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.
Here is an article I first published on Linked seven years ago this week. This is lightly edited and updated. We’ve all seen it happening around us. We’ve probably all done it. What’s that? Jumping to solutions. I hope the…
My guest for Episode #403 is Arnout Orelio, author of the book Lean Thinking for Emerging Healthcare Leaders: How to Develop Yourself and Implement Process Improvements. Arnout is from the Netherlands, but we have crossed paths a number of times…
In this post: Today, I’m going to share some reflections from one of my workplaces, some things that occurred last week. I’m going to be vague, so forgive me for that. It feels right to be less specific in this…
Thanks as always to Ryan McCormack for this… there’s always so much good reading, listening, and viewing shared here by him! Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients It is said that “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. …
I saw this press release about the new book by former General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt. Jeff Immelt to Release HOT SEAT: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company The book is available now through Amazon. Immelt had his…
Jay Hodge taught the Toyota Production System at a General Motors stamping plant in Indiana — then got a call from Toyota asking him to come work for them. In this episode, he shares what he learned about lean culture,…
My guest for Episode #401 is my friend Jim Benson, who you might know as the co-author of the book Personal Kanban (and we talked about that in Episode 155, back in 2012). He was also a guest on Episode…
Thanks as always to Ryan McCormack for this… there’s always so much good reading, listening, and viewing shared here by him! Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients Striving for zero harm is becoming more widely accepted in healthcare. Here, an…
Today, I’m sharing two interviews and discussions — one where I was primarily the host and one where I was the guest. Oh, and there’s a third… the latest “My Favorite Mistake” LinkedIn Live with Jim Benson Last week, Jim…
Thanks as always to Ryan McCormack for this… there’s always so much good reading, listening, and viewing shared here by him! Healthcare — Creating Value for Patients Listening may be a one of the most important skills of diagnosis. Our patients…
My guests for Episode #398 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast are Brett M. Cooper and Evans Kerrigan, both co-founders of the firm Integris Performance Advisors. Brett is the President and Evans is the CEO. They are co-authors of a…
Of the different podcasts I host, the “Habitual Excellence” podcast provides the most opportunity these days to interview healthcare leaders who are doing great work. I don’t post every episode here, but I do want to share this discussion with…