REAL LEAN (Volume Six) closes the series by turning a bright, unflinching light on the major problems the Lean community has failed to solve, and offering creative, original countermeasures. It opens with a candid contribution from Art Byrne, the former CEO who led The Wiremold Company's celebrated transformation, reflecting on nearly 30 years of practice and why, despite soaring awareness of Lean, real Lean leaders remain so rare. From there the book diagnoses the field's persistent, self-inflicted failures with characteristic directness.
This book helps readers by:
- Learning From a Master Practitioner. Art Byrne's reflections and a set of reader-contributed problems explain why Lean leadership remains rare despite widespread awareness.
- Exposing the Field's Blind Spots. Diagnoses the flawed reasoning and selective perception that keep Lean practitioners from seeing their own failures.
- Naming Lean's Corruptions. Exposes how Lean degrades in practice, via delegated gemba walks, distorted tools, and the office politics that hollow out "Respect for People."
- Confronting the Zero-Sum Trap. Explains how zero-sum thinking and unintended harm betray Lean's non-zero-sum core.
- Situating Lean in a Bigger Picture. Connects Lean to economics, politics, and the long history of progressive management.
- Sustaining Change Against the Odds. Address why change agents burn out and how to keep genuine, thinking-driven Lean aloft.
Direct, original, and unafraid to name what others avoid, this final volume gives the Lean community its unfinished agenda – the problems that most need work – along with practical, creative ways forward. For serious practitioners, leaders, and scholars, Volume Six is both a fitting capstone to the REAL LEAN series and a challenge to finally solve what the field has long left unsolved.
Dr. Bob Emiliani has been a progressive management practitioner and researcher for over 30 years. He worked in industry for 15 years and had management responsibility in engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain management at Pratt & Whitney. Bob was part of a team responsible for implementing TPS principles and practices in both manufacturing and supply chains at Pratt & Whitney. Subsequently, he was full-time professor for 23 years. He now holds the honorary title of Professor Emeritus. Bob was the first academic to establish a research agenda focused on Lean leadership, resulting in numerous publications and varied leadership development workshops. Bob is a prolific, versatile, and award-winning writer whose publications span engineering, business, social sciences, and humanities. He has authored or co-authored 28 books and 45 peer-reviewed papers across six different disciplines (leadership, management, management history, supply chain management, higher education, and materials engineering). His work is widely recognized and he is praised for being a unique voice and a creative thinker.
