Is Green Leadership Lean Leadership?

Green Leadership....what is it? At Pecha Kucha Night 12 at the Queen E I learned about Green Leadership.  Green leadership seems compatible with Lean leadership and that got me thinking. As well I learned of the potential earth shaking impact of the generation of green conscious consumer-workers now coming into their own.  I got really excited to interject into the conversation.

Jaime Kowal  demonstrated her vision and leadership in her great presentation at Pechakucha Vancouver Night 12:



Jaime defined Leadership (I will call this Green Leadership):

"Leaders lead by telling stories that give others permission to lead, not follow", and  she expands the concept "Clarity and alignment are necessary before you can possibly expect commitment. Only then can you expect people to make the right decisions in support of the collective dream."

Kevin Millsip of the VSB put out a similar view of new green leadership in his presentation. I was very interested in his view of the future leaders that are being shaped and grown in our schools today.  His provocative assertion that kids today "understand the connection between the environment and the economy" was very intriguing.



"The lone wolf model of  leadership...  we have to jettison that model... it doesn't give us the change we need" Kevin also challenged the older generation in the audience to work together with the U-turn Generation, not just pass the torch and abrogate the responsibility for the "mess we made." I learned that Generation U has the mandate of achieving "Eco-Equity" much the same as previous generations have moved civil  rights, and womens' rights forward.


What is the difference between lean and green leadership?

Jaime's definition of leadership is one of empowerment, engagement, alignment and commitment to the team's success. Kevin strikes at the heart of the matter: the lone wolf style (top down, big man) is dead, get rid of it. In my book the Green leadership style endorsed by Jaime and Kevin are absolutely core traits of Lean leadership. There is no difference.

What about the fuzzy "collective dream" and goals of "Eco-Equity"? My imagination stretches enough to consider a corporation a "collective dream" of all its employees shareholder and even customers. Goals of Eco-Equity, social responsibility, etc. represent change on a much larger scale than any single corporation could attempt. Such lofty goals require vision and commitment arguably greater than that of a Lean business leader. Tellingly, the few minor differences between lean and green leadership is in the language around soft skills.

Leaders as story tellers! I have never read that in a Lean text yet. However, effective communication of "vision" is a leadership skill a Lean champion must have. This is done in many ways and storytelling I am sure  is a good one. I think the innate understanding of the soft skills by leaders in the green/social context is one that corporate leaders can learn from. If Kevin is correct, Gen U will be expecting social progress along with employment. They will want leadership that creates clarity and alignment before they give their their commitment. Need I remind the reader how the " work-to-live" ethic has replaced our old "live-to-work" ethos, and how much adaptation that entailed for business leadership? Well, if we thought that was a challenge then lookout, here comes Gen U.

Demand for Culture Change


Gen U will demand more Green actions of its corporations; more lean leadership from its employers. Text books tell us all the things that a Lean Leader must do with dry precision. Practically speaking, the old school management attitudes that inhibit success of lean implementation also impede the development of good lean leaders. In the near future it seems that workplace culture change will be forced upon the corporation by a new generation. Homegrown leaders will be in the best position to manage change effectively. This is good news for those companies developing lean leadership succession right now.


Strong Leadership always wanted



Green business (particularly the small and entrepreneurial) seems to require the leader to be a "believer" much the same as with Lean.  Look around at Green activists and you see nothing but hugely committed individuals trying to to grab onto the ocean liner of the western culture and make it turn. Commitment, dedication and taking action for change are prerequisite for even mentioning "green" as part of your goals. Lean champions and leaders have this type of strong commitment and vision too.

Small Green business needs Lean


Lean methods of waste reduction and production and distribution would be a great help for new Green businesses to compete successfully. SMEs with limited resources, need to accelerate growth by beating conventional competitors on time to market, quality and cost competitiveness. Lean improvements of the value created for the customer will continue to change the world for the Greener, and leaner. The sweet part is that Lean is totally compatible with the Green leadership style and culture. And getting true leadership culture change is the largest part of the Lean journey, an insurmountable, for many companies. Green Leadership culture is a guaranteed head start to success with Lean.

Winners and Losers

The future losers will be businesses that are neither lean nor green. Everyday we see laughable attempts at greeenwashing: corporations may not stop drilling/mining/polluting etc and incremental progress is better than none, but I don't see Gen U falling for greenwashing. They will demand more than that.  Future winners will be both Green and Lean.

Lean & Green Pecha Kucha Scene at the Queen

Wednesday night at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver I was treated by my wife (visual artist Connie Sabo http://www.eastsideculturecrawl.com/artists/sabo-connie ) to attend PechaKucha night # 12 "Walk the Talk, Green Your City" ( http://www.pechakuchanightvancouver.com/ ). Until that night I had no idea that PechaKucha is a world wide phenomenon that has really caught on in Vancouver (pechakucha is Japanese slang for chitchat and it apparently has no wrong pronunciation so 'it's all good, bro'). There were 2000 plus bright young (younger than me), shiny people there in earnest to witness the 3 hour "chat". I like to "Walk the talk", so I went forth with an open eye to linking the Lean with the Green and overall I was not disappointed. Basically it goes this way: there are quick slide presentations by politicians, planners, designers, researchers, educators, entrepreneurs, activists and artists interspersed with a few bon mots by the hosts. A number of presenters took the warm and fuzzy stance that Vancouver's being one of the world's most Liveable cities is not enough, and that Vancouver must become the most Lovable city. Nice. A bit too subjective and not as data-driven as I'd like, but nice all the same. That sentiment represented the overall tone of the evening's presentations.

This event was sponsored by the city and UBC so the Mayor was front and centre, and city staff and council were well represented. The pledges of good cooperation and complete alignment in Green Programs between the City and UBC seems to be a good start to the 2020 initiative. Significant investment in Green buildings was seen to be in action at UBC. UBC even has long range Green goals set out to 2050!


Post Olympic Investment?
It was notable that Mayor Gregor claimed that $60 million in new investment had landed in Vancouver since the Olympics. Not bad.

Vancouver Goes Green
Mayor Gregor launched the http://www.talkgreentous.ca/ website where the goal is engage the city in a conversation on making Vancouver the world's 'Greenest City' by 2020. The plan is to focus on 10 "specific" goals. The No.1 goal, my personal favorite, is to double the number of Green jobs by 2020 by becoming a mecca for Green business. What a green job is exactly, and how many is double, was not defined, but I hope that info is available somewhere. Government support can set the table for such a great achievement but it is entrepreneurs with great ideas and innovative business models that will put the tofu on the plate for the greenest city in the world.


And what is leaner than tofu? Not much. So to my way of thinking, the common love of waste reduction between the lean and the green is a match made in heaven! How this matchmaking occurs in reality seems to be what part of the "conversation" may be about. At intermission the conversation part was started with a text- in survey of the audience that revealed that more than half believe that the public will have the "biggest impact on Vancouver's Green Future". It was clearly a DIY crowd. And I was very pleased to see that particular sentiment tip the scale. It made me a bit more optimistic to see these results because it is really up to the public to demand the change and be willing to pay for it. By this measure it seems to me we are closer to that now than ever. http://developers.mobilemuse.ca/components/mobvote/mv.question.php?username=jhebert&authenticate=0b5db855d00acd305c62e95fdf876de4

Lean Leadership vs Green Leadership
I was thrilled (yes!) that the leadership style advocated by some of the presenters looks very Lean. Jaime Kowal, gifted photographer, laid it out strikingly on one of her slides. Clearly these Green folks are people that are aligned with the goals and the leadership style of Lean. I found myself excited by the possiblities that fertile ground presents. Kevin Millsip, sustainablity coordinator for the VSB claimed that Generation U ( for U-turn) is coming through the schools now and they understand the relationship between the economy and the environment and will turn our ship around. If so that's definitely continuous improvement! No offense Gen Y.


DIY
Jaime Kowal is launching a website http://www.greenthecityvancouver.com/ that is going to have a monthly Green assignment! These fun-sounding assignments are designed to engage people in the "conversation" and I am looking forward to seeing them.


I found it most impressive to see entrepreneurs launching businesses that "Walk the Talk" and others incorporating green ideas into their businesses for profit. I was astonished at the number of not-for-profits that are springing up to demonstrate some of the concepts as well. Check out what this guy is up to http://hivevancouver.wikispaces.com/Eesmyal+Santos-Brault

Next Steps
The humorous MC got a ton of applause for his half-joke that the next event will be at GM Place. I will be there next time to see if it happens and to enjoy some more fresh lean and green ideas.

Welcome. Now what is this all about?

Lean Business for all...hmmm....now what is this about? Well, just like it sounds, I am an avid believer that "Lean" can be used to improve any and all businesses. Especially yours. What do you need as a business leader to embark on the Lean journey? All you need is an open mind, and fortitude enough to do something different.





There are all sorts of resources available for your particular Lean journey no matter what your product or service may be. I will spend a fair amount of time talking about them along the way. From experience I can say that only a few things are needed to get Lean rolling in your business:


- recognition that change is needed.



- commitment to improvement.







Getting those two factors in place is what this blog is about as much as anything else. I love the old Chinese(?) proverb " A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" it nicely captures my feeling about Lean and business. This blog is here to help along the (endless) road to lean "perfection" by creating discussions about: common issues, solutions, news, government policy, productivity, healthcare, use of Lean tools, books, educational materials and anything else that strikes me as worthy. My hope is to engage and encourage as many as possible to join the journey to better profits, more customer satisfaction and a more satisfying workplace. Are you ready for the first step?