“What makes greatness is someone who consistently seeks to do good.” – Isaac Hunter

A strong point in “lean” is consistency.  In the 6S posters, it is referred to as “sustaining.”

“Consistent” means it is common, daily, intentional.  Effort doesn’t come in fits and spurts.  You can count on it like clockwork.  There is not a good hour then a bad one.  There isn’t a good day then a bad one.  There isn’t a good month then a bad one.  Once we take on a new behavior that improves things, we endeavor to make it a consistent part of how we function.

“Seeks” means you are happening to the world rather than waiting for the world to happen to you.  You enter into every day with your attention focused on improvement.  Seeking as compared to sitting has action to it.  It has expectation in it.  Seek and you will find.  Don’t seek and you rely completely on circumstances that occur.

“Do.”  Do is an action verb.  “Lean” is about doing something about the hassles we encounter.  It’s taking the freedom to try new things.  After our meeting, I received reports from all over the company that said this:  We went to work on Monday and started “doing” lean.  It created interest and energy.  It yielded a sense of progress.  It inspired folks around the “doing” to want to “do” as well.

“Good.”  It means improving.  It means bettering.  It means trying to eliminate waste because eliminating waste is good for our customer.  It means making progress on productivity because making progress is good for all the members of our team.  It means creating a safer environment because safety is good for everyone involved.

Hunter notes this: When you see someone or something that is “great,” you can rest assured that that greatness was achieved through a long record of someone consistently seeking to do good.  It isn’t just talent.  It isn’t just luck.  It was talent and hard, good, consistent effort toward the great end.