Nearly 30 years ago, I had my first real encounter with what not to do as a leader. I was working in a General Motors factory where the culture was one of daily disrespect. Leaders–if you could call them that–were…
Professors Robert H. Hayes and William J. Abernathy have harsh words about a common, if not typical style of American management: “…an overdependence on analytical detachment – what they call ”managerial remote control.” They say it is an approach that…
Gerald Harris spent 25 years leading lean transformations in automotive manufacturing before shifting into healthcare consulting, and his origin story starts with a Toyota supplier in crisis that went from shipping 250 door sets per shift to 2,400. In this…
The Taguchi Loss Function says that variation from target has a cost — and that cost grows non-linearly as you drift further from center. It’s a manufacturing concept. But Steph Curry’s shooting data illustrates it better than most textbook examples.…
TL;DR: If people don’t speak up, the problem usually isn’t courage–it’s culture. Leaders shape whether speaking up feels safe and leads to action. Psychological safety is often misunderstood as an individual trait–something that requires courage. But telling people to “be…
My friend Brian Buck is the most recent guest on the “My Favorite Mistake” podcast series, Episode 112: Coach Brian Buck’s Darkest Moment in a Workplace Turned Toxic In today’s episode, Brian shares his “favorite mistake” story about waiting too…
Today’s episode of “My Favorite Mistake” is another one that Lean practitioners will especially like. My guest, Sabrina Moon, talks about how she (unfortunately) learned “command and control” management in her early days at General Motors. She talks eloquently about…
After the last episode with guest host Paul Critchley, I’m once again joined by Jamie Flinchbaugh for another “Lean Whiskey” podcast. In Episode 6 of Lean Whiskey, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh explore two icons as leaders and the impact…
TL;DR: When leaders prioritize speed and output over quality, employees stop speaking up–and safety suffers. From GM to Boeing to hospitals, production pressure creates fear, hidden defects, and misleading public narratives that no amount of PR can fix. Yesterday’s blog…
So I think things are back to normal after a somewhat stressful day of wondering why my blog “broke.” Unlike some web/blog outages and problems, it wasn’t due to anything I did or tried to change. It just broke. Settings…
