Every once in awhile someone will ask some variation of this question: If Lean works so well, why doesn’t everyone do it?

Here are two similar questions:

• If a proper nutritional and fitness program keeps people healthy, why aren’t more people on one?
• If reading books on relationships helps people have better relationships, why don’t more people read books on relationships? (Feel free to replace “relationships” with any other subject you feel is important.)

Reading books requires a fundamental change in how you spend some of your time – you’ll need to do less of something else. Proper nutrition and fitness requires a fundamental change to how you spend some of your time and how you feed your body – again, you’ll need to do less of something else, plus eat less of foods you may currently enjoy. In a real way, for each case, you need to change a part of who you are.

People are often attracted to the tools of Lean, expecting to get a quick fix the way a crash diet or a book summary claims to make you healthier or smarter. For Lean to work, on projects, in companies, and in communities, people need to fundamentally change how they relate to each other – change a part of who they are. Many people embrace that change and succeed. Just not everyone.