Industry Magazine Beyond the Kitchen Door Magazine Spring 2017 | Page 24

2 SECOND LEAN
Paul Akers
Paul Akers is the founder and president of FastCap, a product
development company specializing in woodworking tools and
hardware for the professional builder. He has written three
books on his lean philosophy: 2 Second Lean, Lean Health, and
Lean Travel. Paul is an energetic speaker whose core passion is
helping people discover their full potential and showing others
how to implement lean in their business and personal lives.
ARE YOU
CURIOUS TO
LEARN “LEAN”?
Lean Culture
THE CONSTRUCTION industry is an interesting animal. I
say that not just as an observer but as someone who has been
involved with construction my entire life. I started off building
guitars for Taylor Guitars. Then I went on to restore beautiful
homes in Pasadena, California. Following this, I opened up my
own general contracting business where I did a lot of restoration
work and remodelling.
The one thing I have found about construction people is that
they are creative. They are used to building things and creating
with ease. Perhaps it is because of this creative bent that they
are not as teachable as most groups of people. They are capable
of solving their own problems.
I would separate people in the construction industry into two
categories. Ninety-five percent of them have figured it all out, or
as I like to say, they have genius disease. There is nothing new for
them to learn. They have been there, done that. But I am seeing a
much smaller group emerge that is interested in improving and
learning, and what they are focusing on is thinking “lean.”
By that I mean the idea of looking for waste and ways to
remove it, be it physical waste or unnecessary steps in a process.
Lean thinkers seek to eliminate waste in small measures every
day. Once this way of thinking sets in, lean thinkers will see waste
and want to eliminate it.
So why is it that this small group of lean thinkers has eagerly
sought change in an industry that has remained fairly static over
time in the way it works? I can’t answer the question for sure, but
my notion is this: The people that love lean in the construction
industry are naturally curious. They don’t have all the answers
but they love to learn. Better yet, they love to do anything that
will improve outcomes and reduce defects, resulting in a better
product. Lean builders work to satisfy not only themselves
SPRING 2017
but also their customers. And they have a tendency towards
humility. Those are the characteristics of the people I see in the
construction industry that love lean.
So my challenge to you is this: Is it possible that lean thinking
could actually improve your life? In order for you to really and
fully understand that idea, you are going to first have to admit
that you don’t know at all. When you learn about thinking lean,
when you begin to realize that there is this lifetime journey of
figuring out how little you know and how much there is to learn,
then you will really begin to appreciate to learn the lean concept.
So, as Steve Jobs said at the end of his commencement speech
at Stanford University, “Remember, don’t be afraid to be a little
foolish.” Just because you are creative and you have been solving
problems your whole life and building yourself out of every
situation does not mean that you can’t learn something new that
could quite possibly transform your life.
Get Hooked On Lean!
www.PaulAkers.net
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