(Scroll down for the best Lean culture books.)
What is Lean Culture?
Ask 100 Lean practitioners what is the most important element of the Lean transformation, and the response you’re likely to get most often is: culture change. And they would be right. Somewhat . . .
In today’s culture of Lean thinking, there’s an increasing focus on the absolute criticality of people development and culture change. If you’re going to change the bottom line, you’ve first got to change hearts and minds. There’s just one problem: very few Lean leaders understand how.
The general lack of understanding of culture change for the Lean organization is reflected in literature as well. Unlike many topics, there are few quality Lean culture books on the shelves today, and many should be avoided at all costs. So, where is a Lean thinker to start? Here’s a great freebie on the topic from John Shook, but for deeper learning, check out the best Lean culture books below.
The Best Lean Culture Books
Of particular note among Lean culture books is Creating a Kaizen Culture, #10 in The Top 10 Lean Books of All Time; the perspective provided therein provides a practical framework for people engagement that can be adopted by any organization. Also of note here is Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline. Not a Lean book per se, but a masterful work on many of the organizational foundations underlying Lean culture change.
Lean Culture Books: The Best of the Rest
