Lean Blog Interviews: Real-World Lean Leadership Conversations in Healthcare and Beyond

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.

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.

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!

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. https://www.isixsigma.com/implementation/case-studies/case-study-streamlining-a-hiring-process/

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 Podcast or Project Bella Englebach The Edges of Lean Jon Thurmond The #HRSocialHour Half Hour Brian Buck People, Purpose and Profits Business Coaching Podcast (and YouTube) Jamie V. Parker Lean Leadership For Ops Managers Brion Hurley Lean Six Sigma Bursts and Lean Six Sigma for Good Deondra Wardelle High Five Fridays (and more to come) Paul Critchley The New England Lean Podcast Sam Morgan 90 Second Purpose and C.I. in 5 (YouTube) Patrick Adams The Lean Solutions Podcast

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/

Authors and innovators in Lean Software development, Lean thinkers https://www.leanblog.org/391 My guests for Episode #391 are Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck, the authors of books including Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit, Implementing Lean Software Development, and The Lean Mindset: Ask the Right Questions. In the episode, we'll hear their thoughts on Lean as "a way of thinking that values people" and how teamwork, problem solving, and customer focus are integral to Lean -- in software or otherwise. How can we build capabilities for problem solving ("producing people") and how can we "learn how to learn"? Questions, Links, and More How did you first discover Lean? How did you come to see the potential applications to software development? You published Lean Software Development in 2003 -- how do you define that term “Lean” and what does it mean to you? How has your view of Lean evolved over those 17 years? What have you learned about Lean / TPS from visiting Japan? Your 2013 book is called "The Lean Mindset" -- as the subtitle says, asking the right questions is important... why so? How do we know what the right questions are? 2009 -- Leading Lean Software Development -- another provocative subtitle... "results are not the point" -- what do you mean? LeanEssays.com Their website: http://poppendieck.com/ Mary on Twitter

Manager at Raymond Corporation (part of Toyota) Show notes, with transcript and more: https://www.leanblog.org/390 My guest for Episode #390 is Keith Ingels, the TPS (Toyota Production System) Manager for Raymond Corporation -- Raymond is part of Toyota Material Handling North America, which is part of Toyota Industries. Wait, so a Toyota company needs a "TPS Manager?" Yes, when that company was acquired by Toyota, which creates a need to "become more like Toyota" instead of just "being Toyota." What are the differences between TPS and the Raymond Lean Management System, if any, and why does that terminology matter? What is the "adopt and adapt" strategy and why is that so important? I want to thank Raymond Corp. for making Keith available and for sharing the videos and resources that I've linked to below. Also, here is an article that Keith had published recently on shifting to a culture of continuous improvement.

Author, podcaster, and consultant https://www.leanblog.org/389 My guest for Episode #389 is Elisabeth Swan. She is the co-author of The Problem-Solver's Toolkit and co-host of the Just-in-Time Cafe Podcast. As her bio says, she's "been helping people successfully build their problem-solving muscles for over 30 years, and she loves what she does every single day." In the episode, we discuss brainstorming, using an article she wrote for GoLeanSixSigma.com as the starting point: "Green Belts: Group Brainstorming Is a Waste of Time." Why has classic brainstorming proven to be ineffective, especially in the context of Lean, Six Sigma, or process improvement? And how can it be better given the reality of remote teams? The conversation also veers into talking about Elisabeth's history in improv comedy and how lessons from the improv approach influence her to this day. Why does "structure set you free" in improv or Lean Six Sigma? We'll talk about that and more.

Healthcare leader, coach, and Kata Geek https://www.leanblog.org/388 My guest for Episode #388 is my friend Michael Lombard. I first met Michael when he lived in the DFW area and first got into healthcare. He has been a Lean facilitator / coach in numerous healthcare organizations and has been a hospital CEO in Louisiana before taking his current role, again focusing on process improvement, at Kaiser Permanente in California. Michael is doing a unique and, I think, groundbreaking keynote talk at the upcoming AME Virtual Conference. The session, which he invited me to moderate, is called "Striving together in a crisis: How improvement science can build resiliency in a crisis and perhaps even progress complex social issues." These crises include Covid-19, wildfires, and social injustice and unrest. He will be incorporating videos by two physicians, Dr. Rita Ng and Dr. Carla Wicks and they will both be participating in the Q&A for this "conversation-style" keynote. Our podcast today is a preview of this session. Michael and I also talk about how (and why) he got into healthcare and why the Toyota Kata methodology is so important to him.

Irish Lean healthcare leader and nurse Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/387 My guest for Episode #387 of the podcast is Sán Paul Teeling, who joins us from Dublin, Ireland. He is the Programme Director for the Professional Certificate and Graduate Diploma in Lean Healthcare at UCD Health Systems. Seán Paul is also an Assistant Professor in Health Systems/Mater Lean Academy. He was previously Lean Manager at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital Dublin. You can read his full bio here. Seán Paul and I have collaborated a few times — I was invited to give a virtual lecture last year and I had the opportunity to visit the hospital and the Lean Academy last November, leading a workshop for a group there about continuous improvement and the methods from Measures of Success (yes, I had my “red bead game” kit with me). Seán Paul also invited me to review articles and to contribute an editorial to a special supplement about Lean and Six Sigma in the journal International Journal for Quality in Health Care. In the episode, we discuss the Irish health system and his experience practicing and teaching Lean. We also have the unique opportunity to chat with somebody who designed a Covid-19 clinic and then got treatment in that same clinic (thankfully, he has now recovered). I hope you enjoy the conversation like I did.

I'm crossposting Episode #5 of my new podcast series "My Favorite Mistake." My guest here is Billy Taylor, who was my guest on episodes #293 and 298 of this series, Lean Blog Interviews. Billy is a retired operations executive with Goodyear who now has his own consulting group. In this episode, Billy talks about how he learned from mistakes related to not respecting standards -- when he was a kid and when he was a rising operations leader at Goodyear. I know you'll enjoy this episode as a Lean practitioner and I think you'll like the whole "My Favorite Mistake" series on the theme of learning from mistakes.

MIT professor, author, and consultant http://www.leanblog.org/386 Joining me again for Episode #386 is Steve Spear, who reached out to share recollections of one of his most influential teachers and mentors, Hajime Oba, who passed away earlier this month at 75. I never had the chance to learn directly from Mr. Oba, but he is legendary in Lean circles and I know many people who were deeply influenced by Mr. Oba. I hope to interview more of them in the near future. My deepest condolences go out to Mr. Oba's family, friends, and colleagues. Here is a classic 2001 WSJ article that features him: "How Does Toyota Maintain Quality? Mr. Oba's Hair Dryer Offers a Clue" In today's episode, Steve talks about meeting Mr. Oba and how he learned from him as a PhD student. One story that Steve shares was about sitting at his desk, thinking about a problem, and Mr. Oba told him: "Don't think -- do!" Hajime Oba You'll hear more from Steve talking about the need to learn by doing and to test changes in an experimental fashion. It's not just "do" --- it's Plan Do Check Act (or Plan Do Study Adjust or even Plan Test Study Adjust).

Coach and entrepreneur http://www.leanblog.org/385 My guest for Episode #385 of the podcast is Emily Elrod, the president of the firm Workzbe, based in Georgia. We have shared interests in Lean, ergonomics, healthcare and creating better workplaces. We met earlier this year and she was kind enough to interview me for her YouTube channel. As she describes in the episode, her career has evolved from designing equipment, to wellness and Lean in a health system, to her own firm. Her WISE framework means to work Well, Intelligent, Safe, and Empowered. We'll talk about the need to be “HOT” (Humble, Open, and Transparent), the psychology of change, and more. “I think the biggest threat to health promotion is doing things to people instead of with them.” Emily Elrod I hope you enjoy the conversation like I did.

http://www.leanblog.org/384 Joining me today for Episode #384 of the podcast is Craig Gygi, co-author of the book Six Sigma for Dummies. He also managing principal and owner of the firm Strategic Productivity. You can read his full bio there. He also has an online course called “Truth About Data” which covers statistical process control for business metrics, as I have written about. So, we have that shared interest in data, statistical methods, and problem solving even if he comes at it from a Six Sigma perspective (starting from his days at Motorola) and me from a Lean perspective. Craig's previous leadership roles include: COO, Purple Executive VP of Operations, MasterControl Director Operational Excellence, Fiji Water I hope you enjoy the conversation like I did. You can listen to the audio or watch the video, below.

http://www.leanblog.org/383 Joining me today for Episode #383 of the podcast is Patrick Anderson, the CEO of the Rural Alaska Community Action Program, Inc. (or "RurAL CAP"). Patrick was previously a guest way back in Episodes #53 and #71. Today, we'll talk how ideas from Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Lean have influenced him as he has led different organizations. He shares thoughts about shifting an organization away from a "command and control" approach, what "respect for people" means to him, and he'll also talk about their "performance management system." I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Learn more: http://leanblog.org/audio309 Subscribe: http://myfavoritemistakepodcast.com/

https://www.leanblog.org/382 for show notes and more I'm really excited to be speaking to my guest for Episode #382 of the podcast… he is the legendary Tom Peters — author, speaker, and consultant. His response to me calling him “legendary” at the start of the episode gives you a glimpse into the fun conversation we had on some very important topics. Today, we'll be talking about his “Excellence Manifesto 2020” and a theme he has tweeted about a lot, leading amongst the “madness of Covid-19.” He is the author of 18 books, including: In Search of Excellence (1982) — Dan Pink (my guest in Episode #107) said (here) that it launched the modern biz book genre Thriving on Chaos (1987) Liberation Management The Pursuit of WOW! I've been a huge fan of Tom's since I first saw him give a speech around 1997 or so. The story about Motorola's “six sigma chocolate chip cookies” (read about it here) stuck with me and my recall of that story leads to Tom talking about the risk of any good program becoming codified and bureaucratic, as we discuss early in the podcast. Highlights of Tom's background and early career include: Civil Engineering, Cornell US Navy MBA and PhD at Stanford White House / OMB (Nixon) McKinsey Virtually all Tom's written and speech material covering the last 15+ years is available — free to download — at tompeters.com and excellencenow.com. Much of what Tom says will resonate with Lean practitioners — his focus on people, the need for leaders to really love leading people, and Management by Wandering Around (an approach that might be more like Lean “gemba visits” than you might think). As with his writing, Tom often speaks in ALL CAPS (which I love). With that does come some mild cursing — like a PG-13 movie, but I still need to give it the Apple Podcasts “explicit” rating I do warn you if you are listening in an open workplace with others (and if you are, wear a mask!). I hope you enjoy the conversation, whether you listen or watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7KEqp7vJl9w

http://www.leanblog.org/381 Joining me for the ninth time on the podcast, for Episode #381, is Dr. John Toussaint, chairman of Catalysis. John is author or co-author of three books -- well actually it's four books, as a new one is available for pre-order now with an expected September 1st release: Becoming the Change: Leadership Behavior Strategies for Continuous Improvement in Healthcare. Today, we'll talk about the new book a bit (but we'll save most of that conversation for an upcoming episode with both John and his co-author Kim Barnas). I ask John about healthcare organizations that have been doing really good work during the Covid-19 pandemic. One of those is UMass Memorial Health Care (check out my "Habitual Excellence" podcast with their CEO Dr. Eric Dickson). Another related podcast I've done on that topic is a conversation with Paul Pejsa, also with Catalysis. We also talk about the need to adapt with conferences, as the annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit is now a one-day online virtual event this year. We'll also hear some of John's thoughts on the future of healthcare. I also want to mention a free webinar that John and Kim will be presenting on Wednesday, as part of the KaiNexus webinar series. Click here to register. I hope you enjoy the conversation, whether you listen or watch.

This is an excerpt from Episode #380 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast. Host Mark Graban interviews Dr. Randal Pinkett and Dr. Jeffrey Robinson and, in this clip, they reflect on Randal winning "The Apprentice" (the only person of color to do so) and how Donald Trump asked him if he would share the prize with the runner up, a white woman (Rebecca Jarvis). For a transcript and the entire episode, visit http://leanblog.org/380.

https://www.leanblog.org/380 Today's episode, #380, is very special to me for a number of reasons. For one, it's part of the #RootCauseRacism series that Deondra Wardelle has organized on my blog this week. Secondly, I'm joined by Dr. Randal Pinkett and Dr. Jeffrey Robinson to talk about important issues of race, diversity, and equity in organizations. Together, they are co-authors of the book Black Faces in White Places: 10 Game-Changing Strategies to Achieve Success and Find Greatness and the upcoming book (2021) Black Faces in High Places. Randal Pinkett, Ph.D. is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, and community servant. Randal is the co-founder, Chairman and CEO of his fifth venture, BCT Partners, a multimillion dollar management, technology and policy consulting firm in Newark, NJ, a partner in Blackwell-BCT, a joint venture with Blackwell Consulting Services, and spokesperson for the Minority Information Technology Consortium. He is a Rhodes Scholar and former college athlete who holds five academic degrees from Rutgers, Oxford and MIT (including the Leaders for Global Operations program). He was also famously the first and only black winner of “The Apprentice,” something we will talk about today. Jeffrey A. Robinson, Ph.D. is an award winning business school professor, international speaker and entrepreneur. Since 2008, he has been a leading faculty member at Rutgers Business School where he is an assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship and the founding Assistant Director of The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development. The Center is a unique interdisciplinary venue for innovative thinking and research on entrepreneurial activity and economic development in urban environments. He has an MS in Civil Engineering Management from Georgia Tech University and a Ph.D. in Management from Columbia University. In the episode, we talk about workplace issues related to diversity and inclusion. Should we aspire to a “color blind” world or do we need to recognize and celebrate color? What can we do to turn “white places” into more inclusive places for all? How can the “innovation economy” be made more inclusive, and why is that important? You'll also hear Randal talk about recently re-watching his season of The Apprentice online with his daughter. You can watch a separate 8-minute clip (an excerpt from the full interview) if you are particularly interested in his reflections about winning and being asked to share his win with the runner up. What did Randal learn while working in the Trump Organization? I hope you enjoy the conversation, whether you listen or watch (or read the transcript below).

https://www.leanblog.org/379 My guest for Episode #379, joining me for the fifth time, is Katie Anderson, author of the newly-released book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: Lessons from Toyota Leader Isao Yoshino on a Lifetime of Continuous Learning. In today's episode, we talk about how the book came to be and we, of course, talk about the process — the process of writing and publishing. You might also be interested in the webinar that Katie presented about some themes in the book, along with the separate extended Q&A session that we did. I hope you enjoy the conversation, whether you listen or watch.