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Creating a Continuous Improvement System in Accounting: Nick Katko on PDCA, Culture, and Psychological Safety Signals & Levers: Elisabeth Hendrickson and Joel Tosi on Change Theater, Open Loops, and Systems Thinking for Software Teams How Toyota Turned Around Its Kentucky Plant: Darril Wilburn on Leadership
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Mark Graban

Lean Leadership, Psychological Safety, and Continuous Improvement

Since 2005, LeanBlog.org has shared practical insights from real-world work in healthcare, manufacturing, and beyond.

Books Keynote Speaking Coaching / Advisory Podcasts
Books by Mark Graban on Lean, Leadership, and Learning (4)

Lean Blog Interviews Podcast

Marcia Daszko on Leadership Lessons from Dr. Deming; Pivot Disrupt Transform [Podcast]

Marcia Daszko on Leadership Lessons from Dr. Deming; Pivot Disrupt Transform [Podcast]

ByMark Graban March 26, 2024 3496
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #501 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Marcia Daszko, a speaker, workshop facilitator, and consultant. For more than 25...
500 Episodes and Growing: The History and Evolution of the Lean Blog Podcast

500 Episodes and Growing: The History and Evolution of the Lean Blog Podcast

ByMark Graban March 13, 2024 4354
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #500 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is me, your usual host Mark Graban. Today, I'm mixing up the format with a solo...
Jim Womack on Lean’s Evolution, Boeing, Toyota, and the Future of Improvement

Jim Womack on Lean’s Evolution, Boeing, Toyota, and the Future of Improvement

ByMark Graban February 28, 2024 5653
Jim Womack returns to the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast to reflect on how Lean thinking has evolved–and where it has gone off track. Drawing on decades of firsthand experience, he shares candid...
**Alt Text:** A promotional image featuring Jeff Liker. The background is a blue gradient with diagonal stripes. On the left side of the image, there's a white rectangular banner with bold blue text that reads "JEFF LIKER LEARNING FROM MISTAKES." Below this text, there's a smaller logo for "Lean Blog Interviews" with a photo of Mark Graban and the text "MARK GRABAN" underneath. On the right side of the image, there is a headshot of Jeff Liker, wearing glasses and a light-colored shirt with a blazer.

How Toyota Leaders React to Mistakes: Jeff Liker on Blame, Andon Cords, and Psychological Safety

ByMark Graban February 14, 2024 10023
Jeff Liker explains how Toyota leaders at every level are expected to respond when something goes wrong — and why most other companies default to blame instead. We also dig into the real story...

More Blog Posts

john toussaint collaborative care fox video

ThedaCare’s Collaborative Care, Captured on a 2009 Video

Mark GrabanByMark Graban June 17, 2026 582
Back in 2009, I pointed an early iPhone at my TV and recorded a Fox News segment about ThedaCare's collaborative care model. The footage is grainy. You can see the glare on the screen and hear the...

102 Seconds vs. 300 Seconds: Toyota’s 1992 Case for One-Piece Flow

Mark GrabanByMark Graban June 16, 2026 676
A quiet office meeting in a modern conference room, with one woman in sharp focus looking down with folded hands while colleagues around her continue the discussion in soft blur.

Four Recent Episodes on Why People Stay Silent — and What It Costs

Mark GrabanByMark Graban June 15, 2026 515
Lean Blog Cover (2)

Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: June 12, 2026

Ryan McCormackByRyan McCormack June 12, 2026 4138
Minimalist line chart over a subtle medical center background, with nearly identical data points clustered just above and below a bold horizontal threshold line. Points above the line glow green and points below glow red, suggesting an arbitrary cutoff separating similar results.

A Prize for Variation? What the NHS Backlog Leaderboard Actually Rewards

Mark GrabanByMark Graban June 10, 2026 580

Webinars

karen martin ask the expert webinar kainexus

Ask Karen Martin Anything on Operational Excellence: A KaiNexus Webinar

March 5, 2026
Karen Martin is one of those people I've been lucky to know and learn from for a long time. She's...
1. Professor with glasses in front of EMS 20th anniversary logo and KaiNexus logo on blue background.

Unlock the Power of Leadership: A Preview of the Electrolux Manufacturing System (EMS) Webinar

December 4, 2025
KaiNexus recently hosted a webinar I was especially looking forward to: “Unlock the Power of...
Breaking Through Cultural Friction: Respect for People and Sustainable Performance

Breaking Through Cultural Friction: Respect for People and Sustainable Performance

June 9, 2025
When organizations struggle to sustain Lean transformation, people often look first at tools...
Driving a Culture of Patient Safety: Lessons for Healthcare and Beyond

Driving a Culture of Patient Safety: Lessons for Healthcare and Beyond

April 28, 2025
Recently, I had the pleasure of moderating a webinar titled “Driving a Culture of Transforming...
Why Lean Fails Without Psychological Safety

Why Lean Fails Without Psychological Safety

April 16, 2025
TL;DR: Lean tools don't fail because people resist change–they fail because people don't feel...
Preview: Driving a Culture of Accountability – Transforming Patient Safety with KaiNexus (Webinar, April 15)

Preview: Driving a Culture of Accountability – Transforming Patient Safety with KaiNexus (Webinar, April 15)

April 8, 2025
One of the most powerful elements of continuous improvement is the ability to learn from each other...
My Upcoming Webinar on Mistake-Proofing Across Industries

My Upcoming Webinar on Mistake-Proofing Across Industries

February 3, 2025
I'm excited to be presenting this webinar on February 12th at 1 pm ET as part of the KaiNexus...
Top 5 Takeaways from my KaiNexus Webinar: Psychological Safety as a Precondition for Continuous Improvement

Top 5 Takeaways from my KaiNexus Webinar: Psychological Safety as a Precondition for Continuous Improvement

January 8, 2025
TL;DR: Psychological safety isn't optional for continuous improvement. This KaiNexus webinar...
Creating Leader Standard Work (LSW) Across a Distributed Business Model — Webinar Preview

Creating Leader Standard Work (LSW) Across a Distributed Business Model — Webinar Preview

November 7, 2024
I'm happy to be hosting and moderating this webinar that will be presented by Brent Loescher, a...
Embedding Change Management into your Continuous Improvement Initiatives – Webinar Preview

Embedding Change Management into your Continuous Improvement Initiatives – Webinar Preview

September 25, 2024
I'm happy to be hosting and moderating this webinar that will be presented by Melissa Sherman, a...
View Our “Ask Us Anything” Event on Psychological Safety and Lean

View Our “Ask Us Anything” Event on Psychological Safety and Lean

August 20, 2024
Psychological safety is often described as “feeling safe to speak up.” In Lean...
From Strategy to Execution: Webinar with Karen Friedenberg

From Strategy to Execution: Webinar with Karen Friedenberg

July 17, 2024
Are you looking to transform your business strategy into actionable results? Join us for our...

Videos

[Video] Jamie Flinchbaugh on “Practicing Lean”

[Video] Jamie Flinchbaugh on “Practicing Lean”

ByMark Graban April 29, 2017 Comment (0) 1111
A two-minute video from Jamie about the book and his chapter...
Throwback Thursday: My Interview with Paul O’Neill on Patient Safety & Habitual Excellence

Throwback Thursday: My Interview with Paul O’Neill on Patient Safety & Habitual Excellence

ByMark Graban April 20, 2017 Comment (0) 1184
One of the highlights of my podcasting adventures was the opportunity to interview Paul H. O'Neill...
Ask Us Anything Videos - KaiNexus

Join Us For Another “Ask Us Anything” Broadcast on Tuesday

ByMark Graban February 13, 2017 Comment (0) 873
Dr. Greg Jacobson and I have been co-hosting a live video broadcast called “Ask Us...

Mark Graban on YouTube

A patient was supposed to undergo surgery for a right-sided inguinal hernia. But the incision was made on the left side. Dr. David Mayer, then a senior anesthesia resident, recalls how the operating room team moved quickly into the procedure while everyone focused on their own responsibilities. About two minutes after the incision, the attending surgeon entered the room, looked at the patient, and asked: “I thought this was a right-sided inguinal hernia?” That was the moment the team realized what had happened. In this clip from *My Favorite Mistake*, Dr. Mayer describes the wrong-site surgery that became a defining experience in his career—and helped shape his commitment to patient safety, transparency, and learning from medical errors. The larger lesson isn’t simply “be more careful.” It’s to understand how systems, communication, time pressure, teamwork, and culture can allow an error to reach a patient. Full episode: **The Surgical Mistake That Changed a Doctor’s Life: Dr. David Mayer on Honesty and Patient Safety** #PatientSafety #MedicalErrors #Healthcare #Leadership #SurgicalSafety #MyFavoriteMistake
Wrong-Site Surgery: The Mistake Discovered Mid-Procedure
How did Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky plant go from needing to build almost 90% of its capacity just to break even, to a much healthier 60%? Former Toyota team member Darril Wilburn, co-author with Hiro Yoshiki of Courage, Humility, Kaizen: The Three Disciplines of Toyota Leadership, tells the inside story. We talk about the andon cord myth, “healthy paranoia,” why Toyota never talked about being number one, sending managers back through jishuken, why every VP’s first A3 was sent back by design, and why doing TPS was never the point. Full episode page, links, show notes, and transcript: https://leanblog.org/551 What you’ll learn: 🔵 What really happens when someone pulls the andon cord 🔵 Why psychological safety at Toyota includes being challenged 🔵 How “healthy paranoia” keeps an organization from getting complacent 🔵 How TMMK cut its break-even point from nearly 90% to 60% 🔵 Why Hiro Yoshiki rejected blame and focused on equipping people to succeed 🔵 How Toyota turned its masters’ know-how into teachable curriculum 🔵 Why humility had to be built into how executives were developed Chapters: 00:00 Introducing Darril Wilburn and Courage, Humility, Kaizen 01:47 How Darril met Hiro Yoshiki 05:52 The andon cord myth 07:59 How andon escalation actually works 11:35 Building psychological safety before line-off 13:23 Respect for humanity includes challenge 15:56 Healthy paranoia 18:36 Why Toyota didn’t talk about being number one 20:03 Toyota’s careful entry into the U.S. 22:36 Rapid expansion and a 90% break-even point 24:47 The turnaround: from 90% to 60% 25:39 No blame 27:00 Pulling wisdom out of the masters 30:36 Why expertise had to be dragged out 33:52 Breaking the cycle of rescue teams 35:11 Jishuken and the humility to relearn 37:04 Straight talk instead of spin 40:35 Hiro, not heroes 42:52 Formal and informal communication 46:08 Can you help someone become more humble? 47:42 Every VP sent back on the first A3 51:07 “Doing TPS was never the point” 52:32 Toyota is a business 53:48 Stop counting kaizens when you’re losing money 54:36 Closing Subscribe to Lean Blog Interviews for more conversations on Lean, leadership, continuous improvement, and psychological safety: http://leancast.org/ #Toyota #LeanManagement #ToyotaWay #Kaizen #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement #PsychologicalSafety
Toyota’s Kentucky Turnaround: Courage, Humility, Kaizen | Darril Wilburn
Wrong-site surgery didn’t disappear once healthcare introduced timeouts, checklists, and surgical-site marking. In this clip, Dr. David Mayer explains why those safeguards matter—but also why they aren’t enough on their own. Healthcare began improving these systems because clinicians started talking openly about errors that had previously remained hidden. Without transparency, organizations lose the opportunity to understand how mistakes happen and prevent them from happening again. That’s the larger patient-safety lesson: checklists and mistake-proofing matter, but learning also requires a culture where people can speak openly about errors, near misses, and system failures. This clip is from my My Favorite Mistake conversation with Dr. David Mayer about wrong-site surgery, medical error, transparency, and patient safety. #PatientSafety #MedicalErrors #SurgicalSafety #Healthcare #PsychologicalSafety #MyFavoriteMistake
Why Wrong-Site Surgery Still Happens — Even With Checklists
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