Popular Posts
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
No posts found.

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

Why Caring Cultures Matter in Lean: Psychological Safety, Respect for People, and Sustainable Improvement

Why Caring Cultures Matter in Lean: Psychological Safety, Respect for People, and Sustainable Improvement

ByMark Graban October 15, 2025 2634
Caring cultures are not “soft” extras in Lean–they are foundational. Caroline Greenlee and Chris Butterworth explain how psychological safety, respect for people, and wellbeing...
Lean Healthcare Leadership: Humility, Psychological Safety, and Sustainable Improvement (with Carlos Scholz)

Lean Healthcare Leadership: Humility, Psychological Safety, and Sustainable Improvement (with Carlos Scholz)

ByMark Graban October 2, 2025 3218
In this episode of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast, Carlos Scholz discusses Lean healthcare leadership, psychological safety, and humility–why improvement depends on leadership behaviors, not...
Previewing the LPPDE 2025 Conference with Geoff Neiley & Andrew Wagner

Previewing the LPPDE 2025 Conference with Geoff Neiley & Andrew Wagner

ByMark Graban September 20, 2025 2789
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guests for this bonus episode of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are Geoff Neiley and Andrew Wagner, talking about the Lean Product & Process...
Profitable at Any Price: Lessons from Toyota, Daily Kaizen, and Safer Workplaces with Gregg Stocker

Profitable at Any Price: Lessons from Toyota, Daily Kaizen, and Safer Workplaces with Gregg Stocker

ByMark Graban September 17, 2025 3294
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #535 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Gregg Stocker, a seasoned Lean practitioner, consultant, and author. Over the...

More Blog Posts

Split factory scene contrasting top-down Lean compliance—checklists, rigid instructions, and disengaged workers—with a collaborative team using a visual improvement board to test ideas, learn, and improve together.

Larry Culp on Resistance to Lean: Compliance Isn’t Belief

Mark GrabanByMark Graban September 1, 2026
In early 2025, Eric Veiel asked Larry Culp a question that most Lean deployment articles skip: when you're getting ready to implement one of these programs, is there some hesitation from the...
Empty seminar room with folding chairs and an overhead projector, one chair lit by window light

You Came Back From the Training Ready. Nobody Around You Could Change a Thing.

Mark GrabanByMark Graban August 31, 2026
Hands in blue medical gloves preparing a syringe over a sterile plastic tray with needles and medical supplies

When “Human Error” Is the Root Cause, the Investigation Stopped Early

Mark GrabanByMark Graban August 29, 2026
scanning medication at the bedside

The Independent Double Check and the Risk of Human Error

Mark GrabanByMark Graban August 28, 2026 148
Illustration of a doctor in a white coat and stethoscope with arms crossed, set against a blurred hospital background

Somebody Pulled the Cord and the Chairman of Radiology Showed Up

Mark GrabanByMark Graban August 27, 2026 55

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

Japan Study Trips: A Voyage of Leadership Discovery; Mark Graban and Katie Anderson Discuss

Japan Study Trips: A Voyage of Leadership Discovery; Mark Graban and Katie Anderson Discuss

ByMark Graban April 4, 2024 Comment (0) 1944
The other day, Katie Anderson and I did a livestream about her November Lean study trip to Japan...
Turning Bad News into Building Blocks: Cultivating a Culture Where Mistakes Fuel Growth

Turning Bad News into Building Blocks: Cultivating a Culture Where Mistakes Fuel Growth

ByMark Graban April 3, 2024 Comment (0) 1664
Embracing Imperfections and Learning from Mistakes: A Leadership Insight from the 2022 AME Annual...
Continuous Improvement Requires Psychological Safety and Problem Solving

Continuous Improvement Requires Psychological Safety and Problem Solving

ByMark Graban February 8, 2024 Comment (0) 2714
TL;DR: Continuous improvement only takes root when psychological safety and problem-solving exist...

Mark Graban on YouTube

Do we want to be right, or help others change? This speaker reel connects psychological safety, problem-solving, and continuous improvement. I’m Mark Graban, an author, speaker, and consultant. In these keynote clips, I discuss stories from Toyota and a comparison with Ford to explore how leadership and culture shape people’s willingness to speak up. The clips cover: - Responding constructively when mistakes happen - Combining psychological safety with practical problem-solving - Modeling vulnerability and rewarding people for speaking up Planning a conference, leadership meeting, or workshop? Let’s discuss your audience and goals. Speaking topics: https://www.markgraban.com/speaking/topics/ Booking inquiries: https://www.markgraban.com/speaking/book-mark/
Mark Graban Speaker Reel | Psychological Safety & Leadership
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
Subscribe

Trending now

Engineer in business casual standing on top of a CEO's desk holding a blueprint, looking down at a seated executive in a dark suit who looks up at him from his leather chair in a high-rise corner office
Fear-Based Leadership Worked at Volkswagen. Until It Didn’t.
Illustration of three hands with different skin tones cradling a glowing orange heart, surrounded by blue and beige abstract leaf shapes
Peter Pronovost on Leading with Love: What the Checklist Needed All Along
Nick Katko in blue shirt beside chalkboard reading ACCOUNTING with chalk gears labeled Payable, Ledger, Assets, Expenditure, Review
Creating a Continuous Improvement System in Accounting: Nick Katko on PDCA, Culture, and Psychological Safety
Man in light blue shirt standing indoors next to icons indicating conditions for speaking up, safe, and worthwhile.
Why People Stay Silent at Work: My New Psychological Safety Course