Leadership isn’t about titles, charisma, or quick decisions—it’s about creating systems where people can do their best work and continuously improve. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections on leadership through a Lean lens, drawing on ideas from Deming, Toyota, healthcare, and real-world management practice. The common theme: leaders shape culture, influence behavior, and own the systems that produce results—for better or worse.
I’m happy to have hosted another webinar, presented by Elisabeth Swan as part of the KaiNexus continuous improvement webinar series. Scroll down for a preview of the webinar and a transcript of it… Register here to view the recording (it’s free) Deepen…
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more Joining us for Episode #473 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Elisabeth Swan, author of the new book Picture Yourself a Leader: Illustrated Micro-Lessons for Navigating Change. It’s currently the…
Thanks as always to Ryan McCormack for this… there’s always so much good reading, listening, and viewing shared here by him! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. Insights about improvement, innovation, and leadership… Operational Excellence, Improvement, and…
Management by Emoji might sound like the logical next step in modern leadership–or at least that’s what I’m announcing today, April 1st, as a bit of fun and satire inspired by the very real ways organizations misuse metrics and management…
I published a poll on LinkedIn, and I’d love to have you vote or participate. Voting is now closed, but you can still discuss it there. This isn’t pretending to be a scientific survey, but I hoped it would prompt…
I was happy to host a webinar, as part of the KaiNexus Continuous Improvement Webinar series that was be presented by Dr. Lisa Yerian, the chief improvement officer at the Cleveland Clinic. You can learn more and register here to…
Joining us for Episode #470 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Gary Michel. He was Chairman and CEO of Jeld-Wen, Inc. until August 2022 and, just after that, I saw him give an outstanding keynote talk at the AME annual conference in…
TL;DR: A GM flashback shows how blame-based, command-and-control leadership destroys accountability instead of creating it. Real accountability starts at the top–when leaders model learning, responsibility, and psychological safety rather than fear and punishment. I’ve written before about Bob. He was…
TL;DR: Punishing people for mistakes does not reduce mistakes — it suppresses reporting, drives fear, and blocks learning. Evidence from healthcare, safety science, and organizations like Alcoa shows that improvement comes from systems thinking, transparency, and psychological safety, not blame.…
TL;DR: Wrong-site surgery rarely happens because of one person–it happens when small errors, near misses, and unsafe cultures are ignored instead of learned from. This article caught my eye today, and it’s a change of pace to think about and…
Joining us for Episode #469 of the Lean Blog Interview Podcast are Matt May and Pablo Dominguez, the authors of the new book What a Unicorn Knows: How Leading Entrepreneurs Use Lean Principles to Drive Sustainable Growth. It’s available now! Matt has been before, in episodes 67 and 103……
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more Joining us for Episode #468 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Jody Crane, M.D. He’s the Chief Medical Officer for TeamHealth, and he was previously a guest for Episode 120.…