Dare to Be Naive

by Hal on February 8, 2006

in lean

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I've been doing quite a bit of writing lately about lean and kaizen. I'm taking a break today from sharing my own writing to remind you of a wonderful weblog at Fast Company, FC Now. Doug Sundheim posted today on the value of being naïve when approaching problems.

"In the grand scheme of things, you don't know that much. In and of itself, this isn't a bad thing – it's human. No one knows that much. However, you get into trouble when you pretend to know more than you do – when you try to look sophisticated. You never really fool anyone. You just look phony. How boring. Embrace your ignorance. Have more fun. Learn more."

He goes on to offer a concise description of using the 5 Why approach as a way of embracing not knowing. I use the same approach with my clients, although Doug does a better job than I have ever done explaining it in so few words. Have a look.

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