About the Company

The CLBM, LLC is an applied research organization whose purpose is to advance REAL Lean thinking and practice world-wide. I do this mainly through book publishing and corporate speaking. The policy statement below reflects the required basic way of thinking about Lean management. It should be adopted by all organizations that advocate or practice Lean management.

"In support of our purpose to advance Lean management, we recognize two long-standing, inviolate principles, 'Continuous Improvement' and 'Respect for People,' and the requirement for their daily application by all senior managers. Fundamental aspects of the 'Respect for People' principle include assurance given by top management that no employee will suffer unemployment as a result of continuous improvement and the establishment of a 'no-blame' policy. Stakeholders (i.e. employees, suppliers customers, investors, and communities) shall no longer be treated in zero-sum (win-lose) ways because doing so severely disrupts material and information flows."

I present Lean as a comprehensive management system for the entire enterprise, not as a narrowly-focused set of management tools used only in service or manufacturing operations. The result is a stronger competitive position through innovation, lower costs, margin expansion, increased market share, higher quality goods and services, and stable long-term growth.

I am proud to have created the foundational body of knowledge for Lean leadership. My accomplishments include:

• First company to focus exclusively on Lean leadership training starting in 1998.
• Created new Lean leadership improvement models that are practical, specific, and actionable: Lean Behaviors® + Continuous Personal ImprovementSM, and Value Stream Mapping for LeadershipSM.
• Identified the “eighth waste” - Behavioral Waste® - and described its impact on leadership effectiveness, organizational capability building, and the speed of Lean transformation.
• Wrote the first book that describes an enterprise-wide Lean transformation: Better Thinking, Better Results.
• Wrote the first Lean leadership workbook, Practical Lean Leadership.
• Wrote the first book on how to sustain a Lean transformation, REAL LEAN: The Keys to Sustaining Lean Management.
• First to apply Lean principles and practices to the design and delivery of graduate courses in higher education, and led the first-ever kaizens in higher education to improve courses in an academic program. Bob was the first "Lean professor."

I have received five awards in recognition of my books and papers.