Good read on the early days of Danaher $DHR and how it has evolved over time. The Rales get credit for understanding Lean worked, getting out of the way and hiring people to pick the right industries to move into over time. https://www.lean.org/LeanPost/Posting.cfm?LeanPostId=1264

I have read both of Art's (the author of the article) books and cold e-mailed him/talked to him once. Nice guy. Said the PE firm he was working at did Lean with acquisitions for a few years then got impatient and started doing same boring levered roll ups everyone else is doing..

I think there remains a massive opportunity for these kinds of results in smaller private companies or small, poorly managed public companies. The issue remains finding people with operational and management skill and the time/effort/capital to see the strategy through.

PS. Former CEO of $MTW Barry Pennypacker got his start at Jake Brake during that 1988-1999 period.