Lean from 30,000 feet

Twenty years ago, I would have told you that lean was a bunch of bull.

The longer I’m in the business, however, the more I believe wholeheartedly in lean. As a result, I try to learn more about it.

For example, I had a successful experience at a lean training workshop last year. The instructor, Matthew Pothoff, Ph.D., infused his lectures with quite a bit of his personal experiences, plus he had us share our own experiences. He’s definitely not your typical instructor.

Matt is the director of the Operations Leadership Factory and an adjunct assistant professor of the University of Michigan’s Tauber Institute for Global Operations Engineering. He holds a doctorate in business administration from that university’s Ross School of Business, a bachelor’s in economics and mechanical engineering from Rice University, and began his career at ExxonMobil as a drilling engineer. Whew!

Our workshop team consisted of about a dozen people with a wide range of opinions and ideas.