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.

Remembering Norm Bodek, 20 Years After Episode #1

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In July 2006, I pressed record on a conversation with Norm Bodek. The audio quality was poor. I had no idea what I was...

Lean Daily Management: What It Is and How to Get Started

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TL;DR: Lean daily management is the system that makes improvement happen between the projects -- visual boards, huddles, gemba walks, leader standard work, and...

Eric Dickson on Building a Management System That Produced 200,000 Ideas...

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Dr. Eric Dickson spent the early part of his leadership career telling people what to do. It nearly cost him everything. What he built...

Kaizen: The Improvement System Most Organizations Talk About but Struggle to...

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TL;DR: Kaizen means "change for the better." Everyone improves their own work, one small change at a time, using the scientific method. It's not...

Leadership Overreaction: The Hidden Cause of Organizational Failure

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Tl;DR: Leaders unintentionally create fear by overreacting to variation, waste, and mistakes. That fear quietly kills improvement. This post connects the threads across my...

Larry Culp’s 2025 CEO Letter: Why Safety and Lean Leadership Drive...

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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,...
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