All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
TL;DR: Lean isn’t just about cost. When leaders prioritize cost first, they undermine safety, quality, and engagement–putting a “stick in the spokes” of Lean itself. Don’t Put a Stick in Your Bicycle Spokes There’s a meme going around — maybe…
TL;DR: New Coke failed not because of execution, but because leaders misread data and misunderstood customer loyalty. Forty years later, it remains a powerful lesson in leadership humility, learning from mistakes, and improving systems instead of reacting to noise. Just…
Register via Eventbrite I’m excited to announce that I’ll be participating in the upcoming 4th Rendez-vous Kata, a unique and bilingual (French and English) event that brings together leaders, learners, and kata practitioners from around the world. This year’s theme…
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace…
Nearly 30 years ago, I had my first real encounter with what not to do as a leader. I was working in a General Motors factory where the culture was one of daily disrespect. Leaders–if you could call them that–were…
TL;DR: Lean tools don’t fail because people resist change–they fail because people don’t feel safe. Psychological safety is the starting line for continuous improvement. Without it, huddles, Kaizen boards, and PDCA cycles become empty rituals instead of engines for learning.…
TL;DR: The Red Bead Game shows–everywhere in the world–that blaming people for random variation is ineffective. Only system change drives improvement. So far in 2025, I’ve had the opportunity to facilitate the Red Bead Game in a variety of settings–from…
Lately, I’ve been enjoying the creativity of those AI-generated “action figure career meme” images floating around social media. That got me thinking… what would my action figure evolution look like, over the last 30 years of working in manufacturing, healthcare,…
tl;dr: Toyota treats psychological safety as a core requirement for learning, innovation, and digital transformation–not a “soft” extra. A new Japanese book and firsthand insights show how safety enables stronger TPS, faster learning, and better flow. Psychological Safety as a…
What happens when a CEO treats Lean as a growth system instead of a cost-cutting program? In this episode, Bill Canady shares how he combines Lean, daily management, and the 80/20 principle to drive profitable growth, cultural alignment, and sustained…
One of the most powerful elements of continuous improvement is the ability to learn from each other across organizations–even across industries. That’s one of the core reasons we host the KaiNexus Continuous Improvement webinar series. Our next live session, coming…
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace…