Introduction

 

You’ve tried them all: Total Quality Management, Reengineering, Theory of Constraints, Just-in-Time, Lean, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, Scrum, Agile, and Design Thinking. You’ve formed quality circles and improvement teams, and trained belts of every color. You’ve tried 5S, 8D, A3, and 3P. You’ve become tools-dependent and then tools-averse. You’ve gone round and round on whether the “problem” is people, processes, or products. You’ve outsourced, you’ve in-sourced. You’ve searched for best practices, attempted to copy them, and then rejected them—because they, too, didn’t generate the business results you had hoped for.

You’re not alone.

In 2000, The Economist revealed that only 20 percent of companies reported success with the change-management ...

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