Tag: Kaizen

Every few years--or let's be honest, quite often on social media--we see a statistic making the rounds: "70% of Lean initiatives fail." It's usually...

Fear and futility are two of the biggest barriers to continuous improvement. When people are afraid to speak up--or believe nothing will change--problems stay...

This article is based on my recent Catalysis webinar, "Lean Lessons from Japan: Mindsets, Culture, and the Challenge of Speaking Up." The session was...

This edition of Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape focuses on disciplined thinking, ethical use of data, and people-centered improvement in an AI-enabled world. From...

TL;DR: Daily Kaizen is essential--but it can't overcome broken systems. Only leaders can fix structural constraints like layout, staffing, policies, and budgets. When leaders...

Albert Einstein -- the mind who redefined physics -- once called something he did "the biggest blunder of my life." When he completed his general...

This October, I'll be returning to Japan for another Lean healthcare study trip--my seventh time overall and my fifth healthcare-focused visit. With each visit, I...

tl;dr: Kaiteki is a Japanese management philosophy focused on comfort, purpose, and respect for people--and it helps explain why motivated employees and Lean success...

tl;dr: A healthcare CEO explains how Process Behavior Charts replaced reactive metric debates with clarity, trust, and focused improvement by separating signal from noise. "Every...

Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly...

TL;DR: Chick-fil-A improves drive-thru flow by using Lean thinking and "game film" to study the work, remove bottlenecks, and design better systems--while showing deep...

Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly...