Leading with Obeya @ Nike – learn from Fred Mathijssen

In 2014 I saw Fred at the Lean IT Summit in Paris giving his talk about Obeya @ Nike. Now, years later I’ve had the privilege to interview him for my book, ‘Leading with Obeya’.

Fred is now retired and spends part of his time inspiring others with his experiences using Obeya. He’s used this fascinating way of working on a leadership level to translate strategy into meaningful action and connect with operational teams, creating a greater sense of purpose and ownership of the work to be done.

Through his many years of practical experience using Obeya, Fred gives some extremely valuable clues to leadership teams out there that are done with getting what they always got and are ready to start with a new, practical, no-nonsense approach in the Obeya (‘big room’ in Japanese).

Since a book is limited to words, I felt it would be valuable to also do an interview with Fred (online due to COVID-19), to give a richer picture of his experiences. Below is the full interview!