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When Standard Work Isn’t Followed, Your Reaction Is the Real Standard Do Not Remove: What a Kaizen Binder Taught Me in Japan The First Three Seconds After Someone Admits a Mistake We Thought We Solved That: The Art and Judgment Calls in the PDSA Cycle A Bending Column, a Bad Answer, and the Real Test of a Speak-Up Culture
20 year anniversary lean blog interviews podcast

20 Years Of Lean Podcasting, Thanks to Norman Bodek

ByMark Graban July 16, 2026 Comments (4) 616
Twenty years ago, on July 16, 2006, the Lean Blog Podcast began with a conversation with Norman...
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A Bending Column, a Bad Answer, and the Real Test of a Speak-Up Culture

ByMark Graban July 15, 2026 Comment (0) 132
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We Thought We Solved That: The Art and Judgment Calls in the PDSA Cycle

ByMark Graban July 14, 2026 Comment (0) 156
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The First Three Seconds After Someone Admits a Mistake

ByMark Graban July 13, 2026 Comment (0) 178

Mark Graban

Welcome to my blog!

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

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Books by Mark Graban on Lean, Leadership, and Learning (1)

Lean Blog Interviews Podcast

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Chad Diggs on Building Quality Systems, Not Heroes

ByMark Graban May 20, 2026 1789
Why do so many quality programs fall apart the moment the firefighter walks out the door? In this conversation, Chad Diggs talks about his new book, Below the Surface, and what it takes to...
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Why Most People Don’t Think — and What to Do About It, with Scott Burgmeyer

ByMark Graban April 29, 2026 1684
Scott Burgmeyer, founder and CEO of Become More Group, has spent more than 30 years watching smart people make avoidable decisions — not because they lack intelligence, but because they stopped...
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Creating Value Without Command-and-Control — John Rizzo on Empowering People

ByMark Graban January 21, 2026 2146
In this episode of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast, John Rizzo explains how organizations create lasting value by empowering people instead of relying on command-and-control leadership. The...
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Kathy Miller on “MORE Is Better”: Meaning, Optimism, and Relationships in Operations Leadership

ByMark Graban January 7, 2026 2437
What if stronger operations don't come from doing less–but from leading with more meaning, optimism, and connection? In this conversation, Kathy Miller shares insights from her new book More Is...

More Blog Posts

cartoon illustration of a team member pulling an andon cord

No, One Toyota Worker Can’t Stop the Whole Factory

Mark GrabanByMark Graban June 29, 2026 797
LinkedIn has a genre of infographic that's very popular right now… that's mostly right. You've perhaps seen them. A clean illustration of a Toyota assembly line, a worker reaching up for a cord...
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Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: June 26, 2026

Ryan McCormackByRyan McCormack June 26, 2026 4037
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Why Lean Fails to Stick — with Thomas Cox and Andre DeMerchant

Mark GrabanByMark Graban June 24, 2026 1441
Lean Blog Post Cover Image - 2026-05-04T072020.396

What Toyota’s 1992 Booklet Means by Kaizen and Job Ownership

Mark GrabanByMark Graban June 22, 2026 640
Manga- and anime-influenced editorial illustration in a wide horizontal format. A small lone figure, seen from behind in plain clothes, stands on a glowing crimson ribbon that stretches horizontally across the frame like a floating path. The ribbon gently rises and falls but stays level. The person leans forward with one arm extended, reaching toward a soft sage-green glowing ring far below and ahead across a wide empty gap. Pale cliffs frame the distant lower edges, while most of the image is filled with a vast cream-to-blue sky with thin clouds and ample negative space. The mood is quiet, reflective, and slightly wistful.

Even in Japan: A Target of Zero and a Process That Lives Near Seven Percent

Mark GrabanByMark Graban June 19, 2026 413

Webinars

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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

Smiling men with glasses, one in casual clothing and the other in a suit, against a bokeh background.

5 Big Lean Questions with Mark Graban: Purpose, Misconceptions, and the Path Forward

ByMark Graban December 1, 2025 Comment (0) 1062
Last year, my friend (and long-time fellow blogger) Tim McMahon from the A Lean Journey blog sent me...
A LinkedIn Live Event on Visual Workplaces & Lean Management [Recording]

A LinkedIn Live Event on Visual Workplaces & Lean Management [Recording]

ByMark Graban December 9, 2024 Comment (0) 1177
The recording is available now… How this was promoted: Join us for an unscripted...
Psychological Safety is the Foundation for Continuous Improvement [Video]

Psychological Safety is the Foundation for Continuous Improvement [Video]

ByMark Graban September 16, 2024 Comment (0) 5420
TL;DR: Psychological safety is the foundation of continuous improvement. Without it, Lean tools...
From Strategy to Execution: Webinar with Karen Friedenberg

From Strategy to Execution: Webinar with Karen Friedenberg

ByMark Graban July 17, 2024 Comment (0) 1535
Are you looking to transform your business strategy into actionable results? Join us for our...
Don’t Digitize the Suggestion Box: Build Real Kaizen with KaiNexus

Don’t Digitize the Suggestion Box: Build Real Kaizen with KaiNexus

ByMark Graban June 26, 2024 Comment (0) 1694
TL;DR: Digitizing a suggestion box doesn't fix what's broken. Real Kaizen requires fast feedback...

Mark Graban on YouTube

The phrase that became Larry Kasanoff's whole philosophy came from Oliver Stone, at a bar in New York. "Kid, I like you," Stone said. "You have a touch of the madness." Larry wasn't sure whether to take it as a compliment, until he looked at what had just happened around Platoon. His boss had a touch of the madness, handing an 80-picture slate to a 25-year-old with no track record. Oliver had it, insisting on a Vietnam movie when no one had made one that way. And Larry had it, gambling the best job he'd ever had on a single film. Then the bigger idea landed. The current of the river of life, as Larry puts it, always pulls you toward the middle -- toward the safe, the tried, the comfortable. Companies and people drift there without noticing. The trouble is that audiences, customers, the people you're trying to reach, want what's new and different, and the ones who keep swimming to the middle get eclipsed by the ones who don't. The way you fight that pull is by taking a real swing -- which takes a little bit of crazy. Not recklessness, but the willingness to back an unusual idea instead of settling for everyone's safe second choice. 🔵 Where the phrase "a touch of the madness" actually came from 🔵 Why people and organizations drift toward the middle without noticing 🔵 What that drift costs you when audiences want new and different 🔵 Why taking a big swing requires a little bit of crazy Larry Kasanoff is a film producer and studio head behind Terminator 2, True Lies, Mortal Kombat, and Platoon, and the author of A Touch of the Madness. From the My Favorite Mistake podcast with Mark Graban. Full video: https://youtu.be/Zx9IuIB2m0g #Leadership #Innovation #Creativity #LarryKasanoff #MyFavoriteMistake #Shorts
What Oliver Stone Meant by "A Touch of the Madness" | Larry Kasanoff
The Lean Blog Podcast began on July 16, 2006, with a conversation featuring my friend and mentor, Norman Bodek. To celebrate the podcast’s 20th anniversary, I’m revisiting highlights from that first episode. Norman explains why Quick and Easy Kaizen is different from a kaizen event, how employee ideas can generate substantial results, and why managers should ask questions instead of assuming they have all the answers. Norman also discusses: • Kaizen versus kaikaku • Employee suggestion systems • Trust and respect for people • Giving employees the freedom to improve their own work • A Gulfstream idea that saved thousands of hours • How poorly designed incentives encourage gaming • How one dismissive response can discourage future ideas • Why organizations overlook the knowledge of their own employees Norman passed away in 2020, but his influence continues through the people he taught, the books he wrote and published, and the ideas he helped introduce to a much wider audience. I remain incredibly grateful that he encouraged me to start this podcast and agreed to become its first guest. Listen to the complete original episode: https://leanblog.org/1 Learn more and explore additional episodes: https://www.leanblog.org/podcast #Lean #Kaizen #ContinuousImprovement #NormanBodek #Leadership #ToyotaProductionSystem #RespectForPeople #EmployeeEngagement #LeanManagement
20 Years of the Lean Blog Podcast: Norman Bodek on Kaizen and Employee Ideas
When Terminator 2 was made, it was the most expensive movie ever produced. The effects that defined it -- the liquid-metal T-1000 -- were theoretically possible, and James Cameron had proven the idea on a smaller scale, but nothing like it had ever been done at this size. The film became the dawn of the CGI era. Here is the part Larry Kasanoff finds most interesting, looking back. The studio didn't fully grasp the risk sitting inside those effects. The team was confident, but confidence is not the same as certainty -- and they genuinely did not know whether the effects would work until they saw the first finished shot, halfway through production. A record budget was already committed before anyone could confirm the thing it was riding on. That gap between confidence and certainty is worth sitting with. Bold work often means moving before the proof is in. The skill isn't eliminating the risk -- it's knowing it's there, naming it honestly, and deciding to take the shot anyway, eyes open. 🔵 Why T2 was the most expensive movie ever made at the time 🔵 The liquid-metal effects that launched the age of CGI 🔵 The risk the studio didn't fully see 🔵 The difference between being confident and actually knowing Larry Kasanoff is a film producer and studio head behind Terminator 2, True Lies, Mortal Kombat, and Platoon, and the author of A Touch of the Madness. From the My Favorite Mistake podcast with Mark Graban. Full video: https://youtu.be/Zx9IuIB2m0g #Leadership #Innovation #RiskTaking #LarryKasanoff #MyFavoriteMistake #Shorts
The Most Expensive Movie Ever, and Nobody Knew If It Would Work | Larry Kasanoff
What happens when you pay employees $20 for every improvement idea? Norman Bodek shares a funny Toyota story about an incentive that worked exactly as designed—and not at all as intended. Employees quickly realized that even trivial changes could earn the same reward, allowing one particularly prolific employee to pay for a swimming pool. Toyota stopped the payment program, but Norman’s larger point was not to abandon employee ideas because one incentive was poorly designed. His simpler approach: • Pay $20 when an idea is worth $20 • Thank employees for smaller ideas • Use drawings or modest recognition instead of paying the same amount for every suggestion • Fix the incentive without discarding the improvement system The lesson extends well beyond kaizen: people respond rationally to the systems and incentives leaders create. Watch the full 20th-anniversary episode: https://leanblog.org/1 #Kaizen #Lean #Toyota #ContinuousImprovement #NormanBodek #Leadership #EmployeeIdeas #Incentives #LeanManagement
Toyota Paid $20 Per Idea—Then Employees Gamed the System
A studio once came to Larry Kasanoff wanting content for a new 3D network. He asked the obvious questions -- what do you want, who is it for, why are you doing this? The answers were "we don't know" and "everyone's doing it." Larry passed. The network was gone in six months. He gets the same calls today, except now it's about AI. People tell him what the technology can do and ask what he wants to use it for. His answer is the same every time: he won't build a movie around what the tech can do. The tech has to serve the story, not the other way around. That is the whole principle, and it travels well beyond Hollywood. Adopting a tool because it's the hot thing -- with no clear problem it solves and no idea who it serves -- is a red flag, not a strategy. The question that actually matters isn't "what can this do?" It's "what are we trying to accomplish, and does this help?" 🔵 The 3D network that launched with no idea and folded in six months 🔵 Why "everyone's doing it" is a warning sign, not a reason 🔵 The same trap playing out right now with AI 🔵 Making technology serve the goal instead of driving it Larry Kasanoff is a film producer and studio head behind Terminator 2, True Lies, Mortal Kombat, and Platoon, and the author of A Touch of the Madness. From the My Favorite Mistake podcast with Mark Graban. Full video: https://youtu.be/Zx9IuIB2m0g #Leadership #Innovation #AI #LarryKasanoff #MyFavoriteMistake #Shorts
Tech for Its Own Sake Is a Red Flag | Larry Kasanoff
Early in his career, Larry Kasanoff ran production at a studio that made low-budget horror, sci-fi, and action films. Then a script came across his desk called Platoon. Nobody in it was famous yet. The director's previous film was good but hadn't been a hit. By the studio's formula, there was no reason to make it. Larry had an instinct, and he fought for it. His boss -- a sharp entrepreneur who fired people all the time and wasn't bluffing -- gave him the green light with one condition: if it fails, you're fired. Larry made the call anyway, on the logic that he didn't get into the movie business to play it safe. Platoon won the Academy Award for Best Picture. There are two leadership lessons sitting inside this story, and they pull against each other. A boss gave a young executive room to take a real swing, which is rare and worth studying. But he tied that freedom to the threat of getting fired -- the opposite of a culture where it is safe to take a risk and have it not work out. It is worth asking which part actually produced the result: the trust, or the fear. 🔵 Why the studio's formula said no to Platoon 🔵 What it means to back an instinct when the data disagrees 🔵 The difference between empowering a bet and threatening a firing 🔵 Why playing it safe is its own kind of risk Larry Kasanoff is a film producer and studio head behind Terminator 2, True Lies, Mortal Kombat, and Platoon, and the author of A Touch of the Madness. From the My Favorite Mistake podcast with Mark Graban. Subscribe: [SUBSCRIBE LINK] #Leadership #DecisionMaking #PsychologicalSafety #LarryKasanoff #MyFavoriteMistake #Shorts
Betting My Job on Platoon | Larry Kasanoff #myfavoritemistake
Larry Kasanoff borrowed a rule from legendary auto executive Bob Lutz: a car that some people love and some people hate will beat a car that everyone thinks is just okay. Lutz was talking about car design, but Larry applies it to all creative work -- and to the people you lead. The logic is uncomfortable but hard to argue with. "Okay" is everyone's second choice, and second choices get forgotten. The work that gets remembered, chosen, and talked about is the work somebody was willing to risk being disliked for. Play it safe to avoid criticism and you drift toward the middle, where mediocrity lives. Larry's advice -- the same thing he tells actors before an audition -- is simple: take a shot. For leaders, that is a real tension. The instinct to smooth every edge and please everyone produces products, strategies, and teams that nobody hates and nobody remembers. Standing behind a bolder call means accepting that some people will push back, and being okay with that. 🔵 Why aiming for "okay" quietly makes you forgettable 🔵 The Bob Lutz design rule and what it means for your work 🔵 Why being everyone's second choice is the weakest place to be 🔵 The case for taking a shot instead of playing it safe Larry Kasanoff is a film producer and studio head behind Terminator 2, True Lies, Mortal Kombat, and Platoon, and the author of A Touch of the Madness. From the My Favorite Mistake podcast with Mark Graban. Full video: https://youtu.be/Zx9IuIB2m0g #Leadership #DecisionMaking #Innovation #LarryKasanoff #MyFavoriteMistake #Shorts
Why "Good Enough" Makes You Forgettable | Larry Kasanoff #myfavoritemistake
Larry Kasanoff risked getting fired to greenlight Platoon when nobody famous was in it and the studio didn't want to make it. That bet -- and the philosophy it sparked -- shaped a career spanning Terminator 2, Mortal Kombat, Dirty Dancing, and more than 200 films. In this conversation, Larry shares what "a touch of the madness" means for innovation, why the audience always knows what it wants (even when executives don't), and where the line sits between bold and reckless. 🔵 Why his boss said "if it fails, you're fired" -- and Larry greenlit the movie anyway 🔵 The real story behind T2's helicopter stunt that wasn't in the script 🔵 How a hyperventilating 11-year-old saved a Mortal Kombat character design 🔵 The Dirty Dancing song nobody liked -- until the label changed and nothing else did 🔵 Why algorithm-driven filmmaking produces forgettable work 🔵 A 3D TV network that died in six months because nobody asked "who's the audience?" 🔵 Where AI helps the film business -- and where human creativity can't be replaced 🔵 The practical joke with a 12-foot python that went a little too far Larry Kasanoff is chairman and CEO of Threshold Entertainment and author of A Touch of the Madness. 📖 Book: A Touch of the Madness 🔗 Full episode and show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake357 Subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss new episodes of My Favorite Mistake with Mark Graban. #MyFavoriteMistake #LarryKasanoff #Platoon #Terminator2 #MortalKombat #TouchOfTheMadness #Innovation #Leadership #MovieProducer #FilmIndustry #RiskTaking
He Bet His Career on Platoon — And Won | Larry Kasanoff
One email from Amazon: "This is against our guidelines." No explanation, no chance to fix it. Just her books gone. Publishing strategist Wiebke Tasch had two Amazon accounts, one for her pen name, one for her real name, not knowing that's against the rules. Amazon read it as spam and deleted both accounts along with her bestselling book, right after she'd quit her job to write full time. Full episode - "Why Amazon Deleted Her Bestselling Book Overnight - with Wiebke Tasch": https://youtu.be/i2_wYH7rbTM #MyFavoriteMistake #Amazon #SelfPublishing #AuthorTips #KDP
Two Amazon Accounts, One Innocent Mistake, Her Whole Business Gone
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20 year anniversary lean blog interviews podcast
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