No problem is problem

I just love the following image !  It's great for discussing some lean concepts with your team: e.g. the role of the manager, the mental model of "problems are gold", the importance of visualizing problems, the importance of continuous improvement.

Here are some questions to trigger people's thinking:

1. Why does the person on the right (R) say there is no problem ?
2. Why does the person on the left (L) accept his 'No problems!' answer ?
3. Assuming that (L) is the manager, what does he do right ?
4. What happens after the third image ? What culture and behavior are fostered ?

Here are some possible anwers:

1. The wall hides (R)'s problems; (R) cannot see his problems. Maybe (R) has learned that it is better to hide problems because e.g. the messenger usually gets shot or gets instructions on what to do about ( i.e. get more work).  Maybe (R) even built that wall for that purpose ?
2. (L) has no way of verifying that there no problems, as the problems are not visible.
3. (L) is at the gemba and inviting (R) to talk about his problems. ( Note: Consider asking "What are your problems?" instead of  "Do you have any problems?" The first questions sets the expectation that there always are problems. )
4. Everybody is firefighting everywhere, everyday.  Consequently, there is less and less time to prevent problems by eliminating root-causes.  The prevailing mindset becomes:  "our hero's are the firefighters" instead of "our hero's are the fire prevention team".

What additional learnings do you find in this picture ?

Source of image : unknown - pls. inform me if you know the author.