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.