TL;DR Larry Culp, CEO of GE Aerospace, shows that Lean leadership isn't about tools or slogans–it's about daily behaviors. By grounding Lean in safety, respect for people, and continuous improvement, Culp practices kaizen at every level, including his own role as CEO. His approach emphasizes getting close to the work, replacing blame with problem-solving, and treating safety and quality as non-negotiable foundations. The takeaway: real Lean transformation happens through consistent habits, humility, and respect–not PowerPoint or short-term fixes.
It's rare to find a Fortune 100 CEO who talks about flow, standard work, and kaizen with the same fluency as a plant manager. Most CEOs delegate “operations” down the hierarchy. Larry Culp does the opposite–he dives into it.
In a recent episode of the Gray Matter podcast hosted by Declan Kelly, Culp — CEO of GE Aerospace and former Danaher CEO — offered one of the clearest windows yet into how Lean thinking shapes his leadership. He didn't talk about strategy decks or restructuring. He talked about practicing, improving, and learning.
“I had a junior high school coach who said, ‘You have to practice. You either get better or you get worse, but you don't stay the same.' That scared me to death,” Culp said.
“The irony was when I later learned more about the Toyota Production System and this idea of kaizen, operationalizing continuous improvement–it was the same idea.”
That simple lesson–get a little better every day–has guided him ever since.
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From Danaher to GE: Learning from the Masters
Culp traced his Lean journey back to his early years at Danaher, when he worked with Japanese consultants who had trained directly under Toyota's pioneers, Shingijutsu. “I went to Japan for a week, built air conditioners at a Toshiba facility, and that was really how I began to understand what this idea of kaizen really was all about–not so much the idea, but how you would operationalize it day in and day out,” he recalled.
One of those consultants, Yukio Katahira, still visits GE Aerospace sites today. “He begins every factory visit the same way: he brings the shop floor operators together for a standing ovation,” Culp said.
“What I've so strongly reinforced is the importance of the people who do the work.”
That emphasis is straight from the Lean playbook: “respect for people” and “process improvement” going hand in hand.
Kaizen at Every Level, Including the CEO
Declan Kelly asked whether Culp ever “Kaizens himself.” Culp didn't hesitate. “All the time,” he said. After board meetings or plant visits, he asks,
“How can I be a better CEO in the fourth quarter than I was in the third?”
It's the same reflective cycle–Plan, Do, Check, Act–that underpins every improvement on the factory floor. Culp applies it to his own leadership. As he put it, “There are plenty of opportunities.”
In Lean terms, that's leadership standard work: not just driving improvement in others, but practicing it personally.
Lean as a System of Behaviors
Culp reminded listeners that Lean isn't a set of tools–it's a set of behaviors. “These behaviors that I've touched on a couple of times, I really believe are timeless,” he said. “Will the next generation of AI algorithms obsolete the respect for people, this idea of getting better every day, or kaizen, let alone that maniacal focus on customers? I doubt it.”
He's right. Technology evolves; principles endure. Whether you're assembling jet engines or managing a hospital, continuous improvement depends on habits of curiosity, reflection, and respect.
Safety and the Purpose of Lean at GE Aerospace
During GE's 2024 Investor Day, Culp said, “Our Lean mantra of SQDC has really been at the heart of the Lean transformation of GE, let alone GE Aerospace. Safety and Quality before Delivery and Cost. Easy to say. Hard to do.“
He went on:
“It really comes back to respect for people, one of the most important tenets of any Lean transformation.”
It's not a coincidence that he begins every leadership meeting with a safety briefing. For Culp, safety isn't a metric–it's a moral obligation. “Roughly 900,000 people are in the air on GE-powered aircraft at any given moment–about three billion passengers a year,” he said. “That is an incredible responsibility.”
That perspective could apply equally well to healthcare or any high-stakes industry: we protect people by improving processes.
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Lean Leadership as Close Work
Culp also talked about the discipline of getting close to the work. “There was really no room for PowerPoint and other forms of superficial management,” he said of his early days at Danaher. “The only way to be substantive is to get down into the detail–whether that's the spec on a new product or getting out on the shop floor, finding that screw that may need a quarter turn in order to drive an improvement in a process yield.”
That line–“no room for PowerPoint”–might be my favorite. It captures something I see in hospitals, factories, and offices alike: when leaders spend more time in conference rooms than in the gemba, improvement becomes theoretical.
Building a Problem-Solving Culture
Under Culp, GE's turnaround isn't just financial–it's cultural. He's pushed hard to replace what he calls a “finger-pointing culture” with a “problem-solving culture.” That transition demands psychological safety: the freedom for people to speak up, surface issues, and test ideas without fear of blame.
When employees feel safe to share bad news or improvement ideas, they stop hiding problems and start solving them. That's the spirit of Kaizen.
Reflection
What's striking about Culp's message is its consistency. Across industries and decades, the fundamentals haven't changed:
- Respect for people is not optional; it's operational.
- Continuous improvement is a habit and a mindset, not a program.
- Safety and quality aren't priorities–they're preconditions.
Larry Culp stands out not because he preaches Lean, but because he lives and leads it. In a business culture that often celebrates the visionary strategist or the dealmaker, he reminds us that transformation happens in the details — on the floor, with the people doing the work, one improvement at a time.
That's what makes his leadership worth studying–not just at GE Aerospace, but anywhere leaders want to build systems that learn, adapt, and improve.
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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.
