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.
Having a model like this helps prevent errors, such as jumping to implement Lean tools before the organization understands WHY change is necessary. You have to engage and enroll people in change, not just force things on them.
I am convinced that the ExperienceChange simulations, either Lakeview or GlobalTech, are a great way to learn and practice.
I was very saddened earlier to receive an email from an employee of a great leader, Dr. Michel Tétreault, informing me that he had passed away. Michel was, since 2005, the CEO of St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg.
And the idea of knowing why... again that's an old desire. It's not just a recent discovery of Simon Sinek and the outstanding book Start with Why (my friends at Gemba Academy have a podcast interview with him coming soon). Why are we doing something? Why are we starting this company? That's an old tale... are you breaking rocks or building a cathedral?
As my breakfast platter was being rung up, I saw this sign behind the register (and came back to discretely take a picture)... click for a larger view.
As is often the case, I have too many open browser tabs full of articles that I was going to potentially blog about. This slows down my Mac (thanks, Chrome!) and it’s mental overhead… So, it’s time for me to…
Mark’s Note: Today’s guest post is by Paul Critchley and while it shares a story from a manufacturing company, I could see a situation like this taking place in healthcare or in any large organization that doesn’t quite get what…
Many of you might not care, but it’s football season. Major college football starts tomorrow night and the NFL kicks off their season next Thursday. On that note, if you’d like to “kick off” a Kaizen approach to continuous improvement…
I forget what hospital these charts are even from, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s become more common, in my gemba visits, to see hospital departments charting metrics. They are often part of “huddle boards” that teams gather around on…
Joining me for episode #227 are Ruthie Davis and Stephen Cook, talking about the book that they edited, Do the Right Thing: Real Life Stories of Leaders Facing Tough Choices. While this episode isn’t focused on Lean, per se, I think…
It’s been a little while, but here’s a new video about Kaizen and continuous improvement from our friends at Franciscan St. Francis Health in Indianapolis. See all of the videos in the link here or via my YouTube playlist. In this…
tl;dr: A sushi company’s safety and quality policy illustrates what hospital operational excellence really requires: visible leadership commitment, daily practice, and systems that make safety the default–not a slogan. I love the Texas-based grocery store chain “Central Market.” It’s basically…
tl;dr: In this post, Mark discusses the concept of “Model Lines” and “Model Cells” as strategies for Lean transformation. He outlines how these designated areas serve as experimental zones within an organization, allowing for the focused implementation and testing of…
