That afternoon, our firm interviewed a candidate for an open manufacturing position. On his application, the candidate indicated he had worked at the firm with the exemplary training program. Having just heard about it, I asked him to describe his training.
“What training?” he asked. “I was pretty much just put on the line, watching another guy and trying to figure it out.”
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqJGJGtGIwnR8sP3i5dSLOwbechGt4IPnNtSuR809D9oIlgG9fz73qAzUHYfeJ6p2OSbzsn0sOGW8j6ZqSn0ZQ06BswfkkP3ZwSS5mgaqnyWzSsi6T2EBMtIAwwt7VypIYSdWS9g/s320/walktalknot.gif)
Do we walk the talk?
My oldest son is currently “out-processing” from the US Army, having completed two deployments to Iraq. I phoned him this week on his base and heard a lot of voices in the background. “Yeah, I’m just waiting in line for a medical review,” he told me laconically. “I’ve been in line about three hours. I brought a book.” We chuckled about this and talked of his final days in the Army.
“Oh, Dad, I saw something you’d like here,” he told me as I started to let him go. “On a bulletin board here in this hallway is a poster about a Lean Six Sigma project. I figured you were the only person who might even understand it.” I asked him if it had anything to do with shortening the medical wait time. He laughed, saying it looked just like a poster.
Do we walk the talk?
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgamjitYVXHE-ffCtgkphLNO6xvqN7c494ui21bbZYAwBHbDQs7ls4DFWJePCAhVwR_lBKmqjTB31NQUalLJ_0KwxbbSw01qufNz5nE-cUD8ka21Uk0A53WVSe2iEvLqAL09CYuUA/s320/walktalk1.gif)
I had a business lunch on Thursday at a local restaurant. The businessman next to me requested a “sweet potato,” placing his order perhaps absent-mindedly in the middle of an engaging conversation. The server delivered the sweet potato with the rest of the food.
“I didn’t ask for a sweet potato, I wanted a baked potato,” he told the server, though he offered to eat the sweet potato. Before anyone could say anything, the server apologized, said he’d go get a baked potato and, whoosh, away went the sweet potato. About two minutes later, a baked potato appeared. By my ears, the server heard right the first time; yet he didn’t argue and served the customer quickly and courteously.
Do we walk the talk?
When our talk goes one way and our walk goes the other, we become a headless oddity. When our talk moves with our walk, credibility rises.
The waiter had it, in spades.
I wonder how others view me.
I’ll try to keep my head.
2 comments:
Great post, Joe.
Glad your son will be home soon, safe.
Awesome post and reminder! Those in early Lean implementations have a lot of eyes on us to see if we walk our talk!
The cartoon is a great visual as well!
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