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.
Thanks as always to Ryan McCormack for this… Healthcare — Creating Value for Patients The response of healthcare providers during Covid-19 reminds us of their vast creativity and professionalism. How come this has been largely squandered when driving quality improvement…
Joining me today for Episode #383 of the podcast is Patrick Anderson, the CEO of the Rural Alaska Community Action Program, Inc. (or “RurAL CAP”). Patrick was previously a guest way back in Episodes #53 and #71. Patrick returns to…
In this Lean Blog Podcast episode, Tom Peters reflects on leading through the chaos of COVID-19. He shares why people-first leadership, training, kindness, and trust become non-negotiable during crisis. I’m really excited to be speaking to my guest for Episode…
I’m very excited that one of the projects that I’ve been working on over the past few months has come to fruition. It’s an eBook, available as a free PDF or as a very inexpensive Kindle book, that collects the…
Joining me for the ninth time on the podcast, for Episode #381, is Dr. John Toussaint, chairman of Catalysis. John is author or co-author of three books — well actually it’s four books, as a new one is available for…
My guest for Episode #379, joining me for the fifth time, is Katie Anderson, author of the newly-released book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: Lessons from Toyota Leader Isao Yoshino on a Lifetime of Continuous Learning. In today’s episode,…
Thanks as always to Ryan McCormack for this… Healthcare — Creating Value for Patients Health systems with a culture of improvement find their capacity for solving problems useful during the pandemic. How do you talk to patients about treatment or…
Joining me for Episode #378 are Christopher D. Chapman, Senior Lean Transformation Coach at Chapman Lean Enterprise, and Dr. Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, a social scientist, Associate Professor, and Director of the Center for Research on Diversity and Inclusion at Purdue University. We…
My guest for Episode #377 is Ritu Ward, an experienced healthcare executive who has had success delivering quality, growth, and strategy while leading high performing teams. We have known each other for a while through Lean healthcare circles and she…
Thanks as always to Ryan McCormack for this… Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients Virginia Mason’s 20 year pursuit of measurably better value for patients is paying off during pandemic-related travel restrictions through their innovative mix of telehealth and in-person care.…
Thanks as always to Ryan McCormack for this… Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients Health Care Workers Protect Us. It’s Time To Protect Them. Great article in HBR by Ken Segel and John Toussaint. Volume-based incentives drive behaviours — often…
Today, I wanted to share an excellent article written by Dr. John Toussaint (of Catalysis) and Ken Segel (of Value Capture): Ken and John were both deeply influenced by the late Paul O’Neill, who made worker safety the primary imperative…
