Growing grapes and making wine is certainly an art… but when you look into it there’s a lot of process involved. As I wrote about a bit last week, my wife and I recently spent two days in Sonoma County…
Mark’s note: Today’s guest post is by Michael Grogan, a native of Ireland who left his Lean job in the U.S. to follow his calling to help bring Lean healthcare to Tanzania. Read his blog post about his first 79…
Mark’s note: Today’s post is by a good friend in the lean healthcare world, Mark Welch (no relation to Jack). Today’s post is thought-provoking in terms of finding the balance between efficiency and building relationships in today’s workplace. He also…
Joining me once again for episode #176 is my mentor and good friend Norman Bodek, who has been a guest many times here. Today, we are talking about his latest book, The Harada Method: The Spirit of Self-Reliance.
Listen My guest for podcast #175 is Mike Taubitz of the firm Sustainable Lean and FDR Safety. Mike is a retired GM employee (including a stint as Global Safety Director) and we met at the Michigan Lean Consortium conference in 2011.…
Mistake-proofing vs. warning signs is not a close contest. Signs rely on people paying attention in the moment. Mistake-proofing removes the chance to fail in the first place. My friend Chad Walters has contributed guest posts to my blog (and…
Hat tip to Kevin Meyer for sending me a link to this ridiculous post from the website of Minitab, the maker of statistical software that’s used by Six Sigma belts: “Lean, Six Sigma, or Lean Six Sigma?“ I’m sure my…
I’ve re-read this article a number of times: “Cancer clinics are turning away thousands of Medicare patients. Blame the sequester.” It’s a sad situation – the federal government, via Medicare, has cut the reimbursement to cancer clinics for chemotherapy treatment…
Listen: My guest for episode #171 is Chad Walters, a friend and a Lean consultant. He is owner of Lean Blitz Consulting in Augusta, Georgia, a firm focused on continuous improvement for small businesses and sports organizations. I’m a big…
After the nice response to Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, I often get asked, “So, what’s your next book going to be?” (other than the upcoming Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen, that is). I’ve had people suggest writing something about…
My guest for episode #168 is Carolyn McCulley, from CityGate Films, and she is a co-director and producer of the upcoming documentary called “Breaking the Wall of Silence,” which sheds light on patient safety challenges in healthcare — but more…
Producer Clare Crawford-Mason shares behind-the-scenes stories of W. Edwards Deming and the 1980 NBC documentary If Japan Can Do It, Why Can’t We?–and reflects on Deming’s lasting impact on management, healthcare, and leadership. Listen: My guest for episode #167 is…
