Month: August 2010

Thank You for Lean

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Paul,

I want to extend a “thank-you” for taking the time to “go to gemba”.¬† To jog your memory, I was the “young guy” in the back and my wife Kaila is Georganna’s niece.¬† Kaila and I extend our thoughts and prayers to your success in your election.¬† I will be sure to pass the word on.

As I mentioned last night, the past few years I have had extensive exposure to implementation of Lean Culture.  I have seen the success first hand in product development, project management, and manufacturing.  It was very exciting to hear of your enthusiasm to extend the boundaries of a solid improvement methodology into the governmental arena.  Even more compelling is that you are clearly running with the right motivations and principles at the core.  I deeply wish you the best of luck.

I have had some good training in leading Kaizen workshops and trying to gather a group of people around the spirit of improvement.  If there is anything specific my experience in being immersed in lean can offer let me know.

Tim Treto

Mechanical Engineer

Lean the American Way

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This commentary by Angie Vogt appeared on Red County:

During his concession speech, without a moments hesitation, Paul Akers heartily encouraged his followers in the state of Washington to support the fight against Patty Murray by supporting Dino Rossi. Then, in case nobody heard him and in contrast to what is getting to be a tiresome game with Didier’s refusal to do the same, Akers released this statement yesterday:

Dear Washington State Conservatives,
This letter is to confirm that Paul Akers For US Senate whole heartedly endorses Dino Rossi for US Senate. I encourage all concerned citizens to rally behind Dino Rossi in his bid to defeat Patty Murray in the US Senate. We have an unusual opportunity. The wind is at our back. We must unite and not allow our opponent to have even one more day to relish in any division that is amongst us.

In today’s political climate, words are cheap, so I think it’s far more interesting to see what the candidates are doing a week after their hard fought primaries. As of yesterday I know Clint Didier’s campaign manager, Kathy Serkes, was on David Boze¬†explaining how Clint¬†has been misunderstood, regarding his lack of support for Dino. It sounded an awful lot like back peddling to me. I felt myself cringing for her, doing¬†Clint’s dirty work, trying to restore some measure of dignity after this ugly, annoying chapter in post-primary election history.

What a contrast to my friend, Paul Akers. Not¬†wasting any time licking his wounds or feeling sorry for himself, (and wasting is the operative word here), Paul demonstrates that his passion for stopping government waste is not about him, but about our country. His immediate response to loss was not to navel gaze, not to analyze what went wrong nor to create a wave of press attention or post election drama. Paul doesn’t waste time on ego restoration. The people have spoken and he respects their voice. Instead he has immediately invested his energy into a new initiative called Lean America.

Paul is pressing forward with what he is passionate about:¬† finding a way to introduce and advocate a proven process (Lean) into the hearts and minds of American citizens. As a businessman he knows that identifying and cutting out waste is necessary for fiscal survival. He believes the same about our government and once again, he’s putting his own heart and soul behind it.

Get ready for the ride. Paul is taking his message to the Glenn Beck 8-28 Restoring Honor Rally in Washington D.C. this Saturday, with a live broadcast of his radio show “American Innovator.” You can count on hearing more about Lean America as he continues to join the fight against the culture of waste that has infected our government.

Lean is…

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Lean is continuous reform.

Lean is the roadmap to cutting waste in government;

Lean transforms what doesn’t work into world class efficiency.

Lean is not about cutting grandma‚Äôs social security check, it’s about guaranteeing it will always be there by cutting the waste out of goverment.

Lean would not drop a dime into a business that is run like the government?

Lean eliminates red tape and creates jobs and boundless opportunity.

Lean is not a top down austerity program, it empowers people at all levels to thoughtfully removing waste on a daily bases.

Lean unleashes innovation.