Mark Graban
Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker, and podcaster with experience in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups.
Mark's latest book is The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation, a recipient of the Shingo Publication Award.
He is also the author of Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, and the anthology Practicing Lean, previous Shingo recipients.
Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.
U.S. Measles Cases Over Time: Signal or Noise in the Data?
tl;dr: Headlines comparing two years of measles cases can be misleading. Looking at the full CDC time series with Process Behavior Charts shows that...
A Christmas Tale That Explains Process Behavior Charts
The Christmas Tale / Le Conte de Noël
Two years ago, I received an unexpected and incredibly specific Christmas gift from Charles Desneuf on LinkedIn....
Five NUMMI Tour Lessons That Still Define Lean Thinking
In 2005, I had the opportunity to tour the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California -- the Toyota-GM joint venture that became legendary in Lean...
Digital Support for a Culture of Improvement: A Reflection on Electrolux...
In a webinar I hosted with Sandro Casagrande from Electrolux, we reflected on the 20-year evolution of their Electrolux Manufacturing System (EMS). One of...
Unlock the Power of Leadership: A Preview of the Electrolux Manufacturing...
KaiNexus recently hosted a webinar I was especially looking forward to: "Unlock the Power of Leadership: The Electrolux Manufacturing System (EMS) Way," presented by...
How Don Kieffer Applies Toyota Thinking to Modern Knowledge Work
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more
My guest for Episode #540 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Don Kieffer--executive consultant, former...
Gas Prices and Bad Metrics: Why Snapshot Comparisons Mislead Us
We love comparisons.
Today vs. last week
This month vs. last month
This year vs. last year
It feels responsible. Analytical. "Data driven." But most of the time,...
5 Big Lean Questions with Mark Graban: Purpose, Misconceptions, and the...
Last year, my friend (and long-time fellow blogger) Tim McMahon from the A Lean Journey blog sent me a set of questions he's asked...
Why Lean Leaders Should Be Thankful for Problems, Waste, and Mistakes
At the hospital on Monday, a chaplain shared a Thanksgiving poem on the theme of being grateful.
It struck a chord with me. As a Lean practitioner, it's easy to focus on the waste... the problems... the gaps. We think about what could be and the "ideal state." We strive for perfection and it's easy to lose site of what we have.
Stop Forcing Change: Use These Motivational Interviewing Questions Instead
When we think about how change happens in organizations, especially those practicing Lean, we often focus on tools, plans, and communication strategies. But what...
You Can’t Cherry-Pick Lean: Why Pull, Heijunka, and CI Don’t Stick
tl;dr: Lean fails when organizations cherry-pick tools like 5S, pull, or heijunka without adopting Lean as a complete management system. Sustainable results require long-term...
Unlearning Old Habits: What a Pickleball Mistake Taught Me About Feedback...
What Pickleball Taught Me About Kindness, Kaizen, and Culture
"Don't worry about your mistakes--you're learning."
That's what an instructor said during my first 1x1 lesson at...
