{"id":8273,"date":"2011-02-28T06:18:20","date_gmt":"2011-02-28T13:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?p=8273"},"modified":"2013-08-06T03:08:49","modified_gmt":"2013-08-06T08:08:49","slug":"death-by-a-thousand-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/death-by-a-thousand-cuts\/8273\/","title":{"rendered":"Death By a Thousand Cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"a296a24fa2fc69ef5487857f02f111e8\" data-index=\"9\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Single Post readerboard -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8207522353004717\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1144967431\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Lean Prevents Death by a Thousand Cuts because Lean manufacturing is the approach of many small improvements over a long period of time.<\/p>\n<p>Lean Thinking advocates the <a title=\"Total Company Involvement\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/total-company-involvement\/1336\/\">participation of many<\/a> in continuous improvement, over the long term. Indeed, we improve by <a title=\"mind before money, kaizen\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/mind-before-money-creativity-before-capital\/1200\/\">Kaizen<\/a>. This approach is sometimes described as &#8220;a thousand small rocks&#8221; as opposed to organizations that only focus on a &#8220;few big rocks&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, most organizations don&#8217;t begin their descent into mediocrity through large, swooping, events. Rather, organizations begin their journey toward failure through many, many small decisions made over a long period of time.<\/p>\n<p>This is sometimes called &#8220;death by a thousand cuts&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>For example,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a little cheating here and a little cheating there will eventually lead to wholesale corruption<\/li>\n<li>spending money here and spending money there will eventually lead to fiscal pacifism and irresponsibility<\/li>\n<li>a little backbiting remark here and a little criticism there will eventually lead to full-out rebellion and corporate sabotage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-8274\" style=\"margin: 5px;\" title=\"kaizen-event-lean-manufacturing-example\" alt=\"death by a thousand cuts\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/kaizen-event-lean-manufacturing-example.jpg\" width=\"158\" height=\"158\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/kaizen-event-lean-manufacturing-example.jpg 225w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/kaizen-event-lean-manufacturing-example-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/kaizen-event-lean-manufacturing-example-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 158px) 100vw, 158px\" \/>Am I\u00a0exaggerating?<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t believe so: just as most heavy drug users started out with &#8220;gateway&#8221; drugs, how we treat the small things will later dictate how we treat the big things.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, the cliche &#8220;a small hole can sink a big ship&#8221; speaks true to our common sense though we might not want to admit it.<\/p>\n<h2>A Culture is Built Daily<\/h2>\n<p>Similarly, a culture is not created by any single event &#8211; true, a culture might be influenced by, but usually not created by a singular event. Indeed, over time, those many and seemingly insignificant choices made by those in the organization is what later sets it apart from others &#8211; it&#8217;s culture.<\/p>\n<h2>Super Sweaty and The Small Stuff<\/h2>\n<p>Yes, sweat the small stuff. For those little things can either<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>make or break a company<\/li>\n<li>make or break a company culture<\/li>\n<li>stretch the company toward excellence or sink it into mediocrity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>It&#8217;s Your Turn<\/h2>\n<p>How are you going to treat the small things today?<\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lean Prevents Death by a Thousand Cuts because Lean manufacturing is the approach of many small improvements over a long period of time. Lean Thinking advocates the participation of many in continuous improvement, over the long term. Indeed, we improve by Kaizen. This approach is sometimes described as &#8220;a thousand small rocks&#8221; as opposed to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12327,"featured_media":8274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[193],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lean Prevents Death by a Thousand Cuts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lean Prevents Death by a Thousand Cuts because Lean manufacturing is the approach of 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