What the Heck is Lean?

First, lean has nothing to do with "faulty towers" as in:

(By the way, I love this cartoon for its triple twist: (1) the lean of the tower, of course, is not the meaning of "lean" in Lean Management; (2) the defective ones are straight -- the requirement is that the correct ones are "defective" in this case; (3) Lean Management would not involve sorting out finished defects at all, but preventing in the production process the possibility of such errors in the first place.)

Nor does Lean Management mean any of these common misconceptions:

Lean is the management philosophy and set of supporting methods that strive to maximize customer value while minimizing waste. A lean organization understands that it is critical to focus all of its key processes on increasing the value of its products and services to its customers. Work to any other end is waste.

More to follow, especially on why Lean must not be viewed as threatening to the workforce.