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.
I’ve recently been reading an enjoyable book by Peter Sims, Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries. The practice of Kaizen, of course, brings lots of small improvements. But, it’s often surprising how breakthrough ideas with a really…
I was fortunate to be exposed to the writings of W. Edwards Deming before I even learned about Lean. While I sometimes get tired of reading new books on Lean and Toyota, I never tire of revisiting books by or…
Listen My guest for podcast #174 is John Hunter, a long-time friend and fellow blogger – at his Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog and, more recently, as a blogger for the W. Edwards Deming Institute. John has recently published a…
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…
As we enter the new year, it’s a great time to reflect back on 2012 – what worked and what didn’t work… what do we plan to do differently in 2013? Those are some of the core questions found on…
Former Wiremold CEO Art Byrne explains why Lean must be led directly by the CEO and treated as a core business strategy–not a set of tools. Drawing on his experience at GE, Danaher, and The Wiremold Company, Byrne shares how…
My guest for episode #154 is Rick Morrow, a director at Healthcare Performance Partners and author of the book Utilizing the 3Ms of Process Improvement in Healthcare: A Roadmap to High Reliability Using Lean, Six Sigma, and Change Leadership, from…
Karen Martin shares insights from her book The Outstanding Organization on reducing organizational chaos, improving daily work, and building systems that support everyday excellence through clarity, focus, discipline, and engagement. Joining me for episode #151 is my friend Karen Martin,…
Paul Levy, the former CEO of Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is a long time friend of mine and this blog (read his ongoing blog here although he’s no longer “Running a Hospital”). I’ve been meaning to blog about…
My guest for episode #150 is Jeffrey M. Lobosky, MD, the author of the book It’s Enough to Make You Sick: The Failure of American Health Care and a Prescription for the Cure. Dr. Lobosky talks about what he thinks…
Mark’s note: While I am busy in “moving land” this week, Christina Kach was kind enough to write a review of a book that was sent to me – Adventures in Leanland by Russell Watkins (a free copy was provided…
Being a big fan of what the guys at LeanPub are doing (listen to my podcasts with them here and here), I created a new compilation of sports-related posts from my blog dating back to 2005. The book is not-so-creatively…
