OK, I know that what I’m about to say may sound cynical, but 20 years of personal, hard-knock lean experience tells me that this is reality. And most folks I think would, or at least should (I hope), agree with me.

The majority of companies pursuing a lean implementation do so superficially. (Did I just hear you yawn?)

Many fail to understand the transformational lean principles, much less have the will to rigorously live them. Lean wannabes are attracted by and then reproduce the easily reproducible “shiny objects” and “eye candy.” The objects and candy are the tools and trinkets that are seen in books, seminars, and drive-by benchmark visits (aka industrial tourism).

Lean management systems are chock-full of shiny objects—huddle boards (aka tier or reflection meeting or metric boards), leader standardized work, visual process adherence tools, suggestion boards, and task accountability boards. But these things are just things.

An advertisement I spied on the backside of a Philadelphia area bus is pretty darn profound—and relevant: “Until you know what it really means, it doesn’t mean much.”

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