TL;DR: Pursuing zero harm isn't about unrealistic goals or punishing people for failure. It's a leadership choice that creates psychological safety, accelerates learning, and strengthens Lean systems. When organizations treat safety–physical, emotional, and professional–as a non-negotiable value, improvement capability follows in every industry.
When I first shared this conversation and webinar in 2019, the idea of pursuing zero harm was still controversial in many organizations. In 2026, that resistance hasn't fully disappeared–but the evidence has only grown stronger. Across healthcare, manufacturing, and other industries, leaders continue to rediscover the same lesson Paul O'Neill demonstrated years ago at Alcoa: when safety becomes a true north–not a slogan–it creates the conditions for learning, psychological safety, and sustained Lean improvement.
I'm very happy that my friend and long-time colleague, Meghan Scanlon, a Principal with the firm Value Capture, presented a webinar that KaiNexus and I hosted on February 27th:
Pursuing Zero Harm: A Powerful Platform for Embedding Lean Capability
Click here to register to view the slides (it's free).
The firm Value Capture was founded by the amazing Paul O'Neill (listen to my podcast with him about leadership and patient safety from a few years back). Mr. O'Neill was the CEO of Alcoa and made employee safety the primary aim and focus… which created “habitual excellence” and better performance in every dimension, including the stock price. Employee harm went down, stock price went up. Mr. O'Neill has been a leader in trying to bring these mindsets and principles into healthcare. One of those ways is the work Value Capture does in healthcare.
Pursuing zero harm is not about unrealistic targets–it's about leadership, systems, and psychological safety.
Disclosure: I sometimes work as a senior advisor with Value Capture.
Meghan is well-suited to give this talk, given her 15 years of experience in healthcare improvement. Meghan and I worked together when I was part of the team at Johnson & Johnson's ValuMetrix Services consulting group. I'm excited that she has the time to do this.
This webinar will be of value to people in any industry — using employee safety and/or patient safety as a rallying cry for improvement.
We recorded a short podcast discussion for the KaiNexus podcast series, with audio and a transcript following below in this post.
Preview Podcast Audio:
Webinar Recording:
Preview Podcast Conversation: Why Zero Harm Is a Powerful Platform for Lean
Introducing the Webinar and Guest
Mark Graban:
Hi, this is Mark Graban from KaiNexus. Today, we're joined by Meghan Scanlon. We're previewing the webinar she'll be presenting on February 27 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. The title of the webinar is “Pursuing Zero Harm: A Powerful Platform for Embedding Lean Capability.”
You can register by going to www.kainexus.com/webinars.
Meghan, thank you for joining us today. How are you?
Meghan Scanlon:
Thanks, Mark. Thanks for having me.
Mark:
Thanks in advance for doing the webinar. Let's start by having you introduce yourself and share a bit more about your background than we'll be able to cover during the session.
Meghan's Background and Path into Improvement Work
Meghan:
Absolutely. My name is Meghan Scanlon, and I work for Value Capture. We're a healthcare-focused firm based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, influenced strongly by one of our founders, Paul O'Neill, former CEO of Alcoa and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President George W. Bush.
Our passion comes from the power of safety as a transformational platform for organizations that want to be the best at what they do. My background is as an industrial engineer.
Right out of university, I joined Johnson & Johnson, where I worked in manufacturing environments applying Lean and TPS principles to deliver better value to customers and improve our own processes.
Over time, I joined a group that helped bring those same principles to the end users of our products–not just focusing on the products themselves, but on clinical medicine, laboratory medicine, and pathology through a value stream perspective. That's actually where I met you, Mark, through the ValuMetrix Services group.
As my career progressed, I became more interested in organizational strategy–how improvement efforts can scale beyond local gains to create sustained, values-based cultural change. That interest ultimately drew me to Value Capture, where I've spent the past five years working with leaders on that broader journey.
What's especially exciting is exploring how engaging senior leaders and using safety as a precursor to excellence can drive lasting improvement.
Why Safety Resonates Across Industries
Mark:
You've touched on this already, but Lean–and safety as a driving force–applies across industries. Can you say more about that?
Meghan:
Absolutely. When you think about organizational strategy, a key question is how you engage hearts and minds–and hearts and minds are universal because organizations are made up of people.
We work across many industries, and putting worker safety first is something everyone can relate to. In healthcare, patient safety often gets the most attention, but more organizations are recognizing that we can't provide the best care for patients if the people delivering that care are being harmed.
No one should go to work and get hurt. If people can't return home in the same condition they arrived, that's a serious problem–and one worth rallying around.
Expanding the Definition of Safety
Mark:
That really reflects a values-based principle–that nobody should get hurt at work. And safety isn't just physical, right? There's also psychological and professional safety.
Meghan:
Absolutely. At Value Capture, we tend to define safety in three ways.
Physical safety is the most intuitive. Emotional safety–or emotional harm–relates to how people internalize blame when something goes wrong. You often hear, “My fault,” or “I messed up,” even when the issue is really systemic. That self-blame prevents organizations from learning.
Professional safety is the ability to speak up about problems without fear of punishment or career consequences. Leaders need to ask: How willing are people to surface problems? What happens when they do? If people fear repercussions, problems stay hidden.
These dimensions of safety are deeply cultural and are shaped–directly and indirectly–by leadership behavior.
Why “Zero Harm” Matters as a True North Goal
Mark:
This leads to the core theme of your webinar: pursuing zero harm. Why is zero such an important goal, rather than simply reducing harm?
Meghan:
That's a great question. The distinction comes down to true north goals versus incremental targets.
Setting a goal of zero–or perfection–is meant to free the organization. It acknowledges that current systems aren't capable of producing perfect results and gives permission to challenge assumptions, constraints, and existing designs.
Organizations produce results exactly as they're designed today. If we want fundamentally different outcomes, we need fundamentally different thinking. Zero creates urgency, focus, and alignment. It also clarifies priorities–because if everything is important, nothing truly is.
If zero isn't the goal, we're implicitly saying some harm is acceptable. And no one wants to volunteer to be the person harmed today. One is too many–so zero is the only value-consistent target.
Is Talk of Zero Harm Demoralizing?
Mark:
Some leaders worry that aiming for zero could be demoralizing. If perfection isn't achievable, why set the bar there?
Meghan:
I hear that concern a lot. Zero is only demoralizing if leaders respond to problems with blame or punishment.
When problems are treated as opportunities to learn–and when people feel supported–zero becomes energizing rather than discouraging. That's where professional safety really matters.
Leadership sets the tone. Zero harm works when leaders consistently reinforce learning, curiosity, and improvement–not fear.
Closing and Invitation
Mark:
That's very well said. I hope everyone listening is as excited as I am to hear more during the webinar.
Our guest today has been Meghan Scanlon from Value Capture. She'll be presenting “Pursuing Zero Harm: A Powerful Platform for Embedding Lean Capability” on February 27, hosted by KaiNexus.
You can register at www.kainexus.com/webinars.
Meghan, thanks again for the conversation–and for the upcoming webinar.
Meghan:
Thank you, Mark. I'm really looking forward to it.
Why Aiming for Zero Harm Still Matters in 2026
More than a decade after Paul O'Neill challenged organizations to aim for zero harm, the idea still provokes debate. But the core lesson hasn't changed: zero harm isn't about perfection, punishment, or unrealistic expectations. It's about leadership setting a clear moral aim and then building systems that make learning possible.
As Meghan highlights in this conversation, zero harm works when leaders pair aspiration with psychological and professional safety. People need to know they won't be blamed for surfacing problems–and that leaders are genuinely interested in improving systems, not assigning fault. Without that foundation, “zero” becomes a slogan. With it, zero becomes a powerful catalyst for engagement, innovation, and sustained improvement.
Whether in healthcare, manufacturing, or any other industry, safety remains one of the most universal ways to align hearts, minds, and systems. When leaders treat harm–physical, emotional, or professional–as unacceptable, they create the conditions for Lean to take root and endure.
If this topic resonates, I encourage you to watch the full webinar and reflect on how safety is currently positioned in your own organization–not just as a metric, but as a value that shapes everyday leadership behavior.
Please scroll down (or click) to post a comment. Connect with me on LinkedIn.
If you’re working to build a culture where people feel safe to speak up, solve problems, and improve every day, I’d be glad to help. Let’s talk about how to strengthen Psychological Safety and Continuous Improvement in your organization.
