August 10th is National Lazy Day. This is the holiday that gives us permission to kick back, relax, maybe hang out on the couch and finally watch all the Samauri Jack episodes in order…
Or we could get lazy like legendary painter and pop-culture icon, Bob Ross.
Ross loved to say he was a “lazy painter”, always looking for the easy way to get something done. Using a 2″ paintbrush was one of his “lazy” ways to paint. With this one brush, Ross could create entire worlds. He used it to paint skies, clouds, mountains, trees, water elements, stones, you name it!
But, wait a minute. Was Ross actually lazy? Or was he secretly lean?
After all, as the Lean Enterprise Institute states, lean is all about understanding customer value and focusing on how to increase it. And Ross wasn’t just painting for himself; his public television shows and classes were designed to show folks that they really could pick up a paintbrush and create magic on a canvas. Ross’ goal was to make painting easy and accessible to whoever wanted to do it.
With this in mind, Ross’s “lazy” process improvement starts looking pretty lean. He found an efficiency in his process that created more artistic flow, removed waste, and improved the overall experience to truly deliver the value of the Joy of Painting to viewers and students.
Now that’s a lean move that’s about as slick as a canvas primed with liquid white!
