2 Second Lean (How to Grow People and Build a Fun Lean Culture at Work & at Home, 3rd Edition)

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I loved how Akers describes work as honorable. I love how he values his employees growth over profit as his main impetus in implementing the lean process. I love how his company’s mission is to provide something that increases the value of his customer’s lives, and profit is just a happy by-product of a job well done. This book is not intended for MBAs or those interested in manufacturing theory or flow charts. This book is intended to blast open the door of opportunity for people who want to improve their daily life, be it in their workplace or home. Lean is not as complicated as all the experts and textbooks make it out to be. In fact, as you learn to incorporate a Lean approach to your life, you will see that the more Lean thinking you have in your life, the more you will enjoy life. If you think of Lean as something meant to merely increase profit in your workplace, you will fail to implement Lean. Paul shows this very well. This book teaches you how Lean is supposed to be seen and taken in your life, how Lean can be used as way to inspire people around you, how can you create a Lean culture inside of your workplace and so on. as all the experts and textbooks make it out to be. In fact, as you learn to incorporate a Lean approach to your life, you will see that the more Lean thinking you have in your life, the more you will enjoy life.” ~ Paul A. Akers When humility becomes a central attribute of the Lean leadership, a vortex of creativity and buy-in will follow. When there is a culture where people know there is not an egomaniac in charge, they begin to grow and thrive."

Second Lean - 3rd Edition is all about "Continuous Improvement." It’s a practical way to improve your life every day by making a simple 2 second improvement. Join author, business expert, internet show host, and international speaker, Paul A. Akers, as he takes us on a LEAN journey that will transform every aspect our lives... from home to the office.Paul Akers has built FastCap into an industry leader and one of the most exciting manufacturing companies in America. His innovative, thoroughly American use of lean manufacturing principles and techniques has made him a top expert who is in high demand to speak to and teach his secrets to all kinds of organizations, from factories to hospitals to office environments. On my visit to FastCap, Paul’s employees showed me several examples of how they have employed the 2 Second Lean principle to save time and money – usually saving a lot more than just two seconds! I’m a believer, and have incorporated many of Paul’s strategies and principles into my own office’s CQI process, helping me empower and motivate more than one thousand legal professionals and support staff to save our clients and taxpayers millions of dollars.” You can apply this book anywhere, but harried moms might be the first group I would recommend it to. Applying it to home life was eye-opening for me. Essentially, on a daily basis, find what bugs you and do something about it (that something is discussed at length in the book). Not complicated, but it does take discipline. Lean thinking has propelled my business from a small operation in my garage into an international, multi-million dollar enterprise. I have the most dedicated, fun-loving employees any business owner could hope for. I am living the American dream because someone shared with me the genius of Lean thinking. Like my Japanese mentors, I want to pass the gift of Lean thinking on to others, and create a more prosperous and productive culture around the world. There is no magic number for how long to do daily meetings before building more onto your lean management system. However, we recommend three months of doing daily meetings (only) before moving onto Step 3 below. This is based on FastCap’s own lean journey and other 2 Second Lean companies like Cambridge Engineering.

Second Lean will flip your world right-side up. It’s a practical way to improve your life every day by making a simple 2 second improvement. Join author, business expert, radio show host, and international speaker, Paul A. Akers, as he takes you on a LEAN journey that will transform every aspect your life... from your home to the office. Welcome to my world of Extreme Lean thinking. Once you have experienced the vast benefits of Lean, you will crave it, want it, and do anything to get it. For people that are trying to learn abour Lean Methodologies, Paul Akers shows a very humble, fun and exciting perspective about it. You won't learn about Lean in an academic way so don't expect to learn specific tools or concepts. Instead, Paul tries to show in this book how Lean is supposed to be taken: as a life tool and a life way of thinking, not just a work tool meant to increase profit.

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stars. Paul Akers is quite enthusiastic about Lean and his enthusiasm is infectious. This is the perfect book to read if you are interested in Lean principles and how to incorporate them into any aspect of your life- but you tend to fall asleep reading technical books, looking at statistics, and trying to interpret various charts and maps. The chapters of Akers' book are brief, written in layman's terms, include color photos, sum everything up at the end, and are actually pretty entertaining. He also includes several links to YouTube videos and other relevant, illustrative information. His reluctance was unnerving. He said, Well, I don’t know. I said, Well, what do you think my problem is? He paused, looked around the shop floor and said, Do you want to know the truth? I said, Of course! He said, You don’t know what you’re doing and you don’t know how to manufacture. Ouch. When money is no object we abdicate our most powerful resource: our ideas. It just gets too easy to throw money at problems and yet we see time and time again that money often creates problems rather than solving them." Being the proud business owner, that was just about the highest compliment I could hope for. My wife Leanne and I had worked very hard at growing our business and had just won Business Start-up of the Year in Whatcom County. Our second product was a laser-positioning tool called the Laserjamb. I had invented these products when I was a cabinetmaker. I figured out a way to manufacture and sell them to a market I was an expert in. (As an aside, my next book will be How to Invent and Sell Your Genius.)

Lean thinking is fun and exciting! The ideas I have learned from my Lean friends are tectonic! I have attempted to write a Lean book - short, visual and simple There are plenty of workshops, executive manuals and textbooks on the market. I wanted to write a book that would make Lean accessible to everyone, from homemaker to executive. This remarkable book stands out among the plethora of Lean books. If you’re new to Lean, get this book! If you‚’re a Lean expert, get this book! Either way, it won’t disappoint. A great book from Paul Akers – my Lean brother from another mother. Paul shows you that Lean is simple stuff that is fun and really works! 2 Second Lean is a Lean Leadership and Culture story that will help you DO good, FEEL good, and RAISE THE TIDE for your whole organization. Note: Xylem Design has published many daily meeting videos to YouTube. You can find more on their channel. Recommended: Three Months of Daily Meetings Honesty is the best policy, and I plan to be honest. This was not my favorite read. Sure, the lessons were good, but the message came off sort of like it was for first time employees of the company rather than a help book. Having to get all the way to the end before LEAN was broken down for us was sort of frustrating. However, this doesn’t mean the lessons learned along the way were hopeless. To be lean is to eliminate what bugs you, going one at a time, and standing on it’s two foundational principles: eliminating waste and continuous improvement.We are very deliberate in how we hire people. We look for two characteristics- people who are humble and curious. We want people who don't act and feel like they know it all. We want people who are naturally curious about life."

Focus on you. Focus on eliminating your waste.... When people see how much your area has improved, how much easier your work is, how much more they can depend on you, how consistent you are and how the quality of your product improves, they will want to know how you are doing it. Then you can show them. And then they will be eager to learn and begin their own Lean journey. But do not try to get your wife, your dog, your hamster, your cat, or your co-workers to do Lean." My Favorite Principles: Make people the center focus of your life. Pursue the right thing over profit. The profit will follow. Teach and train..." Your thoughts and take-away from this chapter: Lean videos: Chapter Two You Mean I’m Really That Bad? Paul Akers has a passion for Lean that is totally infectious. FastCap continues on their Lean journey to continuously improve. Their approach to engaging employees for their ideas is World Class and it shows with everything Paul and his team do. Second Lean is a tangible embodiment of the principles. It’s fast, effective and delivers tons of value. No consultant-speak or keeper-of-the-faith orthodoxy here, but a deeper, almost spiritual, grasp of being Lean.This is awesome. Love all the photos. Love the home applications. If all Lean ‘gurus’ practiced what they preached… hmmmm… This book is not intended for MBAs or those interested in manufacturing theory or flow charts. This book is intended to blast open the door of opportunity for people who want to improve their daily life, be it in their workplace or home. Lean is not as complicated