomes second nature. She facilitated a conversation with people from Germany and Switzerland. They structured the conversation around the following questions: What’s our target condition for an inclusive and […]
Written by Brion
The following webinar was hosted by the IISE Sustainable Development Division, as part of their mission to help align Industrial and Systems Engineers with organizations working on the UN Sustainable Development goals. In addition to covering details of the project, here are some key takeaways. Student capstone projects and research work provide excellent real-world experience […]
Written by Brion
With the recent events happening in the US with racial inequality, but things aren’t much better in Brazil. 55% of the population is non-white (“black” or “mixed-race”). Despite this, an overwhelmingly homogeneous white male majority exists in most organizations. Structural racism is a reality in Brazil and it is everyone’s responsibility to join forces with […]
Written by Brion
Christopher Chapman, Senior Lean Transformation Coach, calls on lean thinkers to leverage our skills to eradicate the waste of racism in our businesses, worker lives, their families, their community and society. Lean thinkers: We have plenty of experience using humble inquiry and other problem-solving tools to root-out non-valued-activities in our organizations. Now we need to […]
Written by Brion
by Brion Hurley While reading the book, Above the Law by Matthew Whitaker, I learned about the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) program that has been deployed in many neighborhoods in the United States to reduce gun violence. “[PSN] is a nationwide initiative that brings together federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and […]
Written by Brion
by Brion Hurley In June 2020, former University of Iowa football players raised concerns about the mistreatment of Black players in the program. As a former player at Iowa, this news impacted me personally, and I’ve been following this story since it first came out. Just to be clear, I am white, and was born […]
Written by Brion
The Oregon City Farmers Market reached out to Lean Portland for suggestions on how to offer their year-round market during a pandemic. As Lean Portland has experienced with other nonprofits, their goal is to remove waste and inefficiency in the process unrelated to building relationships, so that more time can be spent in conversation between volunteers, staff and […]
Written by Brion
Racism, inclusion and discrimination is not a problem many lean thinkers are called to tackle in their daily lives at work, but that doesn’t mean that Lean Thinking has nothing to say about it. Roberto Priolo interviews Michael Balle, co-founder of the Institut Lean France, and is asked numerous questions, including: If we look at […]
Written by Brion