Recently, while providing training for new clients, I heard a comment from two different people that went something like this: “That gemba walking stuff is really nothing new; it used to be called ‘management by walking around.’” Admittedly I was caught off guard, especially the first time I was told this, since I’d never heard someone say or even think of such an absurdity.

But later, after thinking some more about the comments, I remembered other companies that had claimed they were performing gemba walks, when in fact they weren’t even coming close to it. Their gemba walks were more like “gemba walking dead.”

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