Books shape how we think about leadership, improvement, and learning—but only if we reflect on them and apply their lessons thoughtfully. This archive includes blog posts and podcast episodes about Lean, healthcare, leadership, mistakes, psychological safety, and continuous improvement, including reflections on my own books and conversations with authors whose work has influenced how organizations build better systems and cultures.
Marketplace: Better health care through better information This commentator points out some shocking waste in the healthcare system: Although cancer doctors work long hours, they still fail, frequently, to provide therapies the medical evidence says the patient needs. Sometimes the…
Russell Roberts on Cafe Hayek had an interesting commentary the other day about the Power of Competition, relaying a bit of the story of Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s told in the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an…
Toyota Talent Update 5/6/07: The book is now shipping from Amazon I had the pleasure of reading a pre-publication version of this new book from Prof. Jeffrey Liker and David Meier. You know Jeff from The Toyota Way (and my…
Amazon.com: Toyota Talent: Books: Jeffrey Liker,David Meier This has been an exciting week for me. Monday, I met David Mann, author of Creating A Lean Culture, in person and had a chance to hear him speak and to speak with…
Driving on the wrong side of the road — the myth of Japanese efficiency in car manufacturing A new book is out attacking Lean. Or maybe the book is actually attacking “L.A.M.E.”, or “Lean as Misguidedly Executed” at Rover. This…
Lean Thinking Network | Competing Podcast » Interview with Pascal Dennis Part 1 Pascal Dennis interview Part 2 – Operations Dwight Bowen, someone I consider a friend of the Lean Blog, has a two-part interview with Pascal Dennis, author of…
lean – Google Book Search A friend just tipped me off to this Google feature, the ability to view limited pages from books, including a wide selection of Lean books. This list includes Jamie Flinchbaugh’s “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean.” It’s…
I love books. I’d also love to have more time to read books, or finish books. People often ask me what I’m reading. Here’s what I’m trying to read or am wanting to read: “WIP” — started, but haven’t finished…
PodcasterNews – Industry Report Mark and Dwight for a Lean Roundtable I am appearing again on Ken Rayment’s “Better Process” Podcast, the link is above. In the podcast, Dwight Bowen (of the Lean Thinking Network) and I both discuss Lean…
So after getting such strong recommendations about the book from Norman Bodek and, then today, from Dwight Bowen, I finally started reading “Getting the Right Things Done” by Pascal Dennis. A line in the introduction struck me: “Strategy deployment is…
IndustryWeek : How To Practice Hoshin Kanri Here is a summary of a book published recently by the LEI. I recorded a podcast interview with Norman Bodek last weekend (look for it soon at www.leanpodcast.org) and Norman mentioned this book,…
By Jean Cunningham: I am just re-reading a book that I read at the beginning of my lean journey in 1992. It is The New Manufacturing Challenge: Techniques for Continuous Improvement by Kiyoshi Suzaki. It is still an excellent easy…