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 was first introduced to the ExperienceChange simulations about ten years ago when I already had more than ten years of experience trying to facilitate change in manufacturing companies and healthcare organizations. Playing the healthcare-based “Lakeview” hospital simulation and learning…
Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients The design of payment and reimbursement systems in healthcare is a key driver of value. In Canada, it is not uncommon for primary care physicians to institute a “one issue per visit” policy. This clearly impacts…
It’s my second straight podcast with a healthcare CEO. This time, joining me for Episode #337 is Vance Jackson, FACHE, FACMPE, the President & CEO of Davis Health System, based in Elkins, West Virginia. Vance and I talk about how…
Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients The new venture between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase to fix healthcare is called “Haven” according to a new press release. I will be following with interest. This venture has great leadership, vast resources, and…
My guest for Episode #336 is Gladys Bogoshi, the Chief Executive Officer at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, one of the ten central hospitals in South Africa and the main teaching platform of the University of the Witwatersrand. The Hospital…
It’s two Barrys in a row on the podcast, as my guest for Episode #335 is Barry O’Reilly and we’re talking, in depth, about his latest book, Unlearn: Let Go of Past Success to Achieve Extraordinary Results. Barry is a…
Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients Ontario is betting big on an untested hypothesis of reorganizing and consolidating healthcare operations and budgets predicting it will result in patients “seamlessly” moving through the health system. Time will tell, but the history has…
tl;dr: The Red Bead Experiment demonstrates how firing “low performers” based on arbitrary targets or rankings punishes people for system-driven variation, not individual effort. Bad metrics and poor leadership can create outcomes that look discriminatory, even when intent isn’t–highlighting why…
TL;DR: Pursuing zero harm isn’t about unrealistic goals or punishing people for failure. It’s a leadership choice that creates psychological safety, accelerates learning, and strengthens Lean systems. When organizations treat safety–physical, emotional, and professional–as a non-negotiable value, improvement capability follows…
Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients Daily safety huddles are simple, inexpensive, and effective methods to raise and escalate patient safety risks. Start your safety huddles today with some tips from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. I get asked all the…
Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients Why do we have to wake up patients to take vital signs every 4 hours if they are stable? Why does a patient need daily labs if there results have been stable for days? Because…
Joining me today for Episode #329 of the podcast is Mike Eisenberg, the director, editor, and producer of the film “To Err is Human,” a documentary about the incredibly important issue of patient safety. The film shares a title with the…
