My guests for Episode #512 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are two of three co-authors of the upcoming book “Leading Excellence: 5 Hats of the Adaptive Leader” - Brad Jeavons and Stephen Dargan.

Episode page with video, transcript, and more

Stephen Dargan

A diverse and inclusive, customer-centric, driven transformational leader with 20+ years of leadership experience spanning Australia and Europe. Stephen is a Shingo Institute Alumni, Shingo Facilitator and Examiner. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

Brad Jeavons

Brad Jeavons is a senior leadership coach focused on helping improve themselves and their organisations to create a better future economically, socially and environmentally for future generations. He is host of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast and Community and author of the book Agile Sales: Delivering Customer Journeys of Value and Delight. Brad was a guest back in episode 416, June 2021.

In this episode, Brade and Steve share insights into the key concepts of adaptive leadership, including the importance of understanding individual team members, cultivating psychological safety, and the five essential leadership hats: Inspire, Train, Support, Coach, and Direct. Brad and Stephen also discuss real-life applications, the significance of leadership shadow, and the critical role of serving the growth of others to drive organizational excellence.

• What are some factors contributing to low employee engagement?
• Can you elaborate on the concept of the leadership shadow and its impact?
• What behaviors help cultivate psychological safety and engagement?
• What does it mean to be a leader who serves, and why is it important?
• How can leaders develop the ability to be adaptive or situational?
• What are the five hats referenced in the subtitle of your book?
• Why is controlling emotions crucial for leaders, and how can they improve this skill?

The podcast is brought to you by Stiles Associates, the premier executive search firm specializing in the placement of Lean Transformation executives. With a track record of success spanning over 30 years, it's been the trusted partner for the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare sectors. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

My guests for Episode #512 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are Steve Pereira and Andrew Davis, authors of the new book Flow Engineering: From Value Stream Mapping to Effective Action.

Blog post with video, transcript, and more

Steve Pereira has spent over two decades improving workflow across various organizations. His experience spans tech support, IT management, platform and infrastructure engineering, product management, and serving as a founding CTO for an enterprise SaaS company. Currently, he is the CEO of Visible Consulting, COO of the Value Stream Management Consortium, and co-founder of the Flow Collective.

Andrew Davis is the Chief Product Officer at AutoRABIT and the author of "Mastering Salesforce DevOps." With a background as a Salesforce architect, developer, and product leader, Andrew focuses on the human side of software development. He spent 15 years as a Buddhist monk, teaching meditation and personal transformation, and now studies the intersection of business, technology, and psychology through systems thinking.

In this episode, we discuss the principles of flow engineering, the importance of psychological safety in process improvement, and their experiences in writing the book. We also dive into their personal journeys, inspirations from industry giants like Deming and Goldratt, and the challenges and lessons learned in collaborative work. Stay tuned for a deep, insightful conversation on enhancing workflows and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

• Can you discuss the relationship between making mistakes and learning from a Buddhist perspective, Andrew?
• Why do you resonate with figures like Deming, Goldratt, and Ackoff in your improvement work, Steve?
• How did you two end up collaborating on the book?
• Did you apply flow engineering concepts to the development and writing of the book together?
• How did the process of writing the book evolve over time?
• What lessons did you learn about collaboration and flow from writing this book?
• How does psychological safety impact value stream mapping and flow engineering?
• How do you involve workers in process design to avoid negative perceptions of imposed processes?
• What challenges did you face in maintaining a regular cadence of work while writing the book?

The podcast is brought to you by Stiles Associates, the premier executive search firm specializing in the placement of Lean Transformation executives. With a track record of success spanning over 30 years, it's been the trusted partner for the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare sectors. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

My guest for Episode #506 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Tim Hobbs, the founder and president of Hobbs Technical Consulting. He is an author and an in-demand international keynote speaker, trainer and business consultant. He is currently working in the semiconductor industry as a director of digital transformation. 

Episode page with video, transcript, and more

Tim served nine years in the U.S. Navy, managing and maintaining advanced electronic navigational, alarm, combat, telecommunication and power systems. After his military service, he worked for Intel Corporation for 14 years. 

He received a B.S. in business information systems and an M.B.A. in technology management and earned his Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt Certification.

Tim authored the book The Anatomy of Problem-Solving.

He'll also be one of the featured keynote speakers at the 40th anniversary of the AME International Conference (the Association for Manufacturing Excellence), being held in Atlanta, Georgia, from October 28 – October 31, 2024.

Enter a contest to win a free book and online course from Tim!

In this episode, Tim shares insights from his extensive career in the semiconductor industry, his journey through the US Navy, and his expertise in problem-solving. We discuss Tim's background, including his roles in digital transformation and Lean Six Sigma, and delve into his philosophy on critical thinking and structured problem-solving methods. Tim also previews his upcoming keynote at the conference, highlighting the importance of leveraging problem-solving for career success and organizational improvement. The conversation touches on his book, “The Anatomy of Problem Solving,” and an exciting book giveaway contest for our listeners. Tune in to gain valuable insights into effective problem-solving and strategic career advancement from an industry expert.

• Tell us about the start of your lean journey?
• Preview of your keynote talk?
• How do you combine frameworks and methodologies with critical thinking in problem-solving?
• Can you elaborate on organizational and political problem solving?
• Tell us about your online training program?
• What method are you using for problem-solving, and how did you develop it?
• What is the story behind your book, “The Anatomy of Problem Solving”?
• What approach do you recommend for dealing with team dynamics in problem solving?
• How do you position problem solving for upward mobility in a career?
• Can you explain the PIE (Performance, Image, Exposure) framework and its importance in career advancement?
• What strategies do you suggest for engaging with potential sponsors?
• How do you handle the human element in problem-solving, especially when dealing with different personalities?
• Tim's online training program

The podcast is brought to you by Stiles Associates, the premier executive search firm specializing in the placement of Lean Transformation executives. With a track record of success spanning over 30 years, it's been the trusted partner for the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare sectors. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/427 

My guest for Episode #427 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is a returning guest, Karyn Ross. She was previously a guest in Episodes 266 and 411. She was also my guest for Episode #3 of My Favorite Mistake.

Karyn has a new book called The Kind Leader: A Practical Guide to Eliminating Fear, Creating Trust, and Leading with Kindness. Scroll down for a 20% coupon you can use if you buy through the publisher. You can also enter to win a copy.

Today, we talk the book and more, with topics and questions including:

• How do you define kindness?
• NPR story on the kindest family
• How do we help people understand that kindness is not a sign of weakness? 
• My Favorite Mistake (out Thursday) Moses Harris interview Episode #110
• How much unkind behavior is driven by people being scared? "Vicious circle of fear"
• "Collaboration, cooperation and kindness" chapter heading -- reminds me of how Dr. Deming used to rail against competition -- and I think that's especially true when talking about internal competition
• Systemic root causes of fear and unkind behavior -- Kind leaders can affect the system...
• Kindness and respect? Connections to Lean in the book
• A time when someone was kind to you at work?
• Recent KaiNexus webinar on psychological safety... also proven to drive results
  • Workshop with Jessica House on the topic
• Blaming instinct...What do you mean by "always assume positive intent"? - examples?
• Negativity bias
• "Prefectionism isn't Kind" online workshop with Amy Mervak
  • Morning session
  • Afternoon session
• Little Kind Words Talk Show -- lessons learned from that?
• Doing live streaming -- "practice accepting what is"
• We're always learning... what have you learned about kindness since the book was published?
• "Pop up kindness stand"? -- WSJ article

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

CEO of Growing Champions, LLC

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/426

My guest for Episode #426 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is John Gallagher, Founder and CEO of Growing Champions, LLC, an Executive Coach, Mentor, and Consultant. John was with Simpler Consulting for over a decade after being an operations manager and a division president for two different companies.

He's also the host of a new podcast called The Uncommon Leader. I'll be John's guest in an episode to be released on October 19th.

Today, we talk about topics and questions including:

• Where did you first get exposed to Lean?
• Why were you skeptical about Lean at first?
• Came from MRP batch & queue world
• Rapid Improvement Event or Rapid Planning Event?
• His first sensei, the late Bill Moffitt
• “Comfort the afflicted or afflict the comforted?”
• Who were some of your key mentors?
• Lean Thinking was a key book, the first book he read on Lean
• Being an operations manager vs. a division president… what did you learn from those roles?
• Applying Lean to residential real estate sales
• Healthcare? Patients aren't cars?? Addressing that? Cookbook medicine?
• “Unique care delivered in a standard way”
• Tell us about the podcast…  inspired by Tony Dungy's book
• Who have been some of your guests? — Including Paul De Chant
• Who are some of the “uncommon leaders” you have worked for, worked with, or coached? What made them uncommon?
• Posts I was reminded of
  • Lenny Walls, my trainer
  • Central Intelligence post
  • Sushi incrementalism post
• Coaching work? Lean coach to exec coach?

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Show notes, links, and video: https://www.markgraban.com/425

My guest for Episode #425 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Katie Anderson, who is joining us for the seventh time as a guest.

Katie is, of course, the author of the book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: Lessons from Toyota Leader Isao Yoshino on a Lifetime of Continuous Learning. It has now been out over a year as eBook and paperback, and the audiobook is now available.

Today, we sketched out a few topics for a fun conversation. First, we talk about “breaking the telling habit” (get Katie's free guide). When do leaders have to “tell”? Does it get annoying when you only ask questions?

You'll also hear about how Katie “pulled the andon cord” (virtually) when she had a concern about the sound of me typing some notes. So, we'll talk about countermeasures and such related to that, and you'll hear our problem solving minds at work.

Katie then shares a story about the use of “Process Behavior Charts” at a non-profit organization. I share a story about seeing what appeared to be a “signal” in the listener metrics for the My Favorite Mistake podcast, so we again chat about problem solving and causal analysis.

We also talk the “Leading to Learn Accelerator” program that she's running soon.

And I tell an awful joke about asking questions. I'm sorry.

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/424

My guest for Episode #424 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Balaji Reddie, the founder of The Deming Forum of India.

An engineer by trade, Balaji was exposed to W. Edwards Deming's ideas through his father, then became highly interested in the Deming Philosophy after a chance introduction to the founder of the British Deming Association, Dr. Henry R. Neave, who became Balaji's mentor.

As it says in his bio:

“Balaji's contributions have been featured in textbooks and coursework on Quality and the Deming Philosophy. He holds a Degree in Electrical Engineering from COEP (the Government College of Engineering in Pune), and a Master of Science in Quality Management from BITS (Birla Institute of Technology & Science).”

Topics and questions:

• Tell us more about your professional background
• In his factory, had a “quality section” but not department – what's the difference?
• 1991 was a key year for India – opened up outside investment and foreign products
• Xerox 5-day Leadership for Quality course
• Wanted to know where this all began, learned of Deming & Juran
• What was your first exposure to Dr. Deming and/or his work?
• His father went to Japan in 1964
• “Juran had answers, Deming asked questions”
• Recommends Managerial Breakthrough from 1964
• 14 points were for an American audience, the Japanese didn't have them
• Red Bead Experiment – Deming used in 1940s to teach sampling
• “Respect for people” – Deming was talking about this a long time back
• Tutored under Henry Neave – tell us about him — The Deming Dimension book
• “The guru is the person who shows us the way… asks questions but maybe doesn't give the answers” 
• The Deming Forum of India – 1999 founding
• Unique properties or qualities of Indian companies?

I hope you enjoy the conversation. We managed to have a lot of laughs, even though we're talking about serious topics.

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

My guest for Episode #423 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Laura Kriska, a Cross-Cultural Consultant and the author of the book The Business of We: The Proven Three-Step Process for Closing the Gap Between Us and Them in Your Workplace.

Notes: https://www.leanblog.org/423

She was previously my guest on Episode 61 of the “My Favorite Mistake” podcast.

Laura was previously the author of the book The Accidental Office Lady: An American Woman in Corporate Japan, a book about her time as the first American woman to work for Honda in Tokyo, Japan. We talk about those experiences and so much more today.

Topics and questions:

• How did you get to become the first American woman to work at Honda HQ in Japan? 
• What was it like working in the Ohio factory? 
  • Quality Circles
  • Kaizen — We can always do things better
• What was an “office lady”?
• Adjustments to the Japanese working culture?
• You initiated a Quality Circle around the uniform for office ladies, tell us about that…
• “Let's Abolish Women's Uniforms”
  • Use of data?
  • Being careful with assumptions
  • Studied it for a year
  • What was the outcome?
• You describe Cultural laziness (now, “corporate carelessness”) – what do you mean by that? Can this apply to somebody who is new to a company culture, too??

I hope you enjoy the conversation.

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Author of Disruption Proof and The Lean Entrepreneur

My guest for Episode #422 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Brant Cooper, appearing for the third time and the first time solo. Brant previously appeared, alongside Patrick Vlaskovits, in Episodes 99 and 162.

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/422

Brant is the author of the upcoming book, Disruption Proof: Empower People, Create Value, Drive Change, due out in late October, but is available for pre-order now.

Brant is The New York Times bestselling author of the book The Lean Entrepreneur (now in a 2nd Edition) and he's CEO and founder of the firm Moves the Needle.

He is also organizing a virtual summit — the Endless Disruption Summit — on Sept 30.

Topics and questions:

• “One thing in life is certain: Disruption is the new norm.” — Why is that increasingly so?
• How can a company become disruption proof?
• What's a good example of an Industrial Age company that has transformed to thrive in the Digital Age?
• Lessons from the pandemic?
  • Working from home and now what?
• Empathy and restaurant signs
  • The entire world is understaffed?
  • The hospital sign about your energy and the workplace
• The 5Es: Empathy, Exploration, Evidence, Equillibrium, and Ethics
• His experiences in healthcare — cancer
  • The people are amazing
  • Ransomware attack affected his radiation care

I hope you enjoy the conversation.

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

We've been on hiatus over the summer here, so I've taken a look back at some of the older episodes from the podcast archives, while being on a bit of a hiatus from recording new episodes. New episodes will be coming again in September

Today we're looking back at the episode that I did with John Shook.

It was Episode #56, released in January 2009.

I hope you enjoy our discussion -- I think it's just as relevant today as it was then even though his book Managing to Learn has been available for more than a decade (it was new when we did this episode).

I had a chance to talk with John a few months back and I'm hoping to do a new episode with him sometime soon.

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

I don't always share new episodes of the "My Favorite Mistake" podcast with you here, but when I do... it's a Lean practitioner.

Today, that guest is David Meier, a former Toyota team member and leader, author of two https://amzn.to/3xPHcre with Jeffrey Liker, and a TPS/Lean consultant. Oh, and he has a great distillery in Kentucky now called Glenn's Creek Distillery.

Toyota / Lean topics include:

• More background about what you learned at Toyota
• Hard for people to talk about mistakes, admitting they're human
• Blame vs. responsibility? 
• Toyota teaches that leaders have responsibility 
• Blame with punishment = "accountability"?
• Punishment replaced with learning and improvement?
• Hard on the process, not on the people
• Mr. Yoshino's mix up with the paint area (Episode #30)
• My episode about the nearly lost episodes (Episode #16)
• Mistakes made in the distillery
• Mistakes about mistakes?

Author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean

We've been on hiatus over the summer here, so I've taken a look back at some of the older episodes from the podcast archives, while being on a bit of a hiatus from recording new episodes.

Today we're looking back at my first episodes with my good friend, Jamie Flinchbaugh.

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/2021/08/podcast-bonus-episode-jamie-flinchbaugh-revisited-from-2006/

My voice has gone on hiatus this week… since he can’t talk, he asked me to record this intro for a podcast where we look back at some episodes I’ve been involved in.

Jamie was my guest for Episodes 5 and 6 back in 2006, then again for Episode 10 that year. In 2008, he turned the tables and interviewed me in Episode 50. Then, I interviewed Jamie in Episodes 64 and 261, and Jamie turned the tables once again to interview me, in Episode 316, about my book “Measures of Success.”

In April 2019, Jamie and I started the “Lean Whiskey” podcast and we plan on recording episode #29 of that series on Sunday… if my voice is back to normal.

Today, we’re sharing Episodes 5 and 6 together. The episodes were shorter back then, so combined it’s just under 30 minutes of audio, talking about Waste and the Role of Leadership.

I hope you enjoy our discussion from 2006, lmost exactly 15 years ago. As always, thanks for listening, and please do check out “Lean Whiskey.”

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Links and show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/421

We've been on hiatus over the summer here, but I did a live streaming video the other day with my friend Ryan McCormack, who regular readers of this blog will recognize as the creator of the bi-weekly "Operational Excellence Mixtape" emails that he allows me to publish here on the Lean Blog.

He was also my guest for Episode 12 of the "Lean Whiskey" podcast.

In this 30-minute discussion, Ryan and I chat about:

• Why did you start the "mixtapes"?
• What are some favorite books and podcasts that you have highlighted recently?
• What have been the transferrable Lean lessons going into healthcare and now back out into other settings?
• Best Thing / Worst Thing -- What's the best thing about doing OpEx work? The worst thing?

I hope you enjoy the conversation.

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

This is cross-posted from my Lean Blog Audio podcast series.

Episode page with links and more info⁠

I'm very happy to announce the release of my new ⁠Mistake-Proofing course⁠, available NOW through ⁠Karen Martin⁠ and ⁠TKMG Academy⁠.

You can ⁠buy the course individually at TKMGAcademy.com⁠ for $129. Volume discounts are available for large teams or your entire workforce (for more information, email ⁠info@tkmgacademy.com⁠).

The course is also part of the wonderful ⁠collection of courses⁠ in the all-access ⁠annual subscription⁠. The annual price of $529 goes up significantly at 11:59 pm CDT on May 31st, so act now for the best value pricing.

Other TKMG Academy ⁠instructors⁠ in the series include Karen Martin, ⁠Elisabeth Swan⁠, ⁠Mike Osterling⁠, ⁠Tracy O'Rourke⁠, ⁠Brent Loescher⁠... and more.

And if you ⁠subscribe to TKMG Academy⁠, you can participate in Karen's "Community of Practice" meeting with me on Wednesday, June 26th.

During our summer hiatus from releasing new podcast episodes, we're looking back at previous episodes of the podcast.

Today, sadly, we're taking a look back at guests from the past 15 years who have since passed away. May their wisdom and legacy live on through these episodes, as we think about them today.

Links to the episodes and more can be found at https://www.leanblog.org/inmemoriam

Author, speaker, coach, publisher, and more

Show notes and links: https://www.leanblog.org/420 

My guest for Episode #420 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Katie Anderson, appearing for the sixth time and the first time as a live-streaming guest! Katie is a leadership & learning coach, consultant, speaker, author | Japan Study Trip Leader. She's the founder and principal consultant at her own firm. You can find previous episodes here.

She's the author of the book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: Lessons from Toyota Leader Isao Yoshino on a Lifetime of Continuous Learning. Tomorrow is the first anniversary (or birthday) of the book! To celebrate, there's a short-term Kindle book sale (99 cents or 99 pence in the UK) from Wednesday to Friday this week July 14, 15, 16.

We're also celebrating that tomorrow is the official release date for the audiobook! It's available through Amazon or Audible.

Topics, questions, and links related to today's episode include:

• You asked yesterday, in your email newsletter, “What does leadership mean to you?” — how do you answer that question?
• How has your answer changed thanks to the influence of Mr. Yoshino?
• What have you learned in the past year since the publication of your book? Or I should ask, what stands out most in terms of what you have learned?
• Did the audiobook process yield any further content to the print edition?
• What was the process for creating and recording the audio book?
• Is there something new, work related or otherwise, that you've started learning recently? Has helped you think about learning, coaching, and practicing differently?
• You and Mr. Yoshino were guests together on “My Favorite Mistake” — if I had a podcast called “My Most Recent Mistake” — what is one that comes to mind?
• Best Thing / Worst Thing — What's the best thing and the worst thing about…
  • Writing and publishing a book?
  • Working in healthcare improvement?
  • Being active on LinkedIn?
  • Living in Japan full time as an American?
  • The gelato post that Katie wrote
• Tell us about some of the coaching you've been doing, including the K2C2 Coaching Communities…
  • Leading to Learn Accelerator

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Former CEO of Alcoa, U.S. Treasury Secretary

Originally released as Episode #124 in July, 2011

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/124

Today’s episode is a special encore presentation of my 2011 conversation with the late Paul O’Neill Sr. At the time, he was serving as the non-executive chair of Value Capture, but his impact reached far beyond that title. Paul was best known as the former CEO of Alcoa and the 72nd U.S. Secretary of the Treasury—but also as a passionate advocate for safety, transparency, and leadership in healthcare.

This interview remains one of the most meaningful I've ever conducted. Paul challenged the status quo and spoke with clarity and conviction about the role of leaders in driving toward “theoretical limits” of zero harm—both in industry and in healthcare.

In this conversation, Mr. O’Neill discusses:

• Leadership mindsets that enable dramatic safety improvements

• How Allegheny General Hospital nearly eliminated hospital-acquired infections

• Why we’ve made so little national progress since To Err Is Human

• His powerful argument: “The real skill shortage is leadership”

• A vision for transparency, accountability, and learning from every mistake

• Why Washington should have looked to ThedaCare, not Wall Street, for healthcare transformation

This timeless message is especially relevant today as leaders seek to balance safety, cost, and culture in complex systems.

🎙 This episode is sponsored by Stiles Associates – celebrating 30 years as the go-to Lean executive search firm for manufacturing, healthcare, and private equity.

🧭 Part of the #LeanCommunicators network

Founder of Continuous Improvement International

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/419 

My guest for Episode #419 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Allison Greco, an industrial engineer, a Six Sigma Black Belt, and the founder of Continuous Improvement International, a professional society that you can join today.

In this episode, we'll hear about her Lean Six Sigma origin story (which was in the railroad industry). We'll also hear, at the end, how she applied continuous improvement thinking to her participation in pageants (winning Mrs. Oklahoma).

Topics, questions, and links related to today's episode include:

• How to navigate C.I. in this hybrid work world
• Why start Continuous Improvement International (CII)
• What's the best thing / worst thing about continuous improvement and entrepreneurship?
• Her upcoming conferences in Tulsa and Omaha
• Her articles about C.I. and pageants
  • Continuous Improvement & Beauty Pageants: Making it Stick
  • Continuous Improvement & Beauty Pageants: Finding the Why
  • CI & Beauty Pageants: Post-Mortem – Don’t Steal the Crown

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

C.I. manager and pharmacy system director, Munson Healthcare

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/418

My guests for Episode #418 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast both work for Munson Healthcare in northern Michigan. They are Kaleb Foss, Continuous Improvement department manager, and Butch Bowlby, the system director of Pharmacy.

In this episode, we'll hear about their “Lean origin stories” and we'll hear about the approach to Lean and continuous improvement at Munson. We'll also take a fairly deep dive into the setup of their mass vaccination site (which they set up for employees with just six days' notice!).

Topics, questions, and links related to today's episode include:

• Tell us a little about Munson Healthcare
• What are your Lean origin stories? How did you get exposed to Lean and why is it important to you?
• How would describe the approach to Lean or CI at Munson?
• What does that idea of transformation and a management / operating system mean to you, Butch?
• How would you describe some of the benefits or results that you've seen at Munson Healthcare?
  • Cultural indicators & language, root cause
  • Patient safety
  • Staff safety, psychological safety
• Tell us about the challenge of setting up mass vaccination clinics
• Looking at Zero Waste vs. Zero Harm goals
• Why was standard work and evolving that SW so important?
• Why and how has that focus shifted away from mass sites? What have you done to design a process for that?
• Why and how has the focus shifted away from mass sites? What have you done to design a process for that?
• What comes next for you and Munson??

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

MD, author, Kenagy & Associates

This file has cleaned up audio compared to the initial release.

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/417

My guest for Episode #417 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is John W. Kenagy, MD, MPA, ScD, FACS, of his firm Kenagy & Associates based in Washington state.

John is the author of the book Designed to Adapt: Leading Healthcare in Challenging Times.

Dr. John Kenagy knows healthcare as a physician, executive, academic researcher and advisor.  In addition to his clinical experience as a vascular surgeon, he has been Chief of Surgery, Chief of Staff and Regional Vice President for Business Development in a not-for-profit healthcare system.  But, his most meaningful experience was becoming a patient, as we'll hear about today.

Searching for new answers, he became a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School.  His research included developing disruptive innovation healthcare strategy with Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen and translating to healthcare the drivers of success in resilient, highly adaptive companies like Toyota, Intel and Apple.

Dr. Kenagy is hosting a webinar in the KaiNexus Continuous Improvement webinar series on June 15th. Please join us for that by registering here.

Topics, questions, and links related to today's episode include:

• What's your Lean / Toyota Production System “origin story”?
• What he learned after falling out of a tree in 1982
• What he learned from Clayton Christensen, Kent Bowen & Steve Spear at HBS
• “Toyota enables people to succeed & makes learning part of that success”
• 4 Rules in Use – the essence of TPS
• Spear: Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System
• The rules applied in HC? What did you learn?
• Learned also from Amy Edmondson at HBS
• Learned from Toyota's Mr. Oba
• “Education can get in the way of learning”
• Learned at a smaller TMMK supplier, not at Georgetown, only 120 employees
• What is “adaptive design”? Origins of that phrase?
• Why avoid the word “Lean”?
• Being adaptive in dealing with pandemic challenges — what are the characteristics of their success? 
• Leadership Kata — 5 principles
  • 1) Clear, meaningful objective (hearts & minds)
  • 2) always start small, simple, safe, and fast
  • 3) use relevant (timely, role specific, actionable) info and simple rules, rapid feedback on effects on your action
  • 4) improvements made by teams involving people doing the work
  • 5) replicate and scale, success trust and optimism … never stop 

• What do you mean by “virtuoso leadership”?

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Apologies for the initial editing error... re-releasing this episode. 

Author of Agile Sales: Delivering Customer Journeys of Value and Delight

Show notes and links: https://www.leanblog.org/416

My guest for Episode #416, joining us from Brisbane, Australia, is Brad Jeavons, a principal consultant with SA Partners. His colleague Peter Hines was a guest in Episode #373.

Brad is the author of the book Agile Sales: Delivering Customer Journeys of Value and Delight.

Brad is also the host of The Enterprise Excellence podcast and I was his guest on Episode #20 of that series. You can also find the episode (and more) on YouTube.

Topics, questions, and links related to today's episode include:

• How did you get introduced to Lean? And to Agile?
• What does growing up on a small farm have to do with it?
• Connections between Toyota and farming
• What do you mean by the McDonalds-ization of Lean and what problems does that cause?
• What's the story behind your book?
• Key lessons about improvement work for remote workplaces? Lessons from the last year?
• Why is it so important to focus on purpose? To start with why?
• What are some of your key lessons related to People? Agile? 
• What are some of your lessons about focusing on Process? 
• Your perspective on Lean as a GM as opposed to being a “staff lean guy”?

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Co-founder of the Just-in-Time Cafe

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/415

My guest for Episode #415 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Tracy O'Rourke. She is the co-author of The Problem-Solver's Toolkit: A Surprisingly Simple Guide to Your Lean Six Sigma Journey. She is co-founder of the Just-in-Time Cafe (which producers podcasts, webinars, and more). She is also a self-described “process improvement ZEALOT!”

We had the chance to meet up to visit two vaccination sites in San Diego in March, and the two photos in the post are from that time together (as I blogged about here). That's one of the topics in this episode.

Topics, questions, and links related to today's episode include:

• How did you get introduced to C.I. and what flavor(s)? How did you become a Zealot?
• She is the Lead Instructor at UC San Diego for the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (public offering)
• Visiting the UCSD vaccination sites  – University and health system
  • What we saw
  • Walking the process
• Jerry Wright handed her the torch to be the SoCal Lean Network Chair
• 20 years in consulting, from industry to government, non-profit and education
• Can you tell us about a specific example of some of the work you've done in government? 
  • How do you know that it worked? 
• She's also part of the Lean Communicators Network

President of Effective Performance Solutions

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/414

My guest for Episode #414 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Ryan Weiss. He is president of his firm Effective Performance Strategies, based out of the Chicago area.

Topics, questions, and links related to today's episode include:

• How did you get introduced to Lean?
• Becoming a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt
• How do you engage people? What was your epiphany on people?
• Purpose + People + Process = Performance
• Taxation without representation :: kaizen without participation
• What is TWI?? How were you exposed to Training Within Industry?
  • Other podcasts on TWI from this series
  • Modernizing TWI — some sexist language /scenarios in the original
• What happens when you're promoted as a leader?
• Explaining WHY
• It's not just about manufacturing? 

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

NHS England, Author of "Making Data Count"

Notes and links: https://www.leanblog.org/413

My guest for Episode #413 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Samantha Riley, the Deputy Director of Intensive Support for NHS England and Improvement. Sam is the author of an amazing publication called “Making Data Count,” which you can read and experience freely online.

Sam and I are “Twitter buddies,” as she said and I follow and enjoy her tweets, especially those using the hashtag #PlotTheDots. We are both users and teachers of (and advocates for) the use of Statistical Process Control charts (aka XmR Charts or Process Behavior Charts) as taught by the statistician Don Wheeler.

Topics, questions, and links related to today's episode include:

• What's Sam's professional background and why it's OK that she's not a statistician
• Why are RAG (Red Amber Green) charts or tables insufficient?
• How do you have the conversation with boards, executives, and managers about RAG being insufficient?
  • How to bring people to the table for this learning?
• Why are up/down comparisons and color coding leading to “knee jerk reactions”?
• What is “spuddling“? Why is that a problem?

Spuddling: To make a lot of fuss about trivial things, as if it were important.

• 50% of boards have changed their approach — how has that come to be?
• What language do you use about improving a predictable system?
• How did you get exposed to Statistical Process Control?
• What led to “Making Data Count“?
• What was “the ham sandwich incident”?
  • How can we use these charts to look at our weight and health?
• How to articulate the benefits of SPC?
• Her article in BMJ Leader: National Health Service (NHS) trust boards adopt statistical process control reporting: the impact of the Making Data Count Training Programme

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

My guest for Episode #505 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Art Byrne, who was a guest back in Episode 158 about 12 years ago — we discussed his book The Lean Turnaround.

Episode page with video, transcript, and more: https://leanblog.org/505 

Today, we’re discussing his new book, The Lean Turnaround Answer Book, an edited compilation of his “Ask Art” columns published by the Lean Enterprise Institute.

Art Byrne has been implementing Lean strategy in various U.S.-based manufacturing and service companies, such as Danaher Corporation, for more than 30 years, including The Wiremold Company, which he ran for 11 years. He retired as an Operating Partner at the private equity firm J. W. Childs Associates L.P.

In this episode, Art revisits the podcast after twelve years to discuss his new book, The Lean Turnaround Answer Book, an edited compilation of his "Ask Art" columns from the Lean Enterprise Institute website. Art shares his extensive experience implementing lean strategies across various industries, including his notable work with Wiremold and his role in private equity at JW Childs Associates. The conversation also covers Art's motivations for writing his books and his continuous efforts to disseminate lean knowledge, addressing the practical challenges and questions that arise in Lean implementations.

Art elaborates on the essence of Lean principles, emphasizing the need for a fundamental shift in organizational philosophy and strategy. He recounts his experiences in transforming companies through Lean methodologies, including detailed anecdotes about reducing setup times, managing inventory, and improving operational efficiency. Art highlights the significant impact of lean on organizational performance, customer service, and financial health. The discussion also touches on the challenges of aligning traditional cost accounting with lean practices and the importance of engaging the finance department in the lean journey. Overall, Art's insights offer a comprehensive guide to Lean implementation, reinforced by real-world examples and practical advice.

• Tell us about the book and how this one came to be…
• Cost accounting and inventory?
• Orry Fiume - “Real Numbers” book
• The strategic value of setup reduction?
• How was Lean utilized in your private equity work? How was your role different as a PE partner?
• Looking for companies with a certain Lean potential? What factors are you looking for?
• Best Lean turnaround story? More likely a smaller PE company than a large public company?
• But Lean is not the default management approach for manufacturing? Higher than 10 years ago?
• Boeing - did they forget what Shingujitsu taught them?
• The problems caused by “make the month”

The podcast is brought to you by Stiles Associates, the premier executive search firm specializing in the placement of Lean Transformation executives. With a track record of success spanning over 30 years, it's been the trusted partner for the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare sectors. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Senior Lecturer at MIT, author, entrepreneur

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/412

My guest for Episode #412 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Dr. Jonathan Byrnes, the co-author of the new book Choose Your Customer: How to Compete Against the Digital Giants and Thrive. He is is a Senior Lecturer at MIT, where he has taught about supply chain management and other topics at the graduate level and in executive programs for over 30 years. 

He is Chairman and Founder of Profit Isle, an innovative profit analytics and profit acceleration SaaS software company — AND is President of Jonathan Byrnes & Co., a focused consulting company that he founded in 1976. Dr. Byrnes earned a DBA from Harvard University in 1980, and an MBA from Columbia University in 1974. 

Topics, questions, and links related to today's episode include:

• Article: “How to Manage your Supply Chain Shock Waves“
• May 2020 — what did you predict in that article and how did it play out?
• The bullwhip effect
• The MIT “Beer Game” or “Root Beer Game“
• What can you do when there is variance in supply and variance in demand?
• Lean as a system, including level loading and local suppliers, not just low inventory
• Lean as “cycle time compression” that makes lower inventory possible
• Today's glut of hand sanitizer
• NY Times: Widespread Commodity Shortages Raise Inflation Fears
• WSJ: Auto Makers Retreat From 50 Years of ‘Just in Time' Manufacturing
• Mark's blog post about that

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Crystal Y. Davis, Karyn Ross, Dorsey Sherman

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/411

My guests for Episode #411 are the co-founders or "founding mothers" of the group called "Women In Lean: Our Table." They are Crystal Davis, Karyn Ross, and Dorsey Sherman. Crystal was my guest back in episode 363 and Karyn was my guest in episode 266. Dorsey, welcome as a first-time guest!

All three of them were part of this panel discussion webinar that I moderated last year. Crystal's company is The Lean Coach, Inc., Karyn's is Karyn Ross Consulting, and Dorsey's is Modele Consulting.

Topics and questions in today's episode (and related links):

• How did the Women in Lean group get started, and why?
• Why do they (and many women) feel like they don't have "a seat at the table"?
• Why can "creating your own table" be helpful?
• How can women get involved?
• What can we do about the lack of equal representation on stage at Lean conferences?
• How can men be better allies for women in the Lean community?

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Senior Manager, Lucid - Formerly Toyota & Tesla

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/410

My guest for Episode #410 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Keith Champion, Senior Manager ofOperational Excellence at Lucid Motors, a new entrant in the electric vehicle marketplace, with their Lucid Air luxury sedan hitting the market very soon.

Keith worked for Toyota for more than 17 years (thanks to fellow Toyota alum and previous podcast guest Tim Turner for making the connection). As Keith talks about in the episode, he started as a Team Member at Toyota Georgetown, progressing his career to Team Leader, Group Leader, and other roles. He then spent nine years working for Tesla Motors. Keith then joined Lucid in 2019 -- BTW, the CEO of Lucid, Peter Rawlinson, was previously Vice President of Vehicle Engineering at Tesla and Chief Engineer of the Model S.

Topics and questions in today's episode (and related links):

• What's your Lean / TPS origin story? It sort of starts before Toyota
• What happens when you "pull the andon cord" at Toyota?
• How is Lucid trying to build the culture right the first time?
• What is the leadership team like at Lucid?
• Is there a management "philosophy" as Toyota might talk about?
• What are the core values of Lucid Motors?
• What's the biggest operations (and supply chain) challenge related to starting a new factory in Arizona?
• How do you build for scalability?
• How important is it to have "built in quality" for a luxury vehicle (or any car)?
• What is an empowering continuous improvement program? Not just suggestions, but implement...
• What are the five key goals and metrics that are used throughout the factory?
• Lucid article (and video) about General Assembly
• A look at the paint shop

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

40 years with Toyota, founder and the first president of Toyota China.

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/409

My guest for Episode #409 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Ritsuo Shingo. I first met Mr. Shingo at the Shingo Institute Annual Conference in 2009 when my book Lean Hospitals received the publication prize that's named after his father, Shigeo Shingo. I was also blessed to have time to speak 1x1 with Mr. Shingo, thanks to our mutual friend, the late Norman Bodek, which included discussions about the need for mistake proofing in healthcare -- very vivid memories for me.

Ritsuo Shingo is an expert in leadership with more than 40 years of experience serving at top management positions at Toyota. 

He was the founder and the first president of Toyota China. Under his leadership, Toyota China became one of the most successful ventures of Toyota worldwide. Following this success, he was appointed as the president of Hino Motors and then served as the president of GAC-Hino until 2009.

Shingo was the translator of the first book on Toyota Production System in English written by his father, TPS pioneer, Shigeo Shingo in 1976.  He applied his father's and other TPS pioneers' teachings into his management practices.

Today he dedicates his time to coaching high-level executives as well as teaching the next generation of leaders his learnings from the practice of Toyota style management. He is teaching a virtual master class in leadership and management, which starts this Thursday:

Practical Leadership Skills – Microcertification program in Management

There will be a discount available for listeners of this podcast - use code 8QQV4AWY0VDF and tell them you heard about it via the Lean Blog Podcast. Disclosure: the NK Institute for Human Advancement offered me a free virtual seat in the workshop.

Topics and questions in today's episode include:

• What was the most important thing you learn from your father?
• What do you remember about translating the green book?
• Big misunderstanding… in the West, they thought suppliers should keep big inventory even though Toyota had none
  • Just in time requires local suppliers, frequent deliveries, and high quality
  • You need close relationships with suppliers, win/win collaboration
• How do you explain TPS?
  • “An accumulation of small improvements”
• “Wherever you go, workers are not the problem”
  • “It's a management problem, but sometimes they blame workers”
  • He told a plant manager he was “escaping from his responsibility”
• What is the origin of the term SMED – Single Minute Exchange of Die?
  • What are the golf origins?
  • Should it have been called SDED – Single Digit Exchange of Die, since it means “single digit minutes” not “one minute”?
  • “It's too late”
• You define TPS as “organisational fitness to adapt” rather than a set of methodologies — what do you mean by that? Please tell us more…
  • “Nobody ever told me what Toyota culture was” — the culture is the people
• Is a fully automated plant the best plant? No
• How has Toyota fared so well during the pandemic?
• Helping the supplier reduce costs together, versus just demanding a lower price (Nissan, Tesla, etc.)
• Favorite memories of our friend Norman Bodek?
• Tell us more about the workshop

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Author of new book, trainer, consultant

My guest for Episode #408 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Katie Labedz, the author of the new book How to Improve Absolutely Anything: Continuous Improvement in Your Home, Office and Family Life.

Katie Labedz is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with over 20 years of experience implementing continuous improvement solutions within non-manufacturing and manufacturing environments.  Her company is Learning to Lean.

Katie also has her Master's certification in instructional design, her Project Management Professional (PMP) certification through PMI and is a certified instructor/facilitator through Langevin.

Topics and questions in today's episode include:

• What's your Lean origin story?
• What did you learn moving from IT to manufacturing to working with Lean in office settings?
• How is Lean different with “carpet walkers”?
• How do you define “continuous improvement”?
• When do you need to take a break from improvement to stabilize things?
• Lessons from working on virtual improvement this year?
• Why write the book?
• Favorite practical tips and tricks (Lean methods at home) from the book?
• Lessons about motivations and “resistance to change”?

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/407

My guest for Episode #407 is Joy Mason, a Strategist, Author, Speaker, and Entrepreneur based in Indianapolis. He is President and Senior Business Strategist at her company, Optimist Business Solutions, that she started after 18 years at Eli Lilly.

She is the author of the book The Optimist Workbook: 5 Steps to Sustainable Solutions for Women In Business and also Purpose: A Shift from Driving It to Embracing It.

Topics and questions in today's episode include:

• How Joy got started with continuous improvement
• Being introduced to Six Sigma first… then Lean tools… then looking beyond the tools
• How did “scientific problem solving” resonate with scientists (and others) at Eli Lilly?
• How can you “break down silos” (or is it better to “work across silos”)?
• “Lean before layoffs” or “Lean instead of layoffs”?
• What does being an optimist mean to Joy and why is that important?
• Joy talks about the work she does now, in particular with non-profits

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Veterinarian & Entrepreneur, Ivan Zakharenkov, DVM

My guest for Episode #406 is Dr. Ivan Zakharenkov, he's a doctor of veterinary medicine and he's Chief Executive Officer at the company Veterinary Integration Solutions. He goes by Dr. Zak for short and he's based in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.

I'm joined, as my co-host, by Chip Ponsford, DVM — he was also co-host of Episode #254 with a veterinarian as our guest then, as well. Chip also has a blog called Lean Vets and a book titled Lean Veterinary Practice Management.

Today, we all talk about the important issue of burnout — Ivan wrote a whitepaper on the subject and you can download that as a PDF: “Lean Thinking in Veterinary Organizations to Improve Employee Experience.” He also wrote an MBA dissertation of the same name. In that research, he considered a correlation between human and animal healthcare and proposed that lean thinking can help reduce burnout.

This is a topic that we've explored twice on the podcast with Dr. Paul DeChant, looking at it in the realm of “human healthcare.” I agree that Lean can be part of the solution, in these settings and elsewhere!!

Topics and questions include:

• Tell us about your background as a veterinarian and entrepreneur
• How did you get introduced to Lean?
  • The Goal by Eli Goldratt
  • John Toussaint, MD and the Catalysis Summit
• How bad is the burnout problem? Is it worse for women?
  • Female vets 3.5x rate in society, male vets it's 2.5x
  • Spectrum of burnout?
• What is compassion fatigue vs. burnout?
  • “Compassion fatigue goes away on vacation, burnout is deeper”
• What other conclusions did you draw from your dissertation?
• What are the six triggers of burnout?
• How does Lean address burnout?
• Lean as a technical and social system?

I interviewed Adam a year ago... and his concept (The Wheel of Sustainability) is now a book!

Check out the original episode and enter to win here:

https://www.leanblog.org/2020/03/podcast-362-adam-lawrence-on-kaizen-events-the-wheel-of-sustainability/

CEO at DeondraWardelle.com, Co-host of "KataCon7"

For show notes and discount codes for KataCon7 and for Deondra's workshop, go to http://leanblog.org/405 or scroll down.

My guest for Episode #405 is Deondra Wardelle, CEO of her own company and one of the hosts of next week's virtual KataCon7 event. She is, among other things, a Visionary, Coach, Strategist, Speaker, Consultant, Kata Geek, Leader of the #RootCauseRacism Movement. Her mission is developing a world of problem-solvers.

You can register for 10% off of KataCon7 by using code LF10 (thanks to Lean Frontiers for that code). Deondra is also doing a Strategic Vision Board Workshop on Saturday and you can register with a 20% discount by using code LEANBLOG.

In today's episode, Deondra shares how and why she became a “Kata Geek” and how that built upon her continuous improvement foundations from her time in manufacturing. We'll talk about the similarities with Lean across industries (“it's always going back to the people”) and what “Respect for People” means to her. Deondra shares stories about how Kata helped her become a better manager — less of a micromanager. We also discuss communities including Lean Communicators and Women in Lean.

All of that — and more — in this episode… released early because of the timing with these two events — KataCon7 and Deondra's workshop.

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

Senior Director, Enterprise Continuous Improvement at Cleveland Clinic

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/404

My guest for Episode #404 is Nate Hurle, a Senior Director of Enterprise Continuous Improvement at Cleveland Clinic. He was previously a guest on Episode 282. He was also recently a virtual keynote speaker for the Society for Health Systems annual conference.

Today, Nate shares stories and reflections from the past year — the pandemic year — and how Cleveland Clinic quickly stood up drive-thru testing, how they built a 1000-bed hospital (that thankfully wasn't needed), and how they've been ramping up Covid vaccination.

What happened when Nate got a surprise phone call about the need for testing to be up and running “in a few days.” Why was the approach of “get it up and running… then make it better” a useful one and how were mockups and other methods used to put safety first, given the cars and people on foot.

How did they utilize effective standardized work and training methods, huddles, and continuous improvement methods? Why was the question of “What's the most important problem to solve?” such a useful one?

How are they balancing the need for higher throughput with having a patient experience that's not too rushed? How did Cleveland Clinic get so much done in such a short period of time, and what were the lessons learned that could be applied in more normal times? Why is Cleveland Clinic now looking to continuously improve (again) their Cleveland Clinic Improvement Model?

We also chat a bit about their adoption of “Process Behavior Charts” (as I have written about) and we'll talk about that more in a future episode.

Thanks for listening! Please subscribe (or follow), rate, and review!

My guest for Episode #504 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Katie Anderson, author of the book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn.

Episode page with video, transcript, and more

In this episode, Katie takes the reins along with me, Mark Graban, to discuss the transformative journey of Japan Study Trips. Recognized globally for its rich contributions to modern business practices, Japan has long been a beacon for leadership and continuous improvement. But how can one experience this powerful journey?

Strong leadership is integral to sustaining a culture of improvement. During these trips, participants get to hear from individuals like Katie Anderson, known for her insightful book "Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn." Engaging with thought leaders deepens their understanding of the continuous learning process while expanding their networks. Not only they learn about the principles, they also meet and engage with their pioneers reflecting the deep connection between leadership and continuous learning.

These discussion illuminates the importance of a culture where mistakes are seen as stepping stones to innovation. Personal engagements with companies recognized for their Lean practices reaffirm the significance of 'being over doing,' making these trips a true journey of transformation and discovery.

• Learn more about Katie's November trip that I'm a part of
• Mark's website about Japan Tour
• How can we shift focus from doing to being in order to create a culture where better results and output are achieved?
• What role does continuous learning play in creating and fostering cultures of improvement and growth?
• How do leaders in organizations prioritize being over doing to cultivate a mindset and culture of learning and improvement?
• What are some common production principles and tools observed on shop floors, and how do they align with overall cultural objectives?
• What are the behaviors that need to become standard across an organization to create a culture of kindness, constructive response, and continuous improvement?
• How can leaders in various organizations and industries cultivate a mindset and culture of learning and improvement similar to those seen at Toyota?
• What role does sharing knowledge, stories, and experiences play in enhancing learning and strengthening connections within an organization or across industries?
• How do mistakes and constructive responses to them contribute to shaping a culture focused on learning and growth?

The podcast is brought to you by Stiles Associates, the premier executive search firm specializing in the placement of Lean Transformation executives. With a track record of success spanning over 30 years, it's been the trusted partner for the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare sectors. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Show notes: https://leanblog.org/403

My guest for Episode #403 is Arnout Orelio, author of the book Lean Thinking for Emerging Healthcare Leaders: How to Develop Yourself and Implement Process Improvements.

Arnout is from the Netherlands, but we have crossed paths a number of times when he and many of his Dutch colleagues have come to the U.S. for events like the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, produced by Catalysis. His book, written in English, has a lot of great lessons for leaders and Lean practitioners in American healthcare and beyond. He has also written two books in Dutch.

Arnout and I have strikingly similar professional backgrounds and paths, which we discuss in the episode. We are both engineers who progressed from the automotive industry into healthcare. We talk about how he shifted into healthcare (in 2005, same year as me) and how this experience has reinforced that:

“Leadership is not a person, it’s a process. Everyone can be a leader if you want to change something.”

We talk about the differences in the Dutch healthcare system, at a high level, and the similarities in how Lean can be applied. We also discuss topics near and dear to my heart:

• Why Lean should keep employees (and patients) happy
• Process Behavior Charts
• Training Within Industry / Job Instruction
• Eliminating overburden for healthcare staff (see the first bullet point)
• The relevance of TWI to Covid vaccination

Here are his website and his publisher's websites, so please take a look.

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Founder & President, Jay Hodge & Associates

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/402

My guest for Episode #402 is Jay Hodge, the founder and CEO of Jay Hodge & Associates. He has over 25 years of operational leadership experience in companies such as Toyota, General Motors, Caterpillar, and Tenet Healthcare. Jay is also the author of The Lean Treasure Chest.

We talk about Jay's career — going from teaching the Toyota Production System at General Motors to then actually going and working at Toyota. What did Jay first learn about “efficient operations” and leadership in the United States Marine Corps?

What did Jay learn about culture and servant leadership? What was the most difficult thing about leaving Toyota and going to other environments, including healthcare? How do we teach somebody to manage and to lead instead of just promoting them?

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Co-author of the book Personal Kanban

Show notes: http://www.leanblog.org/401

My guest for Episode #401 is my friend Jim Benson, who you might know as the co-author of the book Personal Kanban (and we talked about that in Episode 155, back in 2012). He was also a guest on Episode #4 of "My Favorite Mistake" with me.

We recorded this using the LinkedIn Live platform. Jim and I have talked a lot (and collaborated) over the years, so we intentionally went into this conversation without much of a plan.

The main theme is "humane management," a phrase of Jim's that I really like. We talk about workplaces, psychological safety (listen to my episode with Amy Edmondson on that), learned helplessness, respect, autonomy, systems thinking, and more.

We also jokingly brainstorm titles for a hypothetical podcast that we would do together. He is going to join me and Jamie Flinchbaugh for the next episode of the "Lean Whiskey" podcast, by the way. Is "Mark and Jim's Vomitorium of Management Ideas" a good name? Probably not.

Jim's company, Modus Institute, has a new "Lean Agile Visual Management Certification and Accreditation Series," so please check it out.

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Author of the newly-updated book, available now. 

Show notes and more: http://www.leanblog.org/400

Wow, 400 Episodes!! 400 episodes in roughly 15.5 years… that's about 800 weeks, or one episode every two weeks, on average, over that time. Thanks again to the late Norm Bodek for the idea to get this podcast started, as I talk about in this memorial video. Thanks to everybody who has listened or participated as a guest!!

My guest for Episode #400 is Jeffrey Liker, the retired University of Michigan professor who has recently released the second updated and revised version of his seminal book The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer. The new edition has more examples from the service sector, including healthcare, and it incorporates “Toyota Kata” approaches (and he credits his former student Mike Rother).

Today, we talk about why he wrote a new edition and what he's learned since the publication of the original back in 2004. We talk about combining the perspectives of industrial engineering and sociology — the mechanistic vs. the organic views of a system like Lean/TPS. What is “coercive bureaucracy” vs. “enabling bureaucracy”? What's the difference between “being Toyota” and “emulating Toyota”?

We also learn a little bit about the musical instrument that Jeff has started playing again. We need to form a Lean band! Maybe not.

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Jeff was previously a guest on episodes 3, 4, 37, 39, 41, and 111

Lesa is the founder of Lesa Nichols Consulting.

Show notes: http://www.leanblog.org/399

My guest for Episode #399 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Lesa Nichols, a former Toyota and TSSC employer who now works with organizations through her company, Lesa Nichols Consulting.

Today, Lesa shares reflections on working closely with the late Hajime Oba. This is the third podcast in a mini series, following my conversations with Steve Spear and with Hide Oba.

In the episode, we talk about topics including:

• Lisa's non-traditional path to TPS: From public relations to the shop floor
• Working with plant president (and future company chairman) Fujio Cho
• Choosing between being a "technical scientist" or a "social scientist" of TPS
• Meeting Mr. Oba and working with TSSC
• Helping find American expertise to learn from
• Becoming a powertrain production manager
• Key lessons from working with Mr. Oba:
  • "Managers must fight to have floor time"
  • "Safety is an assumed thing?" -- what does this mean?
  • Don't look for waste, look for overburden (both physical and mental)
• Why is openly admitting mistakes such an important thing at Toyota
• Why Toyota's "soul is around manufacturing"

Lesa was also a contributor of a chapter to the anthology book Practicing Lean.

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

Co-founders of the firm Integris Performance Advisors

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/398

My guest for Episode #398 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast are Brett M. Cooper and Evans Kerrigan, both co-founders of the firm Integris Performance Advisors. Brett is the President and Evans is the CEO.

They are co-authors of a book with a provocative title: Solving the People Problem: Essential Skills You Need to Lead and Succeed in Today's Workplace.

When I first heard about the book, I challenged them a bit on the title — is this really a “people problem” or a “systemic problem”? We have a really good conversation about all of that today and they ask a question that resonated with me: “The problem begins with you?” meaning that leaders have to go first…

You can learn more via the book's website or Amazon.

In the episode, we talk about the DISC-EQ model of emotional intelligence and you can take a free personal assessment via their website, use code LEANBLOG.

They also answer questions including:

• Why do you say “leadership is a relationship?”
• What are the “essential skills” that leaders need, at a high level?
• What's “the right kind of disagreement” in a workplace?

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

TPS / Lean Consultant based in NYC

https://www.leanblog.org/397

Joining me for Episode #397 is Hide Oba. His father was the late Hajime Oba, famous for his work at Toyota and the TSSC, as Steve Spear and I discussed back in Episode #386.

Hide worked with his father at TSSC and also worked with him through the company H&M Operations Management, LLC. He is based in New York City. He says that his mission is to continue spreading his father's wisdom and I appreciate him doing so here with me on the podcast.

I asked Hide to summarize his father's life and work and he then talks about some of the unique aspects of his approach.

“Going to the shop floor was fun… his hobby.”

Hide tells a story about his father telling Bruce Hamilton, “You should do Kaizen, too,” and you can read Bruce's side of the story here.

We discuss the balance between asking questions versus pointing people in a direction. Hide says Hajime “never asked people what they should do,” but he asked questions based on his vision.

Hajime saw TPS as “management engineering” — being very scientific about creating the right structure that allows you to create a kaizen culture. Hajime was also “careful” about the word “scientific” as it is meant to mean “continuous discovery and learning… understanding why.” Hide says his father was “addicted to learning.” Hajime aimed to always learn from the client.

From the new 2nd edition of The Toyota Way (an interview with Jeff Liker about that is coming soon, by the way):

“Oba said “TPS is built on the scientific way of thinking… How do I respond to this problem? Not a toolbox. You have to be willing to start small, learn through trial and error.”

Hide also talks about how his father visited hospitals in Pittsburgh via Kent Bowen and Paul O'Neill.

We also talk about why others have struggled to copy or emulate Toyota. “Stick to Ohno,” says Hide. Solve problems one at at instead of having a big program. He “never asked a company to start by creating a Lean / CI office, sitting and making presentations.” Hajime said the plant manager is the key person, and he would say,

“Come with me and let's go through the process together.”

Why does the idea of “challenge” not mean “asking people to do things that are impossible?” Why did he “hate giving a format for problem solving?”

We discuss all of that and the idea of “respect for people.” Hide says he father taught that we should “respect humanity” — human life is limited and we shouldn't waste it… that's why we do kaizen. He also “saw a lot of waste in his final days” in the hospital.

I'm very thankful that Hide can keep his father's work and legacy alive for all of us.

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

Consultant, author of a newly-released Lean book

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/396

My guest for Episode #396 is Patrick Adams, the author of the new book (released as a paperback today!), titled Avoiding the Continuous Appearance Trap: 12 Questions to Understand What's Truly Underneath Your Culture. You can learn more about the book at avoidcontinuousappearance.com.

Patrick is CEO / Executive Lean Coach with his firm Patrick Adams Consulting Services and host of the Lean Solutions Podcast (and he had me as his guest last year). Patrick served in the United States Marine Corps for 8 years before he was injured and medically retired. He received his Bachelor of Science from Eastern Michigan University and also holds a Master of Business Administration. He's also a Six Sigma Black Belt.

In today's episode, Patrick talks about how he got introduced to Lean and connections to McDonald's (and the movie “The Founder“). He then talks about his early experiences as a production supervisor in a plastics plant and an auto supplier. We talk about leadership concepts (including servant leadership) that he learned in the military and we learn the story behind the book and why he wrote it.

Norman passed away on December 10, 2020

http://www.leanblog.org/rememberingnorman

I'm republishing a "remastered" and commemorative version of Episode 1 of this podcast series from 2006.

I was incredibly saddened yesterday to hear that Norman Bodek passed away this week. Norman was 88.

This was announced through an email from Norman's company, PCS Press.

Norman Bodek, famed as “the Godfather of Lean”, inducted into Industry Week's and American Manufacturing's Hall of Fame, published over 250 management books, taught at Portland State University, and created the Shingo Prize at Utah State University. He recently wrote “Leader's guide for social responsibility” and this week published CEO Coaching by Kazuyoshi Hisano.

We should all be so fortunate as to be as energetic as Norman was in his 80s. He was an enthusiastic teacher and mentor, but he also had a hunger for learning that was impressive and inspiring.

He suggested that we do an “audio interview” series… that became this podcast and he was the first guest. He was the second guest… in fact, he appeared 14 times.

I’ve written some additional reflections — you can find those, share your own, and find links to all of his past episodes by going to leanblog.org/rememberingnorman

Republishing episode 1… remastered a bit. Boy, the audio quality wasn’t as good back in 2006… I enjoyed re-listening to this the other day. I hope you will too.

Lean practitioner, industrial engineer, and consultant

https://www.leanblog.org/395

My guest for Episode #395 is Michael Parent. He is Managing Director of his firm Right Brain Consulting and he is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt with the AAA Auto Club Group. Michael has a BS in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from William & Mary. Michael and I are both from the same home town, by the way -- Livonia, Michigan.

In today's episode, Michael first shares what he learned working for Bridgestone, a "typical Japanese company, " as he puts it. He learned, among other things, that "culture is everything."

We then talk about the LSS project that he led in HR and Talent Acquisition for the AAA Auto Club Group. What was the problem statement? "Time to fill" a position. What was the approach for the project? Who was involved and how? What was Michael's role as a facilitator? What was learned about the current state and variation in the work? How were the results and benefits determined? And, what were his lessons learned from this work?

His case study is available to read through iSixSigma.com.

My guest for Episode #503 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Sam Morgan of Illuminate Coaching + Consulting. He was previously a guest in Episode #457.

Episode page with video, transcript, and more

Today's episode was originally live-streamed on April 9th... Sam's. been doing a livestream series on "Lean Coaching for Lean Coaches." So, in today's episode, you'll hear Sam coaching me... and then we'll have a broader conversation about the work that he's doing. We can all use a coach!

We embark on a deep dive into creating and harnessing a culture of continuous improvement and Lean in various industries, especially within the healthcare sector. The episode unfolds the role of Lean coaching and the evolution of continuous improvement to meet the current business dynamics.

Mark and Sam engage in a discussion on the intersection of psychological safety and effective continuous improvement. They discuss how creating an environment that facilitates incident reporting without fear of reprisal can lead to reduced adverse events, particularly in high-stakes industries like healthcare. This conversation serves as a guide for leaders to understand the importance of building a culture where openness is promoted, and trust leads to real-world enhancements.

• Going full time - leaving The Standard?
• Entrepreneurial experiments?
• People being coached in live format... and people watching?

The podcast is brought to you by Stiles Associates, the premier executive search firm specializing in the placement of Lean Transformation executives. With a track record of success spanning over 30 years, it's been the trusted partner for the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare sectors. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Nine short discussions with other podcasters

https://www.leanblog.org/394

Today's episode, #394, is a little different. I have nine different guests today... not all at once, but sequentially in today's episode.

Many people have started podcasts (or similar projects) during the pandemic. I've started two (Habitual Excellence and My Favorite Mistake) in addition to this series that's about to hit its 15th birthday).

Some of my guests today started a podcast during the pandemic... some of them were already going. Most of them are doing podcasts related to Lean (and one is a college buddy who has an HR podcast). We've all been part of a formal networking group recently that we call "Lean Communicators." I have experiences to share with them, but I'm also looking to learn from what they're learning as they get started -- what new ideas or best practices was I missing?

I talk with each guest about why they started their podcast or video series, what they've learned, and more.

My guests and their projects are (in order of appearance):

Guest

Speaker, consultant, and coach in the world of software

https://www.leanblog.org/393

Joining me for Episode #393 of the podcast is Woody Zuill, who does "Mob Programming workshops, talks and presentations on agile topics," and "coaches and guides folks interested in creating a wonderful workplace where people can excel in their work, and in their life."

I had a chance to meet Woody last year when I saw him speak at an Agile conference and I really enjoyed his perspectives. Woody has also participated quite a bit in a "Lean Consultants Stuck at Home" group that I had organized earlier in the pandemic times.

Topics today include "flow" in software development, the difference between "mob programming" and "paired programming," and the "no estimates movement" and why that is important. I hope you'll find this interesting even if you don't work in software.

Lean consultant and contributor to "Practicing Lean"

http://www.leanblog.org/392

Joining me for Episode #392 is Mike Leigh, the President of his firm OpX Solutions, LLC. Mike was one of the contributors, writing a chapter for our anthology book Practicing Lean.

Some highlights from Mike's career, from his bio:

• Began his career as an officer in the US Navy in the late ‘80s, specializing in nuclear propulsion and surface warfare
• Mike spent 13 years with General Electric and held various leadership and senior management positions at several different manufacturing sites
• During his last five years with GE, Mike was an internal lean consultant and helped over 25 GE factories/suppliers and hundreds of work teams become more productive, reduce costs, and improve their bottom line
• Had 45 weeks of training by mentors from Shingijutsu, considered by many as the best Lean consultants in the world

Today, we have a wide-ranging conversation, starting off by talking about the need for leaders to "break down barriers" (and to understand what those barriers really are). What lessons did Mike learn about leadership from the Navy? What leadership behaviors are really problematic? And what are the root causes of those behaviors? We talk about all of this and more.

https://vurbl.com/station/5vxV3TPwDGW/