TL;DR: Lockout/tagout failures kill workers every year–and they’re not “operator errors.” This post explains why ignoring LOTO is a leadership and culture failure, why productivity pressure drives deadly shortcuts, and what Lean leaders must do to put safety truly first.…
This edition of Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape explores productivity, leadership, and change through a systems lens. From Canada’s long-standing productivity challenge and lessons from Toyota Racing Development, to breaking firefighting cultures, rethinking change management, and supporting leaders through the…
In this episode of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast, Dale Lucht reflects on the leadership habits that separate short-lived Lean gains from lasting cultural transformation–and the mistakes leaders must stop repeating. Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more…
When I launched the My Favorite Mistake podcast in September 2020, I hoped to create space for leaders and innovators to share the moments they wished they could take back — and more importantly, what they learned from them. Five…
Fear and futility are two of the biggest barriers to continuous improvement. When people are afraid to speak up–or believe nothing will change–problems stay hidden. Lean leaders can remove fear and futility by creating psychological safety, responding with curiosity, and…
This article is based on my recent Catalysis webinar, “Lean Lessons from Japan: Mindsets, Culture, and the Challenge of Speaking Up.” The session was part of their ongoing learning series, and the recording will be available soon through Catalysis and…
tl;dr Lean doesn’t work without psychological safety. Toyota understands that continuous improvement depends on people feeling safe to speak up about problems, mistakes, and concerns–and believing they’ll be taken seriously. Leaders can’t demand this kind of safety; they create it…
Former Toyota leader Mark Reich explains why Hoshin Kanri is not a top-down planning exercise, but a leadership system for aligning strategy, developing people, and managing on purpose through dialogue, PDCA, and shared ownership. Scroll down for how to subscribe,…
TL;DR: While some Japanese hospitals excel at Lean, many face the same cultural and systemic barriers seen elsewhere. Visiting Japan isn’t about finding a Lean utopia–it’s about sharpening your thinking by seeing what’s possible and how leadership, not geography, drives…
Why Lean Thinking Succeeds in Japan–Not Because of Culture, But Because of Intentional Leadership and Systems One of the most persistent myths I’ve encountered over the years goes something like this: “Well, of course they can do Lean… they’re Japanese.”…
Today’s post is a longer and annotated version of my acceptance speech at last week’s Shingo Conference awards gala. It’s a great honor that The Mistakes That Make Us has received the 2025 Shingo Publication Award. I’d like to use…
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.…
