50 Insights: Shedding Light On Lean Leadership

by Damon Baker

1. LEADERS: Just “being seen” out amongst your people is nowhere near enough. Observations and insights must be followed up with actions and execution..and more importantly improved results. Otherwise these field trips start resembling royal pageantry and feel-good social posts.
2. Try this one at work today...pick 10 people at random in your business and ask them what the company’s goals are and how they contribute to them. If my experience is any indication, your answer will probably resemble a minivan full of family members with no map, no driver, different vacation plans, and an empty tank of gas.
3. Someone asked me the other day what the “secret” to my success was. I told them...”It’s really quite simple. I wake up every day like I have none.”
4. More times than not...what is not being said is what truly matters.
5. Do not confuse doubting yourself with accepting failure.
6. If executing strategy is so important to your business, why doesn’t your Outlook calendar reflect it?
7. Blind allegiance is not the hallmark of an unbiased, critical thinker. Our allegiance should be with seeking the truth, not preserving an institution.
8. Thankfully the truth has a funny way of revealing itself...maybe it is because it never changes, and people’s stories do.
9. From my experience, >90% of sales and marketing teams cannot even agree on what a “qualified” lead is, yet only 33% of CEOs say aligning and integrating sales and marketing is a top priority.
10. I am convinced the key to success is removing the habits in your life that don’t serve you.
11. As usual, the companies who are excited about “Lean 4.0” are the ones who haven’t mastered “Lean 1.0”.
12. Forget your mistakes, but never forget what they taught you.
13. Don’t just work in your business...work on your business.
14. One of the problems with lean I see, is that many CEOs think their companies have mastered it...almost as if they have checked something off of their to do list. Unfortunately, lean is something you are never “done” with.
15. To what degree does your company culture embrace rigor, accountability, candor, debate, and pushback?
16. When the top leader is the “smartest” person in the world, you’ve got a real problem.
17. Effort’s good, but outcomes matter.
18. Throughout the lean journey, confusion, struggle, and failure will be inevitable...commitment will be optional.
19. Your state of “knowing” prevents you from the act of learning.
20. One clap congratulatory praise, whether in jest or deliberate, is about as motivating as a stick in the eye.
21. Meaningful Stretch: Red does not equal green...if everything is red, nothing is a priority. You just have one big damn fire and a bunch of firefighters. We pursue goals with purpose and meaning, not arbitrary, poorly thought out stretch objectives.
22. Creating a company culture where people endure work to the point where it becomes a competition to see who the biggest martyr is, is not sustainable.
23. A sedentary leadership style is a slow form of career suicide.
24. Most companies never achieve success because they are wishful with their thinking and not willful with their actions.
25. Fear keeps us from getting what we want out of life.
26. Don’t underestimate the power of doubt to keep you from becoming your best.
27. Are you settling for what you thought you could do? Or are you pursuing what might be possible?
28. One simple characteristic differentiates GREAT companies from AVERAGE ones. Average companies spend the vast majority of their time convincing themselves and others how “GREAT” they are, while GREAT companies spend the majority of their time fixing how “AVERAGE” they are.
29. Last time I checked, excuses still cannot be cashed at a bank. Doing > Talking
30. Do not let your level of expectation stand in the way of your success.
31. I am amazed at how easily we conclude what others are “capable” of achieving without ever asking for their opinion. We will rise to a higher level of expectation, but only if we are given an opportunity to do so.
32. The most unfortunate point in peoples’ lives is when they have come to the realization that there is nothing else left for others to teach them.
33. The world needs more leadership and less word salad.
34. All we need is the willingness to try, the patience to learn, and the persistence to endure.
35. I’d like to believe that we are all here on this Earth if for any other reason than to help each other succeed in life.
36. The goal in life is not to arrive at your final destination, but to continue your journey once you do.
37. I would describe wisdom as knowing when it’s not a hill worth dying on, and courage as going all-in and doing it anyway.
38. We could all benefit from casting ourselves less times in the role of “victim” in our own stories.
39. Put quite simply, nothing ever works until you try.
40. A self-doubting mindset is the worst kind of prison you can be in, as you don’t even realize you are in one.
41. It is amazing how often we refuse that which is most useful to us.
42. Successful people all have this one trait in common: they generally don’t make the same mistake twice.
43. Discipline x Desire x Skills = Degree of Success
44. The amount of effort a company spends obfuscating “truth” in the name of self-serving interest ultimately succumbs to the unwavering, unchanging nature of the “truth”. “Truth” does not have the added pressure of adapting and changing in order to explain itself to others. It always was, it is, it always will be...the “truth”.
45. Doing anything for the first time requires a conscious choice. With repetition, the element of choice is reduced, the behavior becomes automatic, and a habit is created.
46. The bar you set as a leader, the goal of every meeting, email, discussion, phone call, thought, direction, or action you take on a daily basis determines whether your organization is moving forward, backward, or staying in the same place. It all matters and all of it should be a conscious, deliberate act, intent on getting better at every step of the way.
47. You are what you believe and you behave in the manner in which you talk about yourself.
48. If you are not in first place, your view will never change.
49. You cannot “cut” your way to growth. You must invest for growth. Imagine your favorite team after finishing with a .500 record, decide to cut the coaching staff, eliminate the star players, and cut the recruiting budget by half, and in the same breath convince their fans that somehow they will be better next season. Nonsense.
50. I am a firm believer that we all wake up in the morning and want to do a great job at work, despite what many managers say and think about their employees and their intentions. I highly doubt people wake up in the morning excited by the prospect of failing their employer. What would happen if we assumed positive intent and created an environment for people to thrive, contribute, and give feedback instead?

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