The Perception of Negativity

“…all improvements come from something negative.” — Bob Rush

Prologue: Occasionally I get feedback from people who perceive my work as being negative, rather than as a positive pathway forward to “get out of the pit,” as W. Edwards Deming said. They get that perception mainly from my LinkedIn posts and perhaps from my recent books. When it comes to social media, I think it is especially important to challenge people’s thinking about the problems that the Lean community faces to that we can improve. But some people don’t like that. When it comes to books, I long ago decided that it was far more important to work on the big problems, rather than write me-too books about Lean tools.

Remember, there are thousands of people who consistently write about the positive aspects of Lean management, but only a few people who think and write critically about Lean looking for ways to improve it. Few offer tough-minded realism and are not afraid to publicly share their disdain for nonsense. There is n…