This edition of Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape focuses on what real, sustainable improvement actually requires: leadership commitment, respect for people, and disciplined learning over time. From reframing “continuous improvement” as everyday improvement, to lessons from Larry Culp's lived Lean leadership, to why culture can't be delegated or shortcut, the collection reinforces that meaningful change comes from mindset, systems, and example–not slogans or speed.
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News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace better.
Operational Excellence, Improvement, and Innovation
“Continuous Improvement” sounds too passive. Talk about this instead.
When concepts become overly popular, they often get so diluted they lose meaning and impact. Words like “disruption” or “innovation” are now overused buzzwords that often lack substance. Concepts borrowed from other industries face similar risks, getting lost in translation or distorted to the point of meaninglessness.
Take “continuous improvement” as an example. It's either deeply ingrained in most organizations' mission or dismissed as just another slogan. Many leaders see it as part of “business as usual,” requiring no real effort. Yet authentic, sustainable cultures of continuous improvement are rare, and the gap between what organizations say and do remains wide.
This may be because of how the phrase is understood. Masaaki Imai suggests that simply translating “kaizen” as continuous improvement falls short. A better approach is “everyday improvement, everybody improvement, and everywhere improvement,” which more accurately captures its true spirit and makes it more actionable. Communicate accordingly.
CEO Larry Culp doesn't “do Lean”. He lives it.
Few Fortune 100 CEOs discuss operational excellence with the unwavering commitment and passion that GE's Larry Culp demonstrates. While many refer to continuous improvement vaguely or dismiss it altogether as the key to sustainable value, Culp makes it clear that it's fundamental.
With decades of experience at Danaher and GE, Culp's insistence that respecting people is non-negotiable, that improvement is a mindset, and that safety is a core precondition has never wavered. These principles not only drive results but do so the right way–focused on integrity and long-term success.
As leaders, it's time to adopt this mindset. Prioritize respect, embed continuous improvement into your culture, and uphold safety as a non-negotiable. The long-term benefits depend on it. Will you lead with the same unwavering commitment?
There are no real shortcuts
I worked at an organization that was convinced it could avoid the pain of transformation by either accelerating the work or ‘leapfrogging' key steps, simply by learning from other organizations that have done it before them. But two years in, they realized that the most valuable lessons were learned by doing.
All organizations believe they can “cheat the curve” – the transformation curve. Sure, there is value in learning from other organizations and leaders that are “ahead” of yours, but they didn't get there through shortcuts, and neither will you. Sustainable transformation is cautious and purposeful.
Book Review: Distancing by L. David Marquet and Michael A. Gillespie
I used to have a colleague named Lori who would often wrap up her day by completing tasks that would benefit “future Lori.” At the time, I thought it was a quirky habit. But what she was doing closely aligns with what Marquet and Gillespie call “temporal distancing”–a powerful technique for making better decisions by mentally separating your current self from your future self.
Marquet and Gillespie return to my reading list with Distancing, a practical and accessible guide to smarter decision-making. The book introduces three core ways to reframe situations: seeing yourself as someone else, viewing the environment from a different place, or considering yourself at a different time. These techniques resonated with me because they reinforce methods I already use, like the “balcony moment”–a mental exercise to detach and gain perspective–or “zooming out” to see the bigger picture.
Distancing also explores innovative ways to adopt a third-person perspective and create physical distance for fresh insights. In today's fast-paced world filled with crisis after crisis, this book offers valuable tools to help manage the chaos and make clearer choices.
While I found Distancing helpful, it didn't quite reach the depth of Marquet's other works, such as Turn the Ship Around or Leadership is Language. Nonetheless, I highly recommend it to busy decision-makers seeking practical techniques to navigate complexity with confidence.
Creating a Culture of Improvement
You can't delegate culture.
I worked at an organization that was trying to instill improvement across every level. A year in, the CEO hired a VP of Operational Excellence to spearhead the cultural change so the executive team could “focus on core business.” Clearly, that approach failed. The VP stayed less than a year before leaving, and I remember asking an executive what lessons they took away. Their response was simple:
“You just can't delegate culture.”
Experience shows that leaders who actively model, shape, and teach culture have far better success than those who try to delegate it. Culture isn't something to offload; it's something to lead from the front.
Interested in more? Jamie Flinchbaugh shares some great insights on how leaders, as architects of culture, shape a culture of problem-solving.
Be noble, not cool.
In a similar vein, Patrick Lencioni says,
“if someone reads your values and doesn't see a place for themselves, that's not failure, that's design”.
Too many organizations and their leaders have reduced culture to theatre. The gap between what they say their culture is and what they do is wide. They hire for charisma instead of fit. They say the right things when it's convenient.
“Cool culture performs virtue. Noble culture practices it.”
Make leadership noble, not cool. Why performative cultures break, and real ones last.
Should Business Units make their own strategy?
One of the greatest challenges for management in large organizations is translating the overall enterprise strategy into actionable decisions within individual business units. This process must establish alignment both “horizontally” across units and “vertically” through organizational levels. Some organizations reject the idea of business units developing their own strategies, insisting that functional leaders should focus solely on executing the corporate strategy. However, since strategy fundamentally involves making choices about what to do, and business units must decide what activities to pursue or not, it follows that business units are inherently engaged in strategy. Roger Martin outlines three key responsibilities for functional leaders in crafting effective business unit strategies.
5 strategic decisions for building organizational change capability
Relying on your PM to “do change management” has been repeatedly shown to be insufficient. Organizations are better served by building change as a basic muscle that they exercise routinely. Here are 5 strategic decisions for building organizational change capability.
Coaching – Developing Self & Others
Too much change? Here's what helps
It's true that humans are extremely adaptable. But learning and unlearning come at a cost, and this tax increases when there is no time to stabilize into efficient patterns. Instead of simply “pushing through” try these three recommendations from Ness Labs on what to do when there's too much change.
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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.
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