Search Results for swartz

Blog, Interviews

Joe Swartz on Champions of Change, Kaizen, and Healthcare Supply Chains

This podcast is sponsored by Cardinal Health.

Joining me again for episode #301 of the podcast is Joe Swartz, my friend and co-author for our books Healthcare Kaizen and The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen:. You can learn more about our books here. He also contributed a chapter to the book Practicing Lean. (read an excerpt).

Today, we're talking about "Champions of Change," as I've been writing about for Cardinal Health.

Mark Graban
February 20, 2018

Blog, Interviews

10+ Years of Kaizen at Franciscan Health: Joe Swartz on Building a Lean Culture That Lasts

Joining me again for episode #299 of the podcast is Joe Swartz, my friend and esteemed co-author for our books Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements and The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen: Leadership for a Continuously Learning and Improving Organization.

Mark Graban
February 7, 2018

Blog

Mark Graban & Joe Swartz on the “Gemba Academy Podcast”

Thanks to my friends at Gemba Academy for having my Healthcare Kaizen co-author Joe Swartz and me on their podcast, in an episode that was released yesterday.

Mark Graban
March 31, 2017

Blog

#TBT: My Podcast Interview with Joe Swartz on a Kaizen Culture in Healthcare

This post looks back at a podcast that I did a few years ago with Joe Swartz, talking about how he helped introduce Kaizen at Franciscan St. Francis Health and how they’ve built that culture.

Mark Graban
February 23, 2017
1 Comment

Blog

“Practicing Lean” Excerpt: Joe Swartz and His Early “Oops”

Today, I'd like to share an excerpt from a chapter written by Joe Swartz, my co-author for the Healthcare Kaizen books. Joe has been "Practicing Lean" for over 20 years and he humbly shares a story about a mistake made in his early days of Lean.

Mark Graban
March 2, 2016

Blog

Mark Graban & Joe Swartz “Healthcare Kaizen” Workshop — Detroit, January 22, 2014

I’m very excited to announce that my Healthcare Kaizen series co-author, Joe Swartz, will be joining me to run a full-day public registration workshop in the Detroit area on January 22, 2014. Use the link below or code “leanblog” to…

Mark Graban
December 4, 2013

Blog, Interviews

Joe Swartz Discusses Healthcare Kaizen and a Culture of Continuous Improvement in Hospitals

Joining me for episode #187 is Joe Swartz, my friend and esteemed co-author of our books Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements and The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen: Leadership for a Continuously Learning and Improving Organization.…

Mark Graban
September 26, 2013
1 Comment

Blog

The Magic of Small, Odd Experiments: What Rory Sutherland Can Teach Lean Practitioners

Lean Blog Post Cover Image - 2026-05-03T211750.203

TL;DR: Rory Sutherland’s Alchemy is a useful provocation for Lean practitioners. Lean already knows how to test small, low-cost ideas without demanding an airtight ROI in advance. We sometimes forget. A Small Idea, Quietly Killed A few years ago, I…

Mark Graban
May 13, 2026
2 Comments

Blog

The 8 Wastes of Lean: A Practical Guide (With Healthcare Examples)

A busy hospital waiting room with about a dozen patients seated in rows of connected chairs, illustrating the waste of waiting -- one of the eight wastes of Lean.

TL;DR: The eight wastes give you a lens for seeing problems — but Lean isn’t a scavenger hunt for waste. The real work is understanding why waste exists and building systems where people feel safe enough to point it out.…

Mark Graban
April 16, 2026

Blog

Lean Daily Management: What It Is and How to Get Started

A minimalist flat illustration of interconnected elements of lean daily management: a visual board with colored cards, a small group of people in a huddle, a clipboard representing leader standard work, and footprints suggesting a gemba walk.

TL;DR: Lean daily management is the system that makes improvement happen between the projects — visual boards, huddles, gemba walks, leader standard work, and strategy alignment working together. The boards don’t do the work. The leadership behaviors do. Most Lean…

Mark Graban
April 2, 2026
1 Comment

Blog

Kaizen: The Improvement System Most Organizations Talk About but Struggle to Practice

A dusty, padlocked suggestion box mounted on a clean hospital hallway wall, cobwebs forming around the edges, a few paper slips visible through the slot -- untouched and forgotten.

TL;DR: Kaizen means “change for the better.” Everyone improves their own work, one small change at a time, using the scientific method. It’s not a suggestion box — it’s collaborative, fast, and action-oriented. Success depends on leadership engagement and psychological…

Mark Graban
March 10, 2026
2 Comments

Blog

Gemba Walks, Daily Improvement, and the Leadership Behaviors That Make Kaizen Possible

Gemba Walk leadership behaviors discussed at Kaizen Live healthcare event

At our 2016 Kaizen Live! event at Franciscan St. Francis Health, Mischelle McMillin shared practical, honest, and refreshingly human insights on Gemba Walks that remain highly relevant today. This post explores the leadership behaviors that make Gemba Walks effective–and why…

Mark Graban
January 14, 2026
1 Comment

Trending now