Tag: Culture

Organizational Culture: Leadership, Behavior, and How Work Really Gets Done

Organizational culture isn’t what leaders say—it’s what people experience every day based on management behaviors, systems, and priorities. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections on culture through a Lean lens, exploring how leadership decisions shape trust, psychological safety, learning, and performance. Many of these posts draw on lessons from Deming, Toyota, healthcare, and real organizations to show that culture is not a program to roll out, but an outcome leaders create—intentionally or not.

Why Caring Cultures Matter in Lean: Psychological Safety, Respect for People,...

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Caring cultures are not "soft" extras in Lean--they are foundational. Caroline Greenlee and Chris Butterworth explain how psychological safety, respect for people, and wellbeing...

Leader Standard Work Is About Behavior, Not Just Your Calendar

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TL;DR Leader Standard Work isn't a calendar or a checklist. It's the daily responsibility of leaders to show up with the right behaviors--listening, asking,...

From 5S Frustration to Lean Leadership: A Conversation with a Future...

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Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with a supply chain student (taking undergraduate courses) who reached out with thoughtful questions about Lean principles....

Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: October 3, 2025

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This edition of Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape examines why true operational excellence remains elusive despite decades of tools, frameworks, and good intentions. From...

From Know-It-All to Learn-It-All: Leadership Lessons from Mistakes

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Lessons from my book The Mistakes That Make Us, plus conversations with Phillip Cantrell and Damon Lembi One of the central themes in my book, The...

Plan, Do, Check, Act… or Plan, Do, Cover Your A**? Leadership...

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TL;DR: PDCA is meant to be a learning cycle, but in fear-based cultures it becomes PDCYA--Plan, Do, Cover Your A**. When leaders punish mistakes,...

Speaking at the 2025 Lean Solutions Summit: Why Culture Comes Before...

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I'm excited to announce that I'll be speaking at the 2025 Lean Solutions Summit, which will take place September 24-26 in Detroit, Michigan. This...

Why “You’re Being Safe” Should Be the Norm in Every Operating...

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"I wish moments like this didn't seem so noteworthy. I wish focusing on safety and thanking people for speaking up was the norm in...

KaiNexus Values: How a Startup Built a Culture That Scales (and...

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A lot of companies "define" their values by gathering the leadership team in a room, tossing around words like "integrity" or "excellence," and selecting...

Fear and Futility: Why People Don’t Speak Up–and How Lean Leaders...

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Fear and futility are two of the biggest barriers to continuous improvement. When people are afraid to speak up--or believe nothing will change--problems stay...

Lean Lessons from Japan: Mindsets, Culture, and the Challenge of Speaking...

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This article is based on my recent Catalysis webinar, "Lean Lessons from Japan: Mindsets, Culture, and the Challenge of Speaking Up." The session was...

Kaizen Alone Isn’t Enough: Why Leaders Must Fix the System for...

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TL;DR: Daily Kaizen is essential--but it can't overcome broken systems. Only leaders can fix structural constraints like layout, staffing, policies, and budgets. When leaders...
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