tl;dr: Toyota’s long-term success comes from treating Lean as a people development system, not a toolbox. By prioritizing learning, coaching, and growth over short-term results, Toyota builds stronger capabilities–and better outcomes–over time. When most organizations talk about Lean, they start…
I had a great time and learned so much as a guest of Honsha and their Executive Development Mission trip to Japan in October. The formal site visits to factories and companies were great, but a lot of the learning…
Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients Hospitals have been collecting patient complaint data for decades, but leveraging the data for improvement has remained elusive. Some new publications show how using a big data approach for patient complaint data can help identify…
Today, I'll be appearing live as a guest on the live internet show "Quality Digest Live." You can watch live at 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT on Friday...
QualityDigest.com also recently published a review of my book Measures of Success and we'll be discussing the book and more on the show.
I also recently discovered this short podcast episode / review about my book, from the "Improve Something Today" podcast by Brian Kerr...
Not all Japanese companies are the same. "Lean isn't easy" if you're a Japanese company. Toyota has created something special, since "Toyota culture" is not exactly the same as "Japanese culture."
The WSJ says the "model is cracking."
Do scandals involving quality and ethical lapses involving companies including those and Nissan tarnish Lean and the Toyota Production System? No. That's as silly as thinking the Wells Fargo banking scandal tarnishes Silicon Valley (although the Valley does enough to tarnish itself).
Joining me for Episode #285 is my friend and colleague, Karen Martin. She was previously a guest on Episode #151 where we discussed her book The Outstanding Organization and #190 we discussed her book Value Stream Mapping book. We'll be doing another podcast later this year about her next book, which is titled Clarity First: How Wise Leaders and Organizations Achieve Outstanding Performance.
Karen reached out with a provocative question that's easy to discuss, but hard to answer: "Is Lean Dead?" The reason she asked is that she's heard murmuring and read articles that ask "is it time for something new?" or if we're somehow in a "post-Lean" world.
Thanks everybody for reading my blog here in 2017! It’s been an interesting year on the blog, as usual, and I appreciate you taking time out of your busy lives to read and participate in the discussion. I hope this site will continue…
This week, I’m in Palm Springs for the annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit. Follow along on Twitter using hashtag #HCSummit17. Today, I’m teaching my “Better Metrics” workshop for the third time this year. This page has some additional resources for attendees (the…
It’s a fair question: would Lean be easier to implement if your workforce were Japanese — or if you were operating in Japan? After two study trips to Japan with Kaizen Institute, my honest answer is: not necessarily. And the…
I’ve recently updated the eBook Practicing Lean to include a new ninth chapter, submitted by Samuel Selay. Other new chapters are by David Haigh, from Canada, and Joe Swartz (my Healthcare Kaizen co-author) . I love the diversity of perspectives in the book, as it’s…
My two previous trips to Japan have been incredible experiences, both personally and professionally. I'm planning to go back in December with a tour group I'm helping organize with Kaizen Institute. When people go to Japan, I think they are expecting to see perfect Lean practices. But, no...
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