ABSTRACT
A company's culture is a direct reflection of the beliefs and value systems embodied by the chief executive officer (CEO) and senior leadership team. Ultimately, others can influence the culture, but changes to the culture start with the executive team. A goal of the Lean culture is to have 20%–30% less labor than one's competition but have a 15%–30% increase in market wages over their competition. Most companies fail to create the infrastructure necessary to support the Lean culture. To sustain Lean, the CEO must be on board. This does not mean they have to be on board in the beginning, although this is ideal. In traditional organizations, the CEOs and financial officers are looking for short-term, quick, and large return on investments. If the organization is traditional, they will respond best if they are shown quick results on one or a series of projects. Two-second Lean was created and popularized by Paul Akers, owner of FastCap.
