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The Blocking and Tackling of Lean

The Blocking and Tackling of Lean

February 12, 2026 11:00 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

By Dave Rizzardo

Sports analogies may be overused at times, and I am as guilty as anyone. However, since we are nearing the Super Bowl, I thought a football analogy may be appropriate or at least tolerated. One of my favorite Vince Lombardi quotes is, “Some people try to find things in this game that don’t exist, but football is only two things – blocking and tackling.”

Following is my Lean-aligned version:
“Some people try to find things in this game that don’t exist, but Lean is only two things – removing fear to build psychological safety and developing standard processes to enable continuous improvement.”

The attached document delves into this Lean interpretation and I invite you to reflect on what two alternatives you might identify in place of psychological safety and standard processes. blocking and tackling.pdf