Lean Leadership on a Napkin

Chapter 4

Lean Speak—Do I Need to Learn Japanese?

As is the case with any business discipline like HR or IT, lean has its own unique vocabulary and jargon. I'll call it lean speak. Since most of this work had its origins in Toyota, it is not surprising that many of the terms used are Japanese. You have already been introduced to some common ones mentioned earlier.

Over the years, as I have helped my clients through their lean transformations, there is a constant, predictable, recurring question, “Do we have to learn Japanese? Really?” or its parallel question, “Can't we just speak English?” In the early days of my consulting practice, I would strenuously stress the need to learn the language of lean regardless of its roots.

But over the ensuing ...