Delivering Humor, with Value

I have tried recently to describe Lean in various ways. I found a new one today in our local paper.

In the many stories about the legendary Bob Hope following his recent death came this quote from Sherwood Schwartz, a long-time writer for Hope.

You knew that if you wrote a joke for Bob, you had to knock our every word that didn’t count. Generally, it had to be a line and a half on a typewriter. If it was three lines, forget it; it took too long to set up. So you learned to respect language."

Wow! What a description of focusing on delivering value!! Hope knew his forte was rapid-fire, one-line gags. I always thought he was just good at it. I was wrong. He worked at it. He understood his craft and honed it, to the point of making sure every single word delivered value to his customers, or in his case, laughs to his audience.

I ask myself (and you) "Do I know my craft that well? Can I clean out all the unneeded fluff? Can I get to value quickly? " I'm not sure how well I measure up.

I hope this is helpful. And thanks for the memories. Feel free to forward to a friend. Email me