By Linda Fan
Some insightful opinions I heard in the early days of my career have left a lasting impression on me, and they even influence the way I handle my own work now.
When I was a new journalist, I interviewed Mr. Anand Sharma who specializes in lean manufacturing. At that time, he had been devoted to researching and practicing ways of improving the manufacturing process for more than 20 years. Fortune Magazine once hailed him as “a hero of America’s manufacturing industry”.
During that interview, I visited his workshop to gain a greater understanding of how he improves work efficiency. Fifteen years later, many details are forgotten, but one of his comments is still deeply engraved in my mind.
“In fact, all concepts of lean manufacturing are just common sense. Nothing unpredictable”, Sharma said with a smile, “For example, one principle is to minimize a company’s non-value-adding procedures to concentrate better on the value-adding procedures”. Before confirming each type of procedure, he would conduct detailed observations and analyses of the entire manufacturing process, break it down into various modules to classify them, and then make improvements.
For example, the amount of time used to polish and paint spare parts should not be reduced without proper consideration. The procedures that generate no value, on the other hand, should be minimized, these may include moving materials from Place A to Place B, workers’ unnecessary walks and the time spent looking for materials.
While this seems like a piece of cake, the actual practice can be very detail-oriented and complicated. The way a specific case is carried out can bring about different results. Besides, the experts’ on-site work is also extremely important.
Mr. Sharma emphasized that one thing is particularly important, conducting onsite observations to collect first-hand information, and to familiarize oneself with the surroundings.
Through on-site engagement, one gets closer to the unsolved problems, and this is something one cannot gain from watching PowerPoint slides.
“You see, I'm well-dressed now”, he said with a smile, “But on the worksite, I usually wear a uniform when climbing up and down, covered in greasy dirt”. He told me that when taking on a new case, he always puts on a pair of white gloves during his first on-site check. By the time the task is completed, his gloves are black. Then he asks his team members to set up the ultimate goal as completing tasks with their white gloves unstained.
Having completed this interview, one principle in particular from our conversation has had a far-reaching impact on me. In this case, it is minimizing all non-value-adding procedures so as to concentrate on value-adding ones. I adopted this method in my own work, categorizing activities using this principle as a means of deciding whether to invest my time in them. Without a doubt, my work efficiency has remarkably improved.
This principle is also applicable in daily life. In all parts of life, people and things alike will take on different values. This same principle can be beneficial in optimizing your own life structure. This is indeed the pleasure of learning: going beyond the discipline of science to enlighten your life and applying your learning in various similar scenarios.
In everyday life, however, something subtle that cannot be ignored is that those elements that are valuable to oneself are not measured by efficiency alone. Otherwise, one’s values are reduced to stark utilitarianism: boring and unsustainable.
A person’s values are exemplified in this regard.
The story of a rich man and a fisherman goes like this: “The rich man persuades the fisherman to continue fishing after catching enough fish for the day. He should catch more fish, buy his own fishing boat, expand his business, and hire people to work for him so that he can enjoy the sun and sea. But the fisherman replies: ‘don’t you see I’m doing the exactly the same thing now?’”
Of course, this story can be viewed from different perspectives. Opinions differ on whether the fisherman’s belief is right or wrong. From my point of view, this story implies that leisure time is valuable to the fisherman but not to the rich man. As a result, the fisherman expects to keep his leisure time, while the rich man would prefer to maximize profit and avoid leisure.
People behave differently because they hold different values and beliefs. As a result, misunderstandings, criticism and even detachment may arise, putting one’s tolerance to the ultimate test.
Photo by Marta Dzedyshko from Pexels
Leisure, aesthetics, charities…although none of them can bring immediate benefits, they are never valueless. For some people, these beliefs have extremely high inner value.
People entering the mature stage of life often have a relatively adequate understanding of themselves and know what they want. Young people may need more time to adjust their life and career. Such growing pains are nevertheless the charm of youth.
Perhaps we can adopt visualization: Think carefully, write down the three points you think are most important and valuable, and do your best to stick to them, for they may affect your happiness on the most profound level.