Compression

COMPRESSION: Meeting the Challenges of Sustainability Through Vigorous Learning Enterprises sounds a clarion that we cannot afford to ignore. Global crises are squeezing us from all directions. Mostly they have to do with not enough: not enough natural resources to maintain our standard of living, not enough carbon rich soil to grow crops enough to feed the world, not enough fresh clean water, nor air or ozone.

A founding member of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, Robert Doc Hall has dedicated much of his career to redefining business practices in ways that are feasible and transferable. For lasting change to occur, we need to provide stakeholders with access to new tools and new paradigms that eschew outdated learning methods. While the book does elucidate the problem, the main emphasis of its pages is on what leaders can do to change the mindset of stakeholders at all levels. Specifically, Hall shows how the Toyota model, the most successful and enduring manufacturing system ever implemented, can be applied and adapted to help identify roots of problems, eliminate waste, and create a new vision along with the path to realizing that vision.

• We must rethink our perpetual devotion to old ideals such as continual growth and more are always better
• We need to recognize that we are quickly reaching the point of critical mass where the inequities of society will force the have-nots to take matters into their own hands
• We need to learn to learn more effectively, in terms of individuals, organizations, and processes
• We must embrace the paradigm culture shift required to implement lasting constructive change that we can live by

To implement the sort of changes that will allow civilization to prevail rather than merely endure requires a resourcefulness and ingenuity beyond any the world has ever employed. In this volume, Doc Hall shows us how to learn to learn more effectively both as individuals and organizations, and in terms of processes. He invites us to rethink our perpetual devotion to old ideals and welcome the shift in thinking that must be our first and immediate step.

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