I believe strongly that being grounded in one’s personal purpose leads to a higher probability that intermediate-term vision statements and definitions of success will be more aligned and authentic to who you are at your core—minimizing the likelihood that you’ll adopt other people’s definitions of success. What’s better? Authenticity or superficiality?

My goal in introducing the eight wastes of Lean and the two additional wastes of emotion and meetings is more about developing the ability to see wastes clearly than it is about properly classifying them. As the saying goes, “What gets measured gets managed.” This ability to see waste is key to the adoption of a continuous improvement mindset. After all, if we can’t see waste and inefficiency, how can we continually improve our standard work?