Note from 2026: I first published this in 2010. The idea that Lean is loving care came from clinicians at St. Elisabeth Hospital in Tilburg, the Netherlands, and it has held up better than most of what I wrote that year. I have added links and context below. The original post follows, slightly edited. Where the phrase “loving care” came from Pictured below is Dr. Jacob Caron, an orthopedic surgeon at St. Elisabeth Hospital in … Continue reading Lean Is Loving Care: A Dutch Hospital’s Sense of Purpose