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News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace better.
This week's Mixtape covers Kraft Heinz as a cautionary tale of short-term financial optimization, a comparison of Toyota and Tesla's contrasting manufacturing mindsets around quality and culture, and how generative AI may finally deliver on the unfulfilled promises of electronic health records. The common thread: sustainable results come from investing in people, systems, and purpose — not from chasing quick wins or automating without intention.
Operational Excellence, Improvement, and Innovation
Kraft Heinz and the cost of narrow capitalism
Sustainable operational excellence doesn't come from short-term wins, it comes from leading with purpose, creating lasting value for customers and stakeholders, and unlocking the full potential of people. Yet too many organizations still gamble their future for near-term financial gains.
The consequences are well documented. Companies like Enron, Lehman Brothers, WorldCom, and Carillion prioritized short-term performance and used financial engineering to mask deeper issues only to fail spectacularly. More recently, the rise and unraveling of Kraft Heinz stands as another cautionary example of what happens when financial synergies take precedence over purpose, customer value, and people.
The message is clear: unchecked short-term optimization creates long-term risk.
Toyota vs. Tesla: What manufacturing mindsets reveal about quality and culture
When Tesla took over the former General Motors plant in Fremont – home of the NUMMI experiment that proved Toyota's culture could thrive in the U.S. – it offered a chance to see how new thinking might transform auto manufacturing. But did it?
Tesla's quality has improved, yet its mindset and culture remain fundamentally different from Toyota‘s. Tesla emphasizes automation, speed, and rapid iteration, often fixing problems after the fact and pushing hard to meet targets. Toyota, by contrast, focuses on building quality in from the start, developing people, continuously improving systems, and fostering a culture where speaking up is expected and valued. Both approaches produce results, but whether both will succeed over the long term is still an open question.
How AI is delivering on digital health's promise
Over the past 25 years, healthcare has invested billions in Electronic Health Records (EHRs), promising to transform care delivery and eliminate non-value-added work for clinicians. In reality, most systems were built to optimize billing and data capture, not to give clinicians more time with patients.
Now, a new shift is underway. In A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future, Bob Wachter argues that generative AI is finally beginning to deliver on that long-standing promise. In conversation with Thomas Lee, he highlights how genAI can reduce administrative burden, translate complex medical jargon into plain language, and improve both clinician workflow and patient understanding.
Adoption won't be seamless, and challenges remain. But Wachter estimates that roughly 5-10% of clinicians' tasks could realistically be automated, and importantly, that this represents progress, not loss. By offloading routine work, clinicians can refocus on what matters most, delivering high-quality care. Something the EHRs and shift to digital failed to do.
Creating a Culture of Improvement
In Memory: Bob Chapman – Truly Human Leadership
In March the business world lost a visionary people-first leader: Bob Chapman, former CEO of Barry-Wehmiller and author of Everybody Matters. Once a conventional manager who treated people like line items, Chapman had a life-changing realization – that every employee is someone's beloved child entrusted to his care. He responded by founding Truly Human Leadership, a radical, human-centered management philosophy that helped transform Barry-Wehmiller into a $3.6 billion industrial leader and proved that caring for people drives extraordinary results.
If you're in, or aspiring to be in, a leadership role, read Everybody Matters. Short on time? Watch this short documentary based on the book, and for a deeper, moving look at Truly Human Leadership, don't miss Simon Sinek's interview with Bob Chapman and Barry-Wehmiller employees.
What helps makes a company innovative? Cash and practicality
Nearly every large organization claims innovation in its mission, vision, or values, framed as a survival imperative or competitive edge. Many chase the latest shiny trend, but most efforts amount to “innovation theatre,” quickly swallowed by the inertia of the status quo. How can big organizations create real, lasting conditions for innovation?
Lead change rather than managing it
Leaders are operating in a state of constant change, expected to deliver stronger results faster than ever while also supporting employee well-being and driving adoption. Yet trust in leadership continues to decline, engagement remains persistently low, and only 8% of executives are seen as strong change leaders. It's clear: leaders must move beyond managing change with tools and instead learn to truly lead through it.
Coaching – Developing Self & Others
How to stop procrastinating (according to science)
I usually write this newsletter at least a week in advance of when it gets sent out. But I put it off to the last minute this time. Not because I was “too busy”, but rather I was avoiding the anxiety of feeling like I had nothing to say or offer.
So how did I get unstuck? I started by writing one passage. Procrastinating is not about time-management, but rather emotional regulation.
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