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.
From Firefighting to Flow — Darren Walsh on Lean Leadership Routines...
Why do so many Lean efforts stall after early wins? In this episode, Darren Walsh explains why firefighting feels productive but prevents real progress--and...
From Coffee Filters to Culture: How Sister Martha Ann Sparked a...
TL;DR for Leaders: A $5 fix to keep coffee filters clean became the first formal Kaizen at Franciscan Health--and helped spark a culture where...
GE’s Larry Culp: Why Lean Thinking Starts with Safety and Respect...
TL;DR Larry Culp, CEO of GE Aerospace, shows that Lean leadership isn't about tools or slogans--it's about daily behaviors. By grounding Lean in safety,...
Designing Systems That Flex–Not Fail–When Demand Peaks
When I placed a mobile order at Starbucks recently, I was told up front that it would take 17 to 20 minutes to receive...
The Lasting Impact of a 2009 Kaizen Study in Emergency Medicine...
Back in 2009, my friend and KaiNexus co-founder Dr. Greg Jacobson and his colleagues at Vanderbilt University Medical Center published an article that still...
What Lean Leaders Can Learn from Dan Quinn: Accountability Without Blame
Leadership isn't about avoiding mistakes--it's about responding to them with honesty and humility.
This week, Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn offered a clear example....
Lean Without Layoffs: Why Protecting Jobs Is Essential for Continuous Improvement
TL;DR: If Lean improvements put jobs at risk, people will stop improving. Organizations that commit to "no layoffs due to Lean" create trust, unlock...
Ghosts, Zombies, and Frankenstein Processes: A Lean Halloween Reflection
tl;dr: Halloween might be about ghosts, zombies, and monsters -- but those same creatures sometimes show up in our organizations all year long. They...
Why Leaders Get Trapped in Firefighting: Nelson Repenning on Lean, Flow,...
Why do capable leaders spend their days firefighting instead of improving the system? In this episode, MIT professor Nelson Repenning explains how poorly designed...
Delta’s $70,000 Slide Mistake Shows Why “Human Error” Is Really a...
A Delta Air Lines flight attendant accidentally deployed an emergency slide, causing $70,000 in damage and delaying passengers for hours. It sounds like a...
How Great Leaders Prevent Mistakes and Learn from the Ones That...
I recently gave a virtual keynote for a global manufacturing company that's a customer of KaiNexus. Their leaders wanted to explore how to strengthen...
Leadership, Laughter, and Lean: How a CEO’s Shaved Head Symbolized $7...
In Lean circles, we talk a lot about leadership commitment. But it's not every day that a CEO puts their hair on the line...
