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“So why are you here in Japan?” Kaizen, Popularity, Fads, and Sustainment

Monday, I blogged about the sushi-making class I took on my last Sunday in Japan. Later that same Sunday, I did a walking food tour in the Shibuya area. Walking food tours are a great way to explore and learn about a city.

In our small group, there was a couple from Australia and a retired couple from South Africa.

Between stops on the tour, the South African gentleman, a retired mining company manager or executive, asked me why I was there in Japan for work.

Joe Swartz on Champions of Change, Kaizen, and Healthcare Supply Chains

This podcast is sponsored by Cardinal Health.

Joining me again for episode #301 of the podcast is Joe Swartz, my friend and co-author for our books Healthcare Kaizen and The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen:. You can learn more about our books here. He also contributed a chapter to the book Practicing Lean. (read an excerpt).

Today, we're talking about "Champions of Change," as I've been writing about for Cardinal Health.

Lean Can Be Very Fragile, Especially With Executive Changes

Lean can be very fragile. History shows that Lean can fall apart even in an organization that is years into a "Lean journey" with strong CEO involvement.

How is this possible? If often happens when a new CEO is brought in from the outside. In the case of the manufacturing company, Wiremold, it happened when they were acquired by a French company, Legrand.

As an aside, the team that coined the term "Lean" almost used the term "fragile," as I blogged about here.

Back in 2007, Bob Emiliani joined me for Episode #30 of the podcast. As we revisit the podcast and the new transcript I had made, what are the lessons for manufacturers or hospitals?

What's the risk that's created when new leadership takes over?

Taking Time to Give Thanks and to Take a Break

This is a time of year to give thanks... I have much to be thankful for, so I'm going to start my Thanksgiving break a bit early.

Some of you might have noticed that I was battling some technical glitches and gremlins with the site this week. Working with tech support chewed up about an hour each day this week, so I lost time I might have otherwise spent creating content....

Highlights from a Great Book: “The Leader’s Handbook”

"If we stopped wasting people’s time, what would they do with it?"

I've been going through the book by the late Peter Scholtes: The Leader's Handbook: Making Things Happen, Getting Things Done. His work builds upon the legendary W. Edwards Deming and Russell Ackoff, among others.

I often quote Scholtes (something also attributed to Peter Senge and others) as saying:

"People don't resist change, they resist being changed."
I think that's very insightful and that thought has led me to study change management, "motivational interviewing" and other related topics. It turns out that having the right answer and pushing it on others isn't the best strategy for effecting sustainable change. I had to learn those lessons the hard way and I'm still learning.

Lean Enterprise Institute Announces New CEO

The Lean Enterprise Institute (a former employer of mine from 2009 to 2011) has announced a new CEO, the third in their history following founder James P. Womack and his successor, John Shook.

Their press release:

Lean Enterprise Institute Names Eric Buehrens New CEO

The start of the release:

"The nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute, a global leader in lean thinking and practice, today announced the appointment of Eric Buehrens as its new CEO. The appointment took effect October 1, 2017.

A proven lean thinker and leader, Buehrens led lean transformations at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he served as COO and Interim CEO, and at Reliant Medical Group, a Massachusetts group medical practice, where he was COO."