Sometimes the best lessons come from the most unexpected places. For me, one of those lessons came from a little foster kitty who came into my life needing a safe place, some food, a little attention, and someone to believe in her. After 6 years, I guess she really wasn’t a foster.
I have shared her with you many times in my weekly letters and most of you have seen her in my zoom calls, especially if she heard Sara’s voice. This little girl didn’t need perfection. She just needed someone to show up. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much that sounds like Lean.
We talk about continuous improvement, standard work, eliminating waste, creating flow, engaging people, and making things better every day. But underneath all those tools and techniques is something much simpler - pay attention, care, and make a difference.
My little girl, Cricket, certainly didn't know anything about Lean. She had no idea what a kaizen event was, and I can guarantee she would not have sat through one of our webinars, well at least not in its entirety! But she understood the importance of small things - A fresh bowl of food, a clean bed, and a familiar routine. Someone taking a few minutes to sit with her and let her know she was safe.
Those little things mattered.
And isn't that what continuous improvement is about? It isn't always the big project or the transformational breakthrough. More often, it is the little things we do consistently, every day, because we care enough to make something, or someone's life, a little better.
That is one of the reasons I love AME. We don't simply teach Lean tools. We bring people together to share what they have learned, help one another solve problems, and pass those lessons along to the next person. A practitioner shares an idea at an AME conference, someone takes it home and tries it, another person improves on it, and eventually that one idea may touch hundreds of people.
That is legacy.
The same is true of leadership. We may not always see the impact of a conversation, a word of encouragement, a lesson shared, or five minutes spent listening to someone who needs to be heard. Those moments matter. They become part of someone's story, and sometimes they become part of an organization's culture.
My little foster kitty reminded me of that. Her life was much shorter than I would have wanted, but the impact she had on me was anything but small. She reminded me that every life matters, every person matters, and every small act of kindness matters. She also reminded me that our measure of success shouldn't simply be how long something lasts, but what we leave behind.
That feels like a pretty good Lean lesson, and a pretty good life lesson, too.
As we head into AME Milwaukee 2026 International Conference | October 26–29 , I hope we remember why we do what we do. We come together to share, learn, and grow and ultimately to leave our workplaces, our organizations, and the people around us a little better than we found them.
That is the work. That is continuous improvement. And that is legacy. While we lost my little Ms. Cricket last week, her legacy lives on.
And I think she would be perfectly happy knowing that she left the world just a little better than she found it. She certainly made my life better.
As always, please stay safe and keep looking out for one another.
