Lean Coffee Talk is a podcast hosted by Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh — authors, speakers, and longtime leaders in the Lean community. Each episode explores practical ideas about Lean leadership, continuous improvement, organizational culture, problem solving, and customer value.
The conversations blend real-world experience from healthcare, manufacturing, technology, and service organizations with reflections on leadership, management mistakes, and what actually works when building high-performing systems.
Unlike scripted interviews, Lean Coffee Talk follows a flexible “Lean Coffee” format — a structured but open discussion driven by questions, observations, and current challenges facing leaders today.
Whether you’re new to Lean or deeply experienced, the goal is simple: share insights that help organizations improve faster, think more clearly, and create better outcomes for customers and employees.
Listen: Here is the episode if you want to stream the audio: In Episode 36, Jamie Flinchbaugh is joined by Chris Kauzmann, an Adjunct Faculty and Innovator in Residence at Lehigh University. Chris, a self-described “bottom shelf” whiskey drinker, joins…
We’re tired, but not tired of whisky. A gemba walk will pick us up… Listen: Here is the episode if you want to stream the audio: In Episode 35, Mark is recently back from his Scotland gemba visit. He isn’t…
Listen: Here is the episode if you want to stream the audio: In Episode 34, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh begin by belatedly celebrating the 3rd birthday of Lean Whiskey. No, this wasn’t a pandemic-launched podcast, although, if we hadn’t…
Listen: Here is the episode if you want to stream the audio: In Episode 33, we recognize some of the back to normal which includes Mark heading out on the road to do consulting again. That brings Mark close enough…
Listen: Here is the episode if you want to stream the audio… scroll down for video: In Episode 32 of “Lean Whiskey,” Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh have a first… comparing two similar whiskeys from the same distiller. In this…
Listen: Here is the episode if you want to stream it (no video this time): In Episode 31 of “Lean Whiskey,” Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh discuss the routines and practices of wrapping up a year, and kicking off a…
In Episode 30 of “Lean Whiskey“, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh find things to celebrate, starting with the fact that we have hit 30 episodes. In that time, we’ve had 14 guests or co-hosts, and tasted 56 different whiskeys (not…
In Episode 29, it’s been a little while since Mark and Jamie got together for Lean Whiskey. We catch up on what’s new, which includes Mark’s new certification with distinction with the WSET Level 2 Spirits certification, and Jamie’s new…
In Episode 28, Mark and Jamie begin by having our spouses pour mystery whiskeys for us. We don’t know what they are when we start drinking them. Mark’s wife at least joins him occasionally in a dram, but Jamie’s wife…
In Episode 27, Mark and Jamie switch things up a bit with a morning recording of the show. While we could have just started our whiskey early, instead we decided to switch to a beverage that shares much of the…
In Episode 26, we accidentally celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with some Irish whiskey, lightly mourn some NCAA March Madness losses (or absences, and Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban welcome guest co-host Adam Zak. We selected Irish whiskey as a category…
In Episode 25, Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban welcome a guest to our show, with Jim Benson joining us. Jim has been a long-time collaborator of Mark’s, and certainly enjoys a dram or two of whiskey. We begin by getting…