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.
My guest for episode #129 is Chris Cooper, a vice president with Simpler Consulting. We’re talking about his new book The Little Book of Lean. In the episode, Chris shares his extensive experience with Lean methodologies, tracing back over 20…
As a kid, I always enjoyed writing and, at one point, dreamed of being a baseball beat writer, like the father of one my best friends from elementary school who got to travel and cover the Detroit Tigers. I was…
I’ve been asked many times over the past few years, mainly by physicians and other healthcare professionals, about an audiobook version of my book, Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Engagement. My publisher has given me permission and…
As regular readers know, I’m working on a second book: Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Improvements. My co-author, Joe Swartz, and I have many examples of “daily kaizen” that will be shared in the book. The idea isn’t…
Here is a great video by Masaaki Imai, author of the classic books Kaizen: The Key To Japan’s Competitive Success and Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense, Low-Cost Approach to Management. In the video, he emphasizes that kaizen means continuous improvement and…
Today’s episode is a chat with Jody Crane, MD, MBA and Chuck Noon, PhD. They are talking about their outstanding book The Definitive Guide to Emergency Department Operational Improvement: Employing Lean Principles with Current ED Best Practices to Create the…
Episode #118 is a follow-up to podcast #116 with Jim Womack, founder and former Chairman of the Lean Enterprise Institute, now their Senior Advisor and author of the new book Gemba Walks, available in paperback, Kindle format, iBooks, and other…
Jim Womack explains why real gemba walks–not management strolls–are essential for lean leadership, and why healthcare leaders must change behavior to improve systems and outcomes. In Episode #116 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast, Mark Graban talks with Jim Womack,…
Hi – As a reader of my blog, your input and thoughts are important to me. I am currently co-authoring a new book with Joe Swartz (from the Franciscan Health System in Indiana) on a subset of Lean methods, focused…
Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, joins me to talk about how Lean principles shaped his approach to entrepreneurship, what continuous innovation actually looks like in practice, and why these ideas apply just as much inside large companies as…
As many people do, I had to fill out an online health assessment for the purposes of my family’s health insurance. The survey asked the usual physical history questions, do you wear seat belts, do you smoke, etc.? It caught…
Regular readers might know that I’m working on a second book project, about “kaizen” (continuous improvement) in healthcare. Sign up to receive more info about the book, Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Improvements. I have a lot of…
