The Lean Book of Lean

8 The Lean Mindset

This subject, the Lean mindset, has been mentioned numerous times in this book, and is of such importance that I thought it warranted a chapter of its own. Once again, it's one of those “people” aspects of Lean that can very easily be forgotten about. But can you create a Lean mindset or does it need to be out there already? How do you know if you have it, or enough of it for Lean to take hold and mature? All very good questions, which I'll try to answer in this chapter, to some extent. Once again, I don't want to mislead and suggest that you will find a right and complete answer here because I don't think there is a right and complete answer. However, while it's difficult to put into words what a “Lean mindset” is, I'll have a go and hopefully you should find some good food for thought and pointers along the way.

It's not just about what you know

If it were as straightforward as learning the tools and the underlying concepts, everyone would be doing it, since none of this is rocket science (actually rocket science isn't that complicated). All anyone would have to do is read a few books, perhaps attend a course and off you go. However, knowing the tools and concepts is one thing, being able to “see” where and how to apply them is quite another. At the risk of sounding a bit arrogant, part of it is how your brain is wired. To some it is all just common sense; to others it's a bit more difficult to get their heads around. That's not necessarily a major problem, ...