Solve problems at their source, don’t be fooled by the obvious answer.

To see the Five Whys in action, consider the following scenario: You return home late from work one night to discover your kitchen counter teeming with ants, a sink full of dirty dishes, and your teenage son Billy nowhere to be found. It was Billy’s turn to do the dishes, and since Billy is MIA, you turn to your daughter for answers: Why weren’t

Dad Benson/DeMaria: You have an excuse for everything! Jim/Toni: No, I have a reason for everything.

Neurotic anxiety is a symptom of the fact that some previous crisis has not been met, and to remove the symptom without helping the person get at his underlying conflict is to rob him of his best direction-finder and motivation for self understanding and growth. ~Rollo May2

Expertise is no substitute for observation and measurement.

We obsess over getting stuff done, rather than getting the right stuff done, and at the right time. We focus so intently on task completion that we lose sight of the work we’re engaged in.

Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work. ~H.L. Hunt

Increased access to information coupled with the ability to improve the company’s processes led to marked increases in productivity, effectiveness, and job satisfaction.

Revisiting the freeway analogy, consider what makes the roadway flow. Is it the cars, or the space between the cars? If there were no cars, there would be nothing to flow. If there was no space, the cars could not move. It’s that balance between cars and open space that gives us flowing traffic. That open space is called “slack.” We need slack in