Improvement Insights Blog
Zero to Hero
Is it possible to learn anything quickly? To go from Zero to Hero in just a few hours? Yes, I believe so. Here’s why:
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I may have told this story before, but it bears repeating again. About eight years ago I was in Hawaii and I found out there was a free ukulele class next door taught by a guy named Jason: Jason Jerome [with] Lahaina Music. Now, Lahaina Music just burnt down [in the 2023 wildfires] but Jason is still teaching classes up and down West Maui. In one hour… (You know, I knew how to play a guitar but ukulele was a different instrument.) In one hour he took me from zero to hero – taught me three key chords which will let me play 100+ thousand songs. You know, we played Elvis’ “You Ain’t Nothing But A Hound Dog,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” and Bob Marley and the Beatles and a bunch of [songs]. We went through half a dozen songs in an hour, and I went from zero to hero. I knew how to play a ukulele in that period of time.
“So I’d like you to consider that there are people out there who’ve been at this for a very long time that could help you go from zero to hero in Quality Improvement. That’s what I keep trying to do with all of my free trainings: the Yellow Belt training, the Agile Trainer Training… whatever. Free on our website. Come out and learn how and I’ll teach you the best of what I know. So go out and find somebody who has figured out how to simplify, streamline and optimize training so that you get the key things you need.
“When I teach Lean, I teach it in one hour and then I have people go do it for an hour or two. Six Sigma: one hour of training with QI Macros and then I go take them into their data and get them to do it for a couple hours. At the end they know how to do it. That’s my Agile Process Innovation Training.
“You can do this really fast if you want to. Go find somebody (it may not be me).Find somebody who speaks to you, because I may not speak to you. Everybody learns differently from different people.
“That’s my Improvement Insight for this week: Go find somebody who can coach you to excellence, and do it like that {snapping}, okay? Somebody who speaks right to the marrow of how you learn, and you can get it that quickly.
“Let’s go out and improve something this week. This week, why don’t you work on yourself, learning something from somebody who’s spectacular at teaching it?
“I’m Jay Arthur; that’s my Improvement Insight for this week.”
