Takt-Ical Leadership

Takt-ical Leadership is a story about a company that is failing its customers, and has come under siege to improve quickly in order to save their business. Each chapter has a “story” segment that establishes the business challenge and is followed with a “how to” style solution that will help you think through your day to day management style. DFC-P Products Inc. is a fictional company whose customers have put them on notice, threatening to leave. In addition to the performance deficiencies plaguing them, their culture imposed a significant barrier, confusing the difference between doing their best and doing what the customer needs. With a new president tasked to correct the problems before all business was lost, they discover Lean process improvements that improve responsiveness. This book weaves real business situations and Lean Enterprise solutions into a story about how to energize culture change and succeed in saving the future of an organization. While the story is comprised from actual experiences with multiple companies, the solutions: use of Lean tools, business excellence principles, and cultural diagnostics; have been employed time after time by companies trying to resurrect their own performance. Takt-ical Leadership is named to emphasize the concept of time. Just as “Takt” is used in Lean Enterprise to represent the rhythm of the marketplace, so is “Takt-ical” meant to represent the need to keep time in the forefront of your management approach and even in your key metrics. Although this book is centered around a manufacturing business, the leadership, Lean Enterprise, and cultural change concepts it advocates are applicable to any type of business. I hope you enjoy this fictional chronical of the challenges and successes I’ve enjoyed in my forty-three years of manufacturing.