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.
Listen Joining me for Podcast #178 is Drew Greenblatt, President and Owner of Marlin Steel Wire Products, a manufacturing company based in Baltimore. I was really impressed with Drew’s keynote talk at the recent AME Southwest Region conference here in…
Toyota UK published a two-minute Toyota Production System video that does something most TPS explainers fail at. It leads with people, not tools. As the video explains, “every team member has the right to stop the line if he sees…
Dr. Delos (“Toby”) Cosgrove, President and CEO of the famed Cleveland Clinic, wrote an article on LinkedIn recently: “Patient Experience: Time for Hospitals to Look Under the Bed.” Cosgrove described his process of going to visit patients after heart surgery…
Last week at the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, I really enjoyed the presentation by Jamie Bonini, General Manager of the Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC). Jamie started his career at Chrysler (where he knew Jamie Flinchbaugh, a good friend…
Listen My guest for Podcast #177 is a returning guest, Bob Emiliani. In this episode, we’re talking about one of his latest eBooks: Nobody Is Exempt From Improvement. Check out our previous podcasts together – Episodes 132, 77, 48, 38,…
It was a real thrill to be able to meet Paul O’Neill in person yesterday at the Summit (he was my guest for Podcast #124). His powerful message about leadership and patient safety was well received by the audience. Below…
TL;DR: Deming argued that the role of a manager of people is not judging performance, ranking employees, or enforcing authority–but creating trust, understanding systems, coaching for learning, and improving conditions so people can succeed. Dr. W. Edwards Deming‘s last book…
I had a chance to attend the Lean Kanban North America conference this week. It was a different “tribe” to be a part of, as the topics focused on software and IT settings, including agile development, “kanban” project management, and…
It’s been a crazy week, so I was in the mood for a good chuckle… and the fake news site “The Onion” delivered in this story: “Boss Has Deft Touch For Making Employees Feel Like Sh**.” (warning, bad words). The…
Like yesterday’s “live blog” post about the Autoliv talk, I also wrote this post as Art Byrne talked, but held it for publication today. He is author of the book The Lean Turnaround: How Business Leaders Use Lean Principles to…
Joining me for episode #172 is Jerry Bussell, previously a guest on episode #137. Today, we’re talking about his recent book, Anatomy of a Lean Leader. I just saw Jerry talk about the book yesterday at the AME spring conference…
Joining me for Episode #169 is Leonard L. Berry, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Marketing in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. We are talking about his article that he co-authored with John Toussaint, MD Mayo Clinic Proceedings: “The…
