Real Lean : Understanding the Lean Management System

REAL LEAN (Volume One) opens the six-volume REAL LEAN series with sixteen practical essays written, each aimed at a specific question or confusion managers have about Lean. Its through-line is the argument that Lean is a comprehensive management system, not a toolkit, and that its most neglected half, the "Respect for People" principle, is the true key to successful transformation. Written from hard-won practice rather than theory, it helps leaders understand what "REAL Lean" actually requires.

This book helps readers by:

• Distinguishing Real Lean from Fake Lean. Opening essays like "Keep It REAL" and "The Great Misunderstanding" confront the confusion of Lean with six sigma and tool-only imitations, showing why misunderstanding the system undermines well-intentioned efforts.
• Restoring the Leadership and Culture Dimension. A cluster of essays on improving leadership, creating a Lean culture, and even understanding Lean leadership through the metaphor of music makes the too-often-ignored "Respect for People" principle concrete.
• Returning to the Original Teachings. "Remembering What Ohno and Shingo Said" and value-stream-map "myth-busting" correct distortions by going back to what Toyota's pioneers actually meant.
• Confronting Waste and Selfishness. Essays like "The Tragedy of Waste" and "Too Much Selfish Thinking" expose the zero-sum mindsets that quietly corrupt Lean and betray its non-zero-sum intent.
• Winning Executive Commitment. "Gaining Executive Buy-In for Lean," with real examples, tackles the perennial problem of getting senior leaders genuinely on board rather than merely sponsoring.
• Extending Lean Beyond Manufacturing. Essays on higher education, government, and non-profits show that Lean as a management system applies far outside the factory, while a closing essay warns how Lean activities get sabotaged.

Concise, pointed, and practical, each essay stands alone yet builds toward a single message: Lean succeeds only when understood as a complete, human-centered management system. For practitioners and leaders who suspect their Lean efforts have stalled at the level of tools, Volume One is both a course correction and the gateway to the deeper REAL LEAN series.

M.L. "Bob" Emiliani is a professor at Connecticut State University in New Britain, Conn., where he teaches various courses on Lean management. Prior to that Bob worked in the consumer products and aerospace industries for nearly two decades. He held management positions in engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain management, and had responsibility for implementing Lean in manufacturing operations and supply chains.

He has authored or co-authored a dozen papers related to Lean leadership including: "Lean Behaviors" (1998), "Linking Leaders' Beliefs to their Behaviors and Competencies" (2003), "Using Value Stream Maps to Improve Leadership" (2004), "Origins of Lean Management in America: The Role of Connecticut Businesses" (2006), and "Standardized Work for Executive Leadership" (2008). Five of his papers have won awards for excellence.

Bob is also the author of Better Thinking, Better Results: Case Study and Analysis of an Enterprise-Wide Lean Transformation published in 2007; REAL LEAN: Critical Issues and Opportunities in Lean Management (Volume Two) published in 2007; Practical Lean Leadership: A Strategic Leadership Guide for Executives published in 2008; and REAL LEAN: The Keys to Sustaining Lean Management (Volume Three) published in 2008.

Bob earned engineering degrees from the University of Miami, University of Rhode Island, and Brown University.