Gemba walk for blind managers

MANY people and organizations don’t know what they’re missing. That’s because they’re often confined within the enclosure of their own box, unmindful of a trite maxim — thinking outside of the box. That’s why being engrossed in one’s work is poison. Being proximate to one’s work can make you blind and dull to the many opportunities out there.

A case in point is a woman manager who asked me on how to make her job easy. Fine! That’s an admirable, realistic, and wonderful goal. Who likes to do boring and tedious work every day? “What’s your proposed solution?” I asked her. Without blinking her fake eyelashes, she quipped: “To hire at least three clerical workers.”