{"id":987,"date":"2009-01-23T10:56:30","date_gmt":"2009-01-23T17:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?p=987"},"modified":"2014-10-17T21:28:28","modified_gmt":"2014-10-18T02:28:28","slug":"jeff-bezos-5-why-exercise-root-cause-analysis-cause-and-effect-ishikawa-lean-thinking-six-sigma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/jeff-bezos-5-why-exercise-root-cause-analysis-cause-and-effect-ishikawa-lean-thinking-six-sigma\/987\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Bezos and Root Cause Analysis"},"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<!--powerpress_player--><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_flv\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/media\/lean-six-sigma\/root-cause-analysis-jeff-bezos.flv\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?powerpress_pinw=987-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/media\/lean-six-sigma\/root-cause-analysis-jeff-bezos.flv\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"root-cause-analysis-jeff-bezos.flv\">Download<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/shmula.com-lean-leadership\/id930098243?mt=2&amp;ls=1#episodeGuid=https%3A%2F%2Fstaging.opexlearning.com%2Fresources%2F%3Fp%3D987\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_itunes\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe on Apple Podcasts\" rel=\"nofollow\">Apple Podcasts<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/feed\/podcast\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p><p>I&#8217;m always impressed when CEO&#8217;s demonstrate <a title=\"w. edwards deming and his thoughts on management as a system\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/the-deming-chain\/5029\/\">Deming<\/a>-like behavior as they lead; it&#8217;s rare, but there&#8217;s almost a magical, mobilizing, and inspiring force that happens when CEO&#8217;s or corporate leaders behave in a respectful, inspiring, common-sense, and thoughtful way.<\/p>\n<p>Today, I&#8217;m reminded of an experience back in 2004 while I worked for Amazon.com &#8212; something Jeff Bezos did that I still carry with me to this day.<\/p>\n<h2>Jeff Bezos Demonstrates 5 Whys<\/h2>\n<p>During Q4, Bezos and his leadership team have a tradition of visiting the Amazon.com Fulfillment Centers, spends time with the associates, and also physically works on the floor alongside everyone else.<\/p>\n<p>During one visit, there had just been a safety incident where an associate had <a title=\"toyota safety issues, what the advisory panel recommends\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/toyota-safety-ratings-quality-advisory-panel\/9493\/\">damaged his finger<\/a>.\u00a0 When Jeff learned of this during a meeting, he was very disturbed and got very emotional &#8212; angry at first, then felt very bad for this associate and his family.\u00a0 Then, he did something remarkable.<\/p>\n<p>He got up, walked to the whiteboard and began to ask the <a title=\"5 whys example from taiichi ohno\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/ask-why-five-times-about-every-matter\/382\/\">5-why&#8217;s<\/a> (I quote the below from memory):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Why did the associate damage his thumb?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Because his thumb got caught in the conveyor.<\/p>\n<p>Why did his thumb get caught in the conveyor?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Because he was chasing his bag, which was on a running <a title=\"flat conveyor belt system in fulfillment\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/flat-belt-conveyor\/8421\/\">conveyor belt<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Why did he chase his bag?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Because he placed his bag on the <a title=\"standard wheel conveyor system\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wheel-conveyor\/8407\/\">conveyor<\/a>, but it then turned-on by surprise<\/p>\n<p>Why was his bag on the conveyor?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Because he used the conveyor as a table<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>So, the likely root cause of the associate&#8217;s damaged thumb is that he simply needed a table, there wasn&#8217;t one around, so he used a conveyor as a table.\u00a0 To eliminate further safety incidences, we need to provide tables at the appropriate stations or provide portable, light tables for the associates to use and also update and a greater focus on safety training.\u00a0 Also, look into preventative maintenance standard work.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Jeff Bezos on Lean and Lessons Learned<\/h2>\n<p>There are several things amazing about this experience:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Jeff Bezos cared enough about an hourly associate and his family to spend time discussing his situation.<\/li>\n<li>Jeff properly facilitated the 5-why exercise to arrive at a root cause: he did not blame people or groups &#8212; no finger pointing.<\/li>\n<li>He involved a large group of stakeholders, demonstrated by example, and arrived at a root cause and he didn&#8217;t focus on symptoms of the problem.<\/li>\n<li>He is the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, yet he got involved in the dirt and sweat of his employees&#8217; situation.<\/li>\n<li>In that simple moment, he taught all of us to focus on root causes &#8212; quickly &#8212; not heavily relying on data or overanalysis of the situation, and yet he was spot-on in identifying the root causes of the safety incident.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Every company has its warts and zits, but, make no mistake &#8212; Jeff Bezos is a Lean and Six Sigma fanatic and, in my opinion, makes a strong effort to run his company in a very Deming-like way.<\/p>\n<p>How will you apply the 5-why&#8217;s today?\u00a0 Will you focus on the root causes of your challenges and not just on the symptoms?<\/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>Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSSI&#8217;m always impressed when CEO&#8217;s demonstrate Deming-like behavior as they lead; it&#8217;s rare, but there&#8217;s almost a magical, mobilizing, and inspiring force that happens when CEO&#8217;s or corporate leaders behave in a respectful, inspiring, common-sense, and thoughtful way. Today, I&#8217;m reminded of an experience back [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12327,"featured_media":8605,"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":[16],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Jeff Bezos Lean Six Sigma 5 Whys Example [video]<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"jeff bezos Jeff Bezos Lean Six Sigma 5 Whys Example - on safety, supply chain, and leadership\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jeff Bezos Lean Six Sigma 5 Whys Example [video]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"jeff bezos Jeff Bezos Lean Six Sigma 5 Whys Example - 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