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.
“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...
My AI Coach Told Me My Coaching Was Wrong. It Was...
I asked the Lean Hospitals Coach to role-play as a manager bringing me a problem. Then it evaluated my coaching in real time. Within...
