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.
Process Behavior Charts: A Better Way to Use Metrics Without Overreacting
Process behavior charts help leaders distinguish signal from noise in their metrics, so they can stop overreacting to routine variation and focus on real...
Gemba Claus Is Comin’ to Town: A Lean Christmas Song Parody
TL;DR: A Lean-themed Christmas song parody that mixes kaizen, gemba, and holiday humor--just for fun, and maybe a little reflection.
Here's a musical holiday treat...
LeanBlog.org 2025 Second Half Top 10: Most-Read Articles on Lean, Leadership,...
TL;DR: These were the 10 most-read LeanBlog.org posts from July-December 2025, based on Google Analytics.
Each year, I take a year-end look at what readers...
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
A 2005 tour of the NUMMI plant revealed lessons about Lean that had little to do with tools and everything to do with leadership,...
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
Why do so many Lean efforts fail in offices, engineering, and executive work? In this episode, Don Kieffer explains why copying Toyota's rituals misses...
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.
