Lean family

When I first got the idea of creating Lean Empire and I mentioned the idea, concept and plan to my parents, they thought that I was from another planet as of course they had no idea what Six Sigma Lean is –  they had never heard about it. I told them that this gives me inspiration to do it as most people have never heard about Lean. Why? Maybe it hasn’t spread as people might think that Lean is difficult, no one understands it, it takes time and money to learn it and it is for professional life only, for instance in a manufacturing site. That simply isn’t true. Lean can be applied in everything you do at any time. The best part is that you don’t need anything; only to be open and conscious. When I talked to my siblings I received the same reaction. It was brand new for them as well. This happened with everyone around me; even with my colleagues. Hearing their reaction makes me more passionate about the whole idea for Lean to reach everyone regardless of nationality, education, background or environment. Lean is for everyone. Since the idea and project plan became clear we’ve used the word Lean in our family life every day. Surprisingly, after a while I started to hear from my husband and siblings things like “the way you do this gardening is not Lean at all”, “you’re creating a lot of waste”, “I saw how a construction worker didn’t do his job in a Lean way”, “this airport can be more optimized”. These examples somehow came into our daily life and so many people, from my parents to my friends, started to be Lean minded. I simply became an influencer and role model for everyone around me. What did I do? Not much. I just look for opportunities in everything I see or do and share them with others. Everything can be better, more effective, nicer, etc. So at the end of the day my whole family, as well as my friends and colleagues started to talk the “Lean language”. It’s easy to develop a Lean mindset, influence others and enjoy the journey and the benefit together.