Brilliant – Learn by Doing

Some kids learn by listening; others learn by doing. Geoff Mulgan gives a short introduction to the Studio School, a new kind of school in the UK where small teams of kids learn by working on projects that are, as Mulgan puts it, “for real.” One theme I keep hearing over and over is engagement Read More …

Is Zappos the Next Toyota

Toyota has led us through the turn of the century and beyond establishing “Respect for People” as one of the most important ingredients of the Toyota Production System and Lean Thinking. This has led to establishing a culture of Servant Leadership versus the more traditional command and control type organization. This type of thinking in Read More …

Lean Sales and Marketing: The iCustomer

One of the main reasons that I have attached marketing to the Lean methodology is the simple approach that is used and termed “Learn by Doing.” The Toyota Production System is known for Kaizen/PDCA that is explicitly built upon learning-by-doing effects. Kaizen is a daily process, the purpose of which goes beyond simple productivity improvement. Read More …

Lean Marketing Board Game Introduction

Following The Lean Startup Principles of Build, Measure, Learn, I am introducing a MVP version of the Lean Marketing Board Game which surprisingly is not based on the Lean Startup but instead my book the Lean Marketing House.  I really don’t teach Build, Measure, Lean and the Pivot, I just stick to the old PDCA Read More …

Lean needs Marketing, more than Marketing needs Lean!

In The Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing edited by Robert Lusch and Stephen Vargo they present the case to use SD-Logic as a foundation versus a total integrative marketing method. I believe that Lean viewed through the lens of PDCA as a knowledge creation platform can serve as the vehicle for implementation of this Logic. The Read More …

Why the Lean SALES PDCA Cycle was Created!

I struggle with Lean when thought of as waste reduction tool versus a Knowledge Creating Methodology. Many people and organizations want to jump into the mode of waste reduction when working with a sales and marketing cycle. It is one of the reasons I created the SALES PDCA cycle. The SALES PDCA cycle creates two Read More …