Before we jump into the who's been nominated list, let's take a moment to consider why are we doing this lean tv/film characters tournament at all.

One question I've often struggled with is whether or not Lean is common sense or counter intuitive. I've always erred on the common sense side, but I do see aspects of lean thinking and practice that at first glance seem counter intuitive. See what the community said when we asked them the same question here.

Before learning about Lean and joining LEI, I focused a lot of my efforts on showing my work as visually as possible, so that my team would know what we had to do and what was already in process. We would also document every step of our work to help train others, find ways to improve our speed, and identify mistakes.

I had no idea about Agile boards, Standard Work, or 5S. And I used to think 5S was just a symptom of someone with OCD. I had accidentally been thinking lean for years before knowing what it was. I'm sure there are thousands out there in the same boat.

That's why I wanted to try this experiment out. Where do we see Lean being practiced unintentionally? TV and film seemed like a good place to start. Everyone has a favorite TV show or movie, but have you looked at one of your favorite shows wearing your lean glasses?

So without further muda, check out the list of nominations for the Who's Lean in TV and Movies. The reasons for their nominations will be shared at the head to heads.

We will review this list and narrow it down a bit, perhaps separate the fictional and non-fictional characters. Then we'll build the tournament brackets and you can vote each week to determine each week's winner. This character will then move on to the next phase of the tournament.

I've really enjoyed reading your nominations. The reasoning behind each nomination was very compelling, and several were not on my radar. I hope you find some surprises as well. We are all very eager to let the games begin.

Please, share your thoughts on this experiment (and perhaps your thoughts on a character that didn't make it) in the comments section below.

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