Tag: Kaizen

Kaizen: Daily Improvement, Learning, and Leadership in Practice

Kaizen is often misunderstood as small ideas or isolated improvement events. In practice, Kaizen is a daily, people-centered approach to learning and improving work—supported by leadership, good systems, and psychological safety. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and real-world examples of Kaizen in action, across healthcare and other industries, with a consistent focus on leadership behaviors, respect for people, and learning from problems rather than hiding them.

When a CEO Talks About the Work: Larry Culp, GE Aerospace,...

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TL;DR: Larry Culp's GE Aerospace CEO letter is a rare example of Lean leadership in practice, showing how safety, Respect for People, and small...

Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Continuous Improvement, Respect for People, and...

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Let's commemorate today's national holiday for Dr. King with a look back at my post from 2012: A Lean Lesson from Dr. Martin Luther King,...

Gemba Walks, Daily Improvement, and the Leadership Behaviors That Make Kaizen...

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At our 2016 Kaizen Live! event at Franciscan St. Francis Health, Mischelle McMillin shared practical, honest, and refreshingly human insights on Gemba Walks that...

Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: November 14, 2025

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This edition of Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape focuses on what real, sustainable improvement actually requires: leadership commitment, respect for people, and disciplined learning...

AI as a Thought Partner in Kaizen: Small PDSA Tests and...

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TL;DR: AI can support Kaizen when it's treated as a thought partner, not an answer engine. The right way to explore AI in continuous...

From Firefighting to Flow — Darren Walsh on Lean Leadership Routines...

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Why do so many Lean efforts stall after early wins? In this episode, Darren Walsh explains why firefighting feels productive but prevents real progress--and...

GE’s Larry Culp: Why Lean Thinking Starts with Safety and Respect...

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TL;DR Larry Culp, CEO of GE Aerospace, shows that Lean leadership isn't about tools or slogans--it's about daily behaviors. By grounding Lean in safety,...

The Lasting Impact of a 2009 Kaizen Study in Emergency Medicine...

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Back in 2009, my friend and KaiNexus co-founder Dr. Greg Jacobson and his colleagues at Vanderbilt University Medical Center published an article that still...

Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: October 31, 2025

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This edition of Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape highlights how Lean thinking continues to deliver real results when it's treated as a management system,...

Leadership, Laughter, and Lean: How a CEO’s Shaved Head Symbolized $7...

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In Lean circles, we talk a lot about leadership commitment. But it's not every day that a CEO puts their hair on the line...

Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: October 17, 2025

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This edition of Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape emphasizes that real improvement depends more on mindset, leadership, and system design than on tools alone....

How a Pharmacist-Led Kaizen Improved Cardiac Care and Reduced Costs by...

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When Better Care Leads to Lower Costs: A Pharmacist-Driven Kaizen Story In healthcare, improvement initiatives often get derailed when they start with one primary question:...
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