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.
The ER Wait Time Metric That Can Hide Deteriorating Patient Experience
If your emergency department metric improved this quarter and you felt good about it, the problem might not be your emergency department.
It might be...
“Help Me” Doesn’t Mean “Do It for Me” — What ChatGPT...
I ran an experiment recently. I gave ChatGPT and the Lean Coach AI I built the exact same opening statement about a real problem....
Why Employees Don’t Speak Up — and the Subtle Reasons You...
Every organization has a small number of people who will speak up no matter what. They'll raise the uncomfortable issue in the meeting. They'll...
Toyota vs. Tesla: What Manufacturing Mindsets Reveal About Quality and Culture
Tesla builds cars in what used to be the NUMMI factory, a joint venture between Toyota and GM (which meant it was run as a Toyota plant with "Lean" practices). Before that, it was a dysfunctional GM plant. Now that it's a Tesla plant, did they learn from Toyota or does it seem more like "the old GM?"
Strategy Deployment: Are You Playing Catch Ball or Chucking Rocks?
In strategy deployment -- also known as hoshin kanri -- there's a practice called "catch ball." The metaphor is pretty straightforward. Goals and priorities...
An AI Gave Me an A3 Evaluation. I Needed a Coach.
TL;DR: AI tools can evaluate your A3, but evaluation creates dependence -- coaching develops thinking. I used A3 thinking on the Lean Hospitals Coach...
The Starbucks Mobile Order Timing Problem That Chick-fil-A Already Solved
The whole point of mobile ordering is that your drink is ready when you arrive. You order ahead, you show up, you grab it...
A Coach for the Coach: Why the Lone Wolf Lean Practitioner...
The Problem Nobody Talks About
Here is a scenario that plays out in hospitals and factories every day.
An organization decides to "do Lean." They hire...
Lean Healthcare Study Tour in Japan: September 2026
There are things about Lean you cannot learn from a book, a conference, or a consultant. I say that as someone who writes the...
9 Ways to Use the AI Lean Coach That You Probably...
Most people open the Lean Coach, ask a question about standardized work or value stream mapping, and get a solid answer. That's the obvious...
The Most Misunderstood Role in the Toyota Production System
Jamie Bonini described a person who looks like 25% overhead to a finance team -- but without whom the entire Toyota Production System falls...
Problem-Seeing Eyes Are Everywhere. Problem-Speaking Mouths Are Rare.
TL;DR: Organizations invest in teaching people to see problems and solve problems -- but skip the middle step: making it safe and worthwhile to...
