Action!

Someone once said:

"Don't just do something, stand there!"

And Matthew May's 6th Law of Subtraction states:

"Doing something isn't always better than doing nothing."

Wisdom lies at the intersection of understanding and action, the wisdom to know when to act and when greater understanding is required first.  So why then is the kaizen mind so often described as having a "bias toward action"?  At the heart of kaizen is genchi genbutsu, "go and see".  This reflects both action ("go") and understanding ("see").  So in fact the action required is often to go and see.  This may seem like a passive activity, but it is critical to taking effective action and yet often overlooked.  But it is the wisdom that comes from time and experience that is required to turn real understanding into effective action.

The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr says,

"God grant me the serenity 

to accept the things I cannot change; 

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference."

At the risk of committing sacrilege, I might tweak it a little bit to reflect the kaizen spirit:

Grant me the patience to understand

when understanding is needed;

courage to act when action is needed;

and wisdom to know the difference.