100 Coaches Agency

Stakeholder Centered Individual and Team Coaching

Member of Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches

Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching

Mentor six cohorts annually of Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaches from 20+ countries

Master Coach and Mentor

Are you a Founder or CEO and looking to improve collaboration and performance of your team?  

For those ready to invest a few hours a month we provide a simple, structured, (not easy) process.  

We believe so strongly in the process that you pay nothing until your board and co-workers validate that you are a measurably better leader.   We call this "No Growth, No Pay" and designed this for founders.

Teamwork is a metaskill, a muscle which  gets stronger with regular training.

Over the last 5 years our team has been privileged to accompany dozens of successful leaders to measurably strengthen their collaboration and business performance muscles.

Master Certified Coach

infinitas SA

WARNING!   If you are not looking to achieve transformational growth over at least 12 months, we are not the right partner for you.

Collaboration and Performance.  Both can be measurably improved with a simple, highly time effective process.  We help you see and unleash the value inside yourself, your team and your business processes. 

Our clients regularly achieve  their "Best Year Ever" and have a clear path to an even better 2023.   

Curious?  Book a Zoom meeting  https://calendly.com/teamperformance/20min discovery call 

or email    bill.zeeb@infinitas.coach

Founder

Accenture   George Group

First George Group employee hired in Europe in 2003.  Recruited and built the business to 35+ Master Black Belts before acquisition by Accenture.  Delivered Black Belt, Sponsor, Green Belt, Executive Coaching and Training and supported Kaizen events to help clients execute their strategies.  Performed Deployment Assessments and designed and led deployments which delivered in 7 languages,

Master Black Belt & Dir. Client Services 

Delphi Automotive

Responsible for launch of Lean Six Sigma in 11 factories and 13,000 employees in Turkey, Rumania, Hungary, Poland, Czech, Slovakia, and Austria.  Largest plant with 2,000 employees was able to realize financial benefits in the first 18 months from Lean Six Sigma, equal to over 2% of the annual budget.

Master Black Belt, Eastern Europe

GE Power Controls

Black Belt and Master Black Belt leading and coaching numerous projects in Human Resources, Manufacturing, IT, Sourcing, Supply Chain, Quality and Sales.  Deep Six Sigma expertise though using CAP and building from the 7 GE business units different  Six Sigma curricula as well as the combined Book of Knowledge.

Master Black Belt

Veba Energie   Raab Karcher Energy Services

Process Improvement Consultant for Heating Cost Allocation Service Providor; responsible for the introduction of Six Sigma

International Management Consultant

Opel

Group Leader Capital Budgets, Capital Investment Value Stream Improvement Leader, Manager Accounts Receivable, Manager Account Payable, Pan-European Procurement-Payables Reengineering Leader

Various Leadership Roles in Finance

Various Positions in Sales; Lanier Business Products, Melchior and Associates, Empire

Delivered consistent top line B2B sales growth in complex environments; responsible for the entire sales cycle from prospecting till execution of contract

Sales Representative, Business Broker

about Bill....

- privileged to have trained and coached 2,000 talents in identifying, prioritizing and executing Lean Six Sigma projects to deliver $1B+ in business value

 - provide individual and collective  coaching in over 100 businesses to deliver measurable improvment in leadership behaviors - - -  unleashing better collaboration and performance

- provide award winning sales and sales management development to unleash topline growth 

Our work begins with simple, highly time efficient assessments.

Curious to learn more about co-creating a brighter future for your business? 

Let's connect!  bill.zeeb@infinitas.coach   ++41 79 549 6380

Bill Zeeb

Self-care. I learned this lesson late in life.

And as I celebrate today my 66th birthday, my mission is clear.

To help successful leaders and their teams to even balance caring for themselves, and with the positive energy received, even better care for both those in their charge and business results.

Thank you today to 3 of my many mentors who were willing to spend 5 weeks with me.

Marshall Goldsmith 

Robert (Bob) J. Anderson 

William A. (Bill) Adams

Leadership, Business Performance and Topline Growth

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.....unless I can celebrate day 4 skiing! 

How do you make your Mondays exrraordinary?

Please share your best tips to inspire others.

What are you grateful for today?

Gratitude is a magical emotion, unleashing positivity.

Try it and share!

When I became a trailing spouse and followed my darling French/Italian wife to Gex, France, just outside of Geneva, I could not have believed what goodness would unfold.

Massive gratitude gives me the energy to be, according to the words of one highly successful Swiss Entrepreneur of the Year, "The most positive person I have ever met."

Are you or is someone you know looking for an Executive Coach able to infuse you with massive positivity AND hold the mirror with authentic courage to share what is holding you back?  DM me.

So much to be thankful for on ski day 14 this season.

What are you thankful for today?

The best distillation of change I have in my library of 1000+ books.  Top 10 takeaways with many links included.

This post came through me to support you. Many links fun and valuable included.  Like this so you can easily find it again.

If you find this useful, please repost, comment, subscribe to my newsletter or buy one or all of the books!  The world never more needed even better leadership.

Special Thanks to Joel Monk, who I have not yet enjoyed the pleasure to meet personally. His podcast, Coaches Rising is a true gem.

Are you interested in change, either individually, with your partner, with your team, with your company, your country or the planet? For 65+ years I h

Open article: The Most Comprehensive Thinking yet on Change?!? by Bill Zeeb • 3 min read

The Most Comprehensive Thinking yet on Change?!?

Self-care. What we can give to others is limited by what we give ourselves. 

What will you give yourself this weekend?

Please comment to share your positive energy  to support others.

Gratitude. Nature gifts us many opportunities to feel the healing power of gratitude daily.

What are you grateful for today?

Follow me for a daily dose of gratitude.

When one conversation unleashes $1B in cost reduction.  Includes my best project explained in detail.  

I spent a week to get the embedded video to less than 5 minutes.  

Reshare or follow, or comment to learn more from client success practices I have been privilege to accompany.

Bill Zeeb Leadership, Business Performance and Topline Growth Most Lean Six Sigma initiatives either fail or fail miserably. And this failure can be p

Open article: Grow Your Market and Reduce Your COGS by Bill Zeeb • 6 min read

What a wonderful 66th birthday gift! 

What unexpected positivity did the universe reveal to you today?

Repost or comment to share your positivity!

Proud to hear these words in my Northwestern Purple.

Never before has advancing our state of development as a "human becoming" been better understood and measurable than today.

Thank you Robert (Bob) J. Anderson for dedicating decades of your life to synthesizing hundreds of years of human development learning  and distilling this into The Univeral Model of Leadership as contained in your books Mastering Leadership and Scaling Leadership with William A. (Bill) Adams .

Solving Critical Business Challenges | Co-Founder KAIZUNO (Built on 85+ Years Combined Excellence Expertise) | Proven 5-Step Formula + AI-Enhanced System + Expert Coaches | EFQM Global Excellence Award Winner

“The best way to spot an idiot? Look for the person who is cruel. … The kindest person in the room is often the smartest.”

Brilliant insights from Governor JB Pritzker

Leadership is a transmission of energy.

Do you know your WHY?  

If not, most likely, you are not impacting the world with your greatness.

Watch this 2 minute video to feel the impact of knowing your WHY.  WARNING Contains sound.


https://lnkd.in/ehcK2_Ra 


The work of Simon Sinek and his book Start with WHY inspired Gary Sanchez DDS to develop a 10 minute WHY assessment.  Which of the 9 WHY's are most ready to send your leadership vibrations to the world?

When I learned this, I experienced a positive shift in my connection with family, coworkers and friends.

If you are curious to learn more about the online WHY assessment or take one this month, write WHY! in the comments. As a coach, I buy these by the thousands and I love sharing them.

Follow me or comment to help receive and share valuable tips on leadership, teamwork and how these unleash $$$ business growth. 

William Robert Ardian Bekim Herolinda Andrea Christian Mohsen Erik Dean Nika Adrian Ivan Ivan Kurt Dror Olaf Carlos Toomas

And thank you Michael Jr. for this great video

Open article: Michael Jr Video shorter.mp4 by drive.google.com

Best visualization ever of 
unconditional positive regard.

If, like me, you learn visually, gollow Pejman Milani !

@milanicreative | Visual teacher simplifying complexity with visual metaphors | +20 years high school teacher

What’s the difference between generosity and strategy?

Or more precisely, what connects your actions and your expectations?
(whether it’s spoken aloud or a silent understanding)

• “I’ll help you ONLY WHEN you help me" → Transactional
• "I'll help you BECAUSE you helped me" → Reciprocal
• "I'll help you SO THAT you'll help me later" → Manipulative
• "I'll help you." → Unconditional

Some relationships are meant to be transactional. That's okay.
It’s how most of the world works.

But the relationships that hit different are the ones that don’t keep score. 

And it's worth knowing which kind you're in and which kind you're offering.

P.S. If you're new here, I'm Pejman Milani (milanicreative).

I've made hundreds of visual metaphors like this as friendly reminders to help live a more intentional and creative life.

If that's your jam, follow me for more daily insights.

$30B lost in < 2 years!!!

Customer Focus. Process Improvement.    

Both can transform a business.

When treated as an "either/or" even Starbucks can be brought to their knees.

Customer Focus. Process Improvement. These are a "both/and." 

Question for you, dear reader and the insightful Leysan :

Would you agree that Exec Team continuous leadership growth is as important as Customer Focus and Process Improvement?

Follow me for another example of  massive value creation and loss.

CFO | Strategic Business Partner | Financial Performance

Starbucks is on its 4th CEO in less than 3 years.

September 2024: Brian Niccol takes over. His job: fix the $30B mess Narasimhan left in 17 months.

So what happened there?

March 2023: Laxman Narasimhan becomes CEO.

On paper, he looked perfect. 19 years at McKinsey. PepsiCo executive across 100+ countries. Just turned around Reckitt (saved £2B, grew 8.6%).

The board gave him 6 months to train as a barista. He relocated from London to Seattle. He was all in.

His plan? "Triple Shot Reinvention With Two Pumps."

Yes, that was the actual name.

$600M in technology. 
Supply chain optimization. 
Data-driven decisions.
It looked smart. It sounded strategic.

But he brought the wrong playbook.

At Reckitt, success came from cost cutting and portfolio optimization.

At Starbucks, success comes from customer experience and baristas who know your name.

And he never asked customers why they stopped coming.

Mobile orders hit 31%. The coffeehouse where people loved to hangout for hours became a pickup counter they rushed through.

Sales dropped for the first time in 3 years. 
Then traffic down 6%. 
Then stock down 20%.

$30B in market value — gone.

August 13, 2024. Before market open.

Board announces Narasimhan out. Effective immediately.
No transition. Just out.

Stock soars 24% that day. 

Biggest gain in Starbucks history. 
$20B in value created by his departure.

Brian Niccol's first move? "Get back to what made us special."

Not more data. Not more technology. Customer experience.

He spent 6 years turning around Chipotle after food safety scandals. 

Stock up 773%. Margins from 17% to 26%.

But Chipotle took 3 years to turn around and Starbucks is 10x bigger: 41,000 stores across 80+ countries.

That's the CFO lesson:

You can spend $600M on technology and optimize every part of supply chain — but the wrong playbook costs billions. 

No amount of data replaces listening to your customers.

Can Brian Niccol pull off a turnaround 10x bigger than Chipotle — or will the board panic before year 3?

♻️ If this resonates, share it with your network. 
🔔 Follow me for more CFO insights. 

#CFOLeadership #BusinessModel #Starbucks #Turnaround #Founders

For decades my childhood operating system ran me.

As the oldest of 6 kids, my parents mantra?

"If you do not have anything nice to say, don't say anything." 

Helped me earn the description from a Swiss Entrepreneur of the Year, 

"Bill Zeeb is the most positive person I have ever met."

Not useful when a critical word is needed, which is ever more often in today's chaotic world.

The good news is that this operating system can be upgraded.

Thank you to William A. (Bill) Adams and Robert (Bob) J. Anderson and Paul Crick  and many others for introducing me to The Leadership Circle Assessment to diagnose and see this and to Marshall Goldsmith and Frank Wagner and Brandon James Mergard - Marshall Goldsmith Coaching for helping me with a simple (never easy!) and highly time efficient system to reboot my new operating system.

Repost, follow or comment if you are curious about upgrading your leadership operating system.

Life is Good!

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁?
In this #SurfacingCreativeLeadership conversation, Leadership Circle Co-Founders William A. (Bill) Adams and Robert (Bob) J. Anderson explore the 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 dimension of the Leadership Circle Profile®—and what it really takes to tell the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable.

At its best, Courageous Authenticity opens the door to trust, growth, and genuine connection. But when fear takes the lead, we self-protect, withdraw, or withhold what most needs to be said.

Bill and Bob unpack how leaders can move from guarded to grounded—speaking truth in ways that strengthen, not sever, relationships.

📽️ 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀.👇

#SurfacingCreativeLeadership #CreativeLeadership #CourageousAuthenticity

How do you deal with setbacks?  A few insights from decades of work to see the positive in a world that often seems ever more chaotic.

For much of my life, I was not a good reframer. Fortunately reframing is a learnable skill, a muscle we can train. The more I train, the more ease I h

Open article: For Self-Care, Your Loved Ones, or Your Co-Workers, Reframing is Magic! by Bill Zeeb • 4 min read

For Self-Care, Your Loved Ones, or Your Co-Workers, Reframing is Magic!

Can love be measured?

Can leadership effectiveness be measured?

Today I celebrate the 65+ million  leaders and stakeholders who have participated in perhaps the greatest experiment on leadership. Over 20+ years.  

Follow me if you want to learn more about the Harvard defined different levels of human development and latest research on how to grow your leadership faster with less pain and even some fun.

Thank you Vinay for this powerful graphic on the 3 measurable and trainable (like a muscle) stages of leadership effectiveness.

Scaling Leadership * Strengthening Individuals & Teams * Creating Sustainable Impact

Being a Chemical Engineer by training, before working with any instrument, it's important to me to understand the core premise upon which it is built, the research behind it, and evidence of connection to business performance. Here's what it is for Leadership Circle Profile (LCP) as I have come to understand it, and why today LCP is the only leadership 360 instrument I choose to work with. 

LCP's Core Premise

1. Structure Determines Performance.  

Deeper the roots, the better the tree withstands the storms.  A warehouse is built for storage and shipping, a home for living. Different structures, different performance.  Similarly, for us humans, our conscious is our structure, our operating system. Therefore, if we want to increase our effectiveness and create higher levels of performance, we must be restructured. As it's said, what got us here isn't going to get us there.

2. Humans grow, IF they grow, vertically through a series of stages. Think of these as stages of levels of maturation.   Per research, as leaders grow vertically, they become more effective. This matters - a LOT - as effectiveness is directly connected to business performance.

As can be seen in the graph below, as leaders move up from Reactive to Creative to Integral, which points to different stages of development, they become significantly more effective.

Where Leadership Circle Profile (LCP) comes in is that it helps leaders gain invaluable insights into the level they're operating from, and what their unlocking move is to grow further in their level of consciousness.  

In my own personal experience, and that of having worked with leaders at various levels and many industries, here are some of the changes I have observed that result from these shifts:

* Leaders become much more self-aware, which is important and serves as the foundation upon which they develop personal mastery.
* Leaders are able to take more perspective, see more options and choices, and reflect and contemplate on those choices.
* As a result of the above, leaders are then able to take wiser decisions and more effective actions, which ultimately leads to better business outcomes.

If you're a leader and you are committed to growing further in the coming year, I encourage you to learn more about LCP.  You can do that by visiting: https://lnkd.in/eTszRRFS.

Coaches Rising is a great podcast I recommend for anyone seeking more consciousness or self-awareness or leadership effectiveness.

Today, ski day one this season, I celebrate the talented Joel Monk who brings a creative flow of valuable topics.  

See you tomorrow for a day 2 sunrise.

How do you plan to refuel yourself this weekend?

Leave a comment or repost to inspire others.

Life is good!

Self-care, nature, gratitude.

When we care for ourselves, we can even better care for others.

How do you care for yourself?

Leave a comment to inspire others.

(View of Mt. Blanc on ski day 2 this season)

Life is good!

Thank you Marshall for this reminder.   A positive attitude is a learnable skill which can be strengthened with practice.

And as Richard Boyatzis documents in his 2024 book, The Science of Change, Human and Leadership growth arise much faster from positivity.

Tomorrow I will share how my cancer journey brings some of the greatest opportunities of my life!

Life is good!

My latest project: MarshallGoldsmith.ai Ask me any question. Everything I know is available for free! | Thinkers50 Hall of Fame | #1 Executive Coach | #1 Leadership Thought Leader | #1 NYT Bestselling Author

Never be embarrassed to be an optimist.

The world will always have threats.

The question is: What do you see first?

People who believe they can succeed see opportunities where others see threats.

They aren’t naïve - they’re focused.

They aren’t ignoring reality - they’re choosing where to invest their energy.

Optimism is not denial.
Optimism is courage.

Life is good.
Marshall

The Leadership Circle is 'A Universal Model of Leadership'which the Swiss have chosen as their favorite.  

Roche, Syngenta, Dectris, Optotune, Swisscom, Tillotts, Tocco and AXPO are a few of the successful Swiss organizations using this "Leadership MRI" to measure 27 leadership behavioral tendencies - - - on a 1 to 100 percentile scale leveraging a global database of 684,000 leaders and over 1,000,000,000 (that's one billion) observer answered questions.  

As a Lean Six Sigma data freak, I find even more powerful the available correlations and text comment research revealing correlations between these leadership tendencies and leadership effectiveness itself.

Game changing for me. And for the successful leaders I accompany.

Thank you Christian Hofstetter for sharing this example of the powerful Leadership Circle mat, which has helped me and thousands of other leaders to physically "step into" our leadership.

Step into?  What does this mean? 

1.Both  "reactive" tendencies (safety based, or 'play not to lose') which cancel out our leadership. 

2. And our "creative" tendencies (purpose based or growth mindset or  'play to win') which expand our leadership.

Starting in January I will be running a monthly meet-up in Zurich to share with leaders who do not yet know this model or who wish to learn more a multitude of specific examples of measurable individual and collective leadership growth.

The past years I have been privileged to spend 5 weeks with the Founder and Chief Knowledge Officer of "A Universal Model of Leadership,'  Robert (Bob) J. Anderson  and Ambassador - CEO  William A. (Bill) Adams.   As a European Ambassador for The Leadership Circle it is my turn to share this gift with the planet.

Repost or comment to receive advance notice and an invitation to join one of the monthly sessions starting in January.

We loved this powerful reflection from Christian Hofstetter as he kicked off a new cohort at Swisscom exploring the inner dynamics of leadership through the Leadership Circle Profile.

💡 Rather than adding tools to the toolkit, this program invites leaders to explore the stories, beliefs, and nervous system responses that shape their leadership—consciously or unconsciously.

As Christian puts it:
“Are you acting to avoid discomfort, or acting for what you want to create?”

The journey of transformation is personal, profound, and never linear. But with tools like the LCP, leaders gain a clear, grounded path to more conscious, creative leadership.

#LeadershipCircle #CreativeLeadership #ConsciousLeadership
#LCP #LeadershipDevelopment #InnerWork #Transformation #Swisscom

I help successful C-level leaders improve by 1% each day, every day. Solve your biggest problems with my 26 years of experience in continuous improvement in Procter & Gamble and Danaher.

Coach

Danaher Corporation

Cytiva has been Danaher's biggest ever acquisition (previously known as GE Biopharma).  How do you integrate such a large acquisition into Danaher and the Danaher Business System (DBS)?  How do you improve business performance and people development for continuous improvement in parallel?  Interesting to learn how two seemingly similar continuous improvement approaches (Lean Six Sigma in GE and Danaher Business System) are very different indeed ...

VP, Danaher Business System (DBS) - Biotechnology Group

How do you improve growth from innovation across a portfolio of 20+ operating companies in Danaher?  This has been my team's task during this assignment.  We measurably increased growth from innovation for Danaher through continuous improvement driven by the Danaher Business System (DBS), including new innovation tools such as Launch Excellence.  Contact me if you want to learn more about how Danaher value propositions stack up vs P&G value propositions ... ;-)

VP, Innovation Strategy - Danaher Business System Office (DBSO)

How do you develop a marketing organisation so that the orders initiated by Marketing tripled in just 2 years?  My team and I employed transformative marketing (i.e. one of the tools from the Danaher Business System).  Contact me for stories about working for a second great German brand (Leica) and the relationship between Leica Microscopes and Cameras.  I can also explain where Wetzlar is (in case you don't find it on the map :).

VP, Global Marketing & Growth - Leica Microsystems

How do you lead HACH's biggest business unit so that it consistently delivers growth above (an extremely conservative) market?  My team and I focused on substantially increasing the output from our innovation pipeline including launches like DR 3900, DR 6000, DR 1900, and the breakthrough SL1000 Portable Parallel Analyzer® (PPA). Contact me to learn more about a) working in wastewater treatment ... (hint: it smells :), and b) how to work with a great German family company taken over by an "evil" American corporation ;-).

BU Director Laboratory Solutions, HACH

Procter & Gamble

How do you turn around a suffering portfolio (BRAUN Irons & Watches/Clocks) so that it delivers a positive operating profit for the first time in a  decade?  Contact me to learn more about a) conducting consumer in-home visits in Saudi Arabia, and b) working for one of the best known German design brands (BRAUN).

Global Brand Manager - Braun

How do you accelerate growth for 2 detergent brands in 5 Eastern European countries so they growth double digits for the first time since 2000? Contact me for stories of visiting low-income consumers in all 5 countries - one family just a 5-minute walk from P&G's Budapest office - it teaches you humility.

Brand Manager Tide & Bonux CES (Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia)

Management Systems Department, Online Marketing & Brand Management

VP, Danaher Business System (DBS) at Cytiva & Pall Life Sciences (Danaher Corporation)

Thanks for stopping by.  There are two ways to be an Executive in 2025:
1. Continuously improve.  Get better results.  Grow as a leader.
2. Survive in your current job.  Get average results.  Be invisible.  Stay good enough.   

Most sit in the second group.

As a leader you might survive in your current job.  But for how long?

The bigger problem?
You're missing critical opportunities.

Opportunities for improving your leadership effectiveness, for getting better results, and for growing as a person.

Yet when it comes to:
• driving results and developing people
• looking at the big picture and being useful
• focusing on the right priorities

You find:
• Your leadership effectiveness isn't as good as it should be
• Your results aren't as good as they need to be
• You aren't growing as fast as you could be

The solution:
Improve by 1% each day, every day.

Are you serious about accelerating your growth?
• Please follow me here on LinkedIn for tips to improve by 1% each day, every day.
• Please sign up for my monthly newsletter for tips to improve by 1% each day, every day.

Olaf Boettger

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝗿 𝗥𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘅: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 $𝟱𝟬𝗞 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿
 
After leading 20+ innovation projects at P&G and Danaher, I've learned an uncomfortable truth:
 
Most project delays aren’t caused by bad planning.  
They’re caused by people not talking to each other.
 
Software often makes this worse. 
Everyone updates their little box and hopes someone else sees it.

By the time the dashboard turns red, it’s too late.

The only thing that consistently keeps teams honest is a physical room where nothing can hide.  
Toyota calls it 𝘖𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘢: one physical room.

Obeya works because everyone sees the same truth at the same time. 
And the people who matter, standing in front of it together. 
 
When an engineer and a procurement lead can point at schedule and say "𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒", you solve the issue together - in minutes, not weeks.

Getting started is simple, almost too simple:
1. Claim one room and turn it into your Obeya.
2. Put the full schedule on the walls - no filters, no hiding.
3. Run weekly 30-minute stand-ups with every critical function.
4. Solve problems on the spot. No “𝑙𝑒𝑡’𝑠 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟.”
 
If the team can’t see the same picture, they can’t solve the same problem.
 
Less software.  More eye contact.  Faster projects.

Image credit: Center for Lean Excellence

Continuous Improvement - Executive Coaching. I partner with executives to build improvement cultures that grow people and deliver results.

𝗔𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘅 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁'𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴
𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗱

When Carolina Dybeck Happe became Microsoft's COO, the complaints started rolling in almost immediately.

Not angry emails. Quiet frustration from customers who genuinely wanted to work with Microsoft but found themselves trapped in what felt like administrative quicksand in onboarding of new customers. 

Here's what happened next. Carolina and her team did something many executives avoid: they went to the Gemba.  They actually mapped the entire onboarding journey - every form, every handoff, every "please wait 3-5 business days."

Here's what the team found out: 𝟮𝟯𝟬 steps to onboard a customer.

What they discovered wasn't laziness or incompetence:
• It was layer upon layer of good intentions that had grown into complexity. 
• Many functions were involved: Sales, Marketing, Product, Finance. 
• Nobody owned the whole process. Everyone owned a piece.

So they did the work. 

They challenged every single step: 
𝐼𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟? 
𝑊𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠?

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟮𝟯𝟬 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝟯𝟳.
Only 37 steps added value for the customer, i.e. 16%. 
So the team revised the process to focus on these 37 value-adding steps.

This is where AI comes in: Once they'd simplified the process, 75% of those remaining steps were automated using AI agents. 

Not the bloated original process. The streamlined one.

This is why I bang on about process improvement before technology. You can't automate your way out of a poorly designed system. 

You'll just create expensive chaos faster.

The sequence matters:
1. 𝗠𝗮𝗽 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 – What's actually happening?
2. 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 – Why does each step exist?
3. 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 – What adds no value?
4. 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 – How do we connect what remains?
5. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 – Where can technology multiply the improvement?

Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's Technology Council Summit, Carolina summed it up perfectly: 

𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑠. 
(Video link in the comments below).

That's the point of continuous improvement. It's not about hitting arbitrary reduction targets or creating pretty charts.

It's about making work actually work - for customers and for your people.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗔𝗜. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝘀 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝘁.

If you want to simplify workflows before you automate them, follow me continuous improvement insights.

Continuous Improvement - Executive Coaching. I partner with executives to build improvement cultures that deliver results and grow people.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝟮𝟮 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 

25 projects. One unpopular decision. Incremental growth from innovation actually doubled.
 
A senior leader I was coaching stood at the front of a conference room, looking at her exhausted leadership team. 25 innovation projects were running simultaneously. Morale was tanking. Results were flat.
 
She put up one slide - a simple Pareto chart - and said:
 
"𝑊𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 22 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠. 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦."

You could hear the confusion. Some people looked angry. Others relieved.
 
Then she explained: "Three of these projects account for 78% of our potential incremental growth. The other 22? They're consuming 80% of our team's cost and energy for 22% of the results."
 
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀
 
12 months later, incremental had doubled. Team engagement was up 40%.
 
Her leadership team had learned the most important skill: the willingness to disappoint people who owned the 22 dying projects.
 
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀
 
If you're a C-level leader, you know the pattern: board pressure, 47 strategic priorities, exhausted teams, plateauing results.
 
You don't have an execution problem. You have a courage problem. You know what to kill - you're just afraid to kill it.
 
Most of what we're working on exists to make us feel busy, not to make us better.
 
Here's what she did:
 
One afternoon collecting hard data - not opinions. Which exposed whose projects were political theater versus impact based on customer evidence.
 
Then three steps:
 
𝟭. 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 They defined "impact" = incremental growth. Not effort. Not politics.
 
𝟮. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗦𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 One Pareto chart showing which initiatives accounted for how much impact. The decision became obvious.
 
𝟯. 𝗔𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗲𝘄 3 projects became non-negotiable. Everything else was killed. With >80% of distractions removed, the team could finally focus on the most valuable projects.
 
The Pareto process isn't complicated: choose your metric, build the chart, act on what matters.
 
The hard part? Having the stomach to tell 22 teams their work doesn't matter enough to continue.
 
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴
 
Your team isn't failing because they lack capability. They're failing because you lack the courage to choose.
 
Pareto analysis gives you permission to stop doing everything else - and gives your people space to focus on what matters.
 
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 - 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀.
 
𝗣.𝗦. This week, pull your team together. Put your project list on the wall. Ask: "If we could only keep three, which three would transform our business?" The conversation will reveal whether you're actually leading - or just managing everyone's feelings.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗲.
𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗷𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴.

He wasn't.

15 years ago, I'd walk the Gemba with a clipboard and a mental scorecard:
• Counting defects. 
• Noting bottlenecks. 
• Logging failures.

I felt productive. Thorough. In control.

After one particularly "successful" visit - I'd found 14 issues - the plant manager pulled me aside.

𝑂𝑙𝑎𝑓, 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑒. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦'𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔.

I felt the heat rise in my face. He was right.

I was hunting for problems to punish, not opportunities to teach.

He taught me something Toyota's senseis had known for decades:
𝗞𝗮𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘅𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀.

It's about sharpening what already works.

The mindset shift sounds small. But it rewires everything:

❌ Stop asking: 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒? 
✅ Start asking: 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠?

Here's what daily improvement actually looks like:

𝟭. 𝗦𝗲𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗴𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘀 
Every gap is a teaching moment. 
Your team learns more from honest reflection than flawless execution.

𝟮. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 
Lock in what works today. 
Then make it 1% better tomorrow. 
Repeat.

𝟯. 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗽 (𝗛𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗶) 
The best teams pause to learn before charging ahead. 
Slow down to speed up.

𝟰. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆, 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗱𝗮𝘆 
Improvement isn't a programme. 
It's a habit and a culture. 
And it belongs to everyone on the floor.

When you shift from refereeing to coaching, three things happen:
1. Teams own problems instead of hiding them 
2. Leaders coach improvement instead of commanding it 
3. Your culture gets better at getting better
   
That's not motivational fluff. It's compound interest for organisations.

Improve 1% daily, and your factory - and your people - transform quietly but powerfully.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀.
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁𝘀.

I write more about Kaizen in my monthly newsletter - link in the comments below 👇

P.S. Are you refereeing or coaching on your Gemba walks?

Continuous Improvement - Executive Coach I Partnering with executives to build improvement cultures that grow people and deliver results

Kaizen (1)

I had no idea what a President's Kaizen was.
April 2008. My second week at HACH.

My boss asked me to lead a President's Kaizen.
I nodded confidently. 
Inside, I was lost.

"Team leader" sounded important. 
But I didn't know what I was supposed to do. 
I watched the facilitator guide the team through problems I couldn't even see yet. 

I felt like I was playing dress-up as a leader.

The week ended with results - not because of me, but despite me. 
The team improved the process. 
I mostly stayed out of their way.

𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝟭𝟳 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝟭𝟬𝟬+ 𝗞𝗮𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿.

I've learned that Kaizen isn't just about improving processes.
It's about building leaders who can build improvement cultures.

And after leading, coaching, and observing hundreds of events, I've noticed something consistent:

The leaders who create lasting Kaizen cultures share three capabilities.

1️⃣ 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲
The courage to make problems visible - especially your own.
Most leaders hide their red metrics. They explain them away. They wait until things are "better" before sharing.
Kaizen leaders do the opposite.
They say: "We're red. Here's why. Here's what we're learning."
Courage isn't about being fearless. It's about being honest when it's easier not to be.

2️⃣ 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆
The humility to admit you don't have all the answers.
In my first Kaizen, I thought I needed to look smart. I thought team leaders were supposed to know more than everyone else.
I was wrong.
The best Kaizen leaders ask questions instead of giving answers. They make their thinking visible so others can challenge it.
They say: "I don't know. Let's go look together."
Humility isn't about being modest. It's about being a learner first, expert second.

3️⃣ 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲
The discipline to follow through when no one's watching.
Kaizen events are easy. Kaizen cultures are hard.

The difference is what happens after the event ends. After the report-out. On Monday morning.
• Do leaders audit the new standard work?
• Do they coach when people drift back to old habits?
• Do they run sustainment reviews, or just move on to the next priority?

Discipline isn't about being rigid. It's about being consistent when it's inconvenient.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟴:
You don't need to know everything.
You need to be willing to see problems (courage), learn from others (humility), and keep coming back (discipline).
These three capabilities compound over time.

Year 1: You're uncomfortable but present.
Year 5: You start seeing what others miss.
Year 17: You're teaching others to see.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗞𝗮𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻:
It's a journey that takes time. 
It transforms you first. And when enough leaders transform themselves, the culture follows.

Every culture change starts with one leader choosing courage first.

I write about building Kaizen cultures that grow people and results - link in my profile

𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀. 
𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴.

That's how long we spent proving what a junior engineer figured out in an afternoon.

We built spreadsheets. 
Held reviews. 
Cited past failures.

Everyone nodded thoughtfully. We didn't get anywhere for 3 weeks. 

Then she said: 𝐶𝑎𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦?

We did. 
It took two hours.
It worked.

Sakichi Toyoda taught us this: 𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑡.

Real Kaizen isn't elegant PowerPoints. 
1. It's quick tests. 
2. Small experiments. 
3. Daily learning.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆:
✅→ They spend 20 minutes testing instead of 3 hours explaining why it won't work 
✅→ They celebrate fast failures that teach something 
✅→ They ask 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑤𝑒? not 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 ... 

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀?
Great teams use Kaizen to trystorm more than they brainstorm.


Because improvement doesn't come from perfect plans. It comes from imperfect action: 
𝐾𝑎𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡.

🔖 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲 this post for later.
🙏 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗲 for more practical Kaizen lessons that help leaders turn ideas into action.

Sakichi Toyoda: "Before you say you can't do it, try it."

This is powerful: 
𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑔𝑜 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑤. 
𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑔𝑜 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔, 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟.

Thanks, Sameer Kataria, for sharing your reflections 🙏

The Window and Mirror: Building a Culture Where Innovation Thrives

In the world of Lean Leadership, there's a principle that separates truly transformative cultures from stagnant ones: "When things go right, look out the window. When things go wrong, look in the mirror."

This isn't just motivational rhetoric—it's the foundation for building organizations where innovation thrives and noble failures become stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks.

The Window: Deflecting Success Outward

Great leaders instinctively credit their teams when success arrives. They look through the window and point to the people who made it happen—the engineer who spotted the defect, the operator who suggested the process improvement, the team that stayed late to solve the problem.

This isn't false modesty. It's strategic culture-building. When you consistently direct success outward, you create psychological safety. Your team learns that their contributions are seen, valued, and celebrated. They become more willing to take the intelligent risks that drive continuous improvement.

The Mirror: Owning Failure Inward

Conversely, when experiments fail or problems emerge, exceptional leaders look in the mirror first. They ask: "What conditions did I create that allowed this to happen?" or "How did my decisions contribute to this outcome?"

This isn't about self-flagellation—it's about modeling accountability and removing the fear that paralyzes innovation. When leaders own failures, they send a powerful message: "We're in this together, and it's safe to try."

Why Noble Failures Deserve Celebration:

In Lean organizations, we distinguish between two types of failure:

1. Preventable failures stem from deviation from known processes or ignoring established standards. These require correction and learning.

2. Noble failures emerge from well-designed experiments in uncharted territory. These deserve celebration because they generate invaluable learning that moves the organization forward and are stepping stones for future success.


The Lean Leadership Challenge:

This approach requires genuine humility and uncommon courage. It means resisting the instinct to protect your reputation when things go sideways.

But here's the paradox: leaders who consistently practice window-and-mirror thinking often build the strongest reputations. Their teams achieve more, innovate faster, and remain intensely loyal.

Your Next Step:

Look at your last team success. Did you look out the window?

Examine your last setback. Did you look in the mirror first?

The window and mirror aren't just metaphors. They're daily practices that shape whether your organization adapts and thrives, or calcifies and declines.

Choose wisely. Your culture is watching.

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The Battle

Bill Zeeb

Olaf Boettger

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Bill Zeeb's LinkedIn Performance

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