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.
Today, I’m sharing a few links featuring the thoughts of John Toussaint, M.D., the CEO Emeritus of the ThedaCare health system in Wisconsin and current CEO of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value. John is a partner with the Lean…
What is your role at work? Your purpose? Those questions might make you really stop and think. I sat in yesterday on a class, taught by an ex-Toyota leader, that raised a number of thought-provoking questions about Lean and the…
Hat tips to the blogs Lean is Good and Curious Cat… tonight is the debut of the new CBS reality show “Undercover Boss” a show where CEOs go to the front lines to work as their employees do. Will you…
Podcast #83 is an in-depth conversation with Jim D’Addario, the CEO of D’Addario, Inc., a manufacturer of guitar strings, drum heads, and other musical accessories. Jim and his family company were featured on CNN late last year, highlighting how lean…
Mark’s note: I’ve known Bruce Baker for a few years as a thoughtful commenter here on the Lean Blog. I was thrilled when he started his own blog, Lean Is Good, as it’s quickly become one of my favorites in…
One of my goals for the next few weeks is to catch up on blogging about some great speakers I’ve seen recently. Coming soon, a post about seeing Dr. Atul Gawande (The Checklist Manifesto) and Daniel Pink (Drive) in the…
Today’s post is an email written by Patrick M. Anderson, Executive Director of Chugachmiut, Inc., the Tribal consortium created to promote self-determination to the seven Native communities of the Chugach Region in Alaska. You might recall my two podcasts with…
This continues a series titled Leading Lean A-Z. This post is K: Be Kinetic. Did you ever have one of those days where you just wanted to put your feet up on your desk and breath in and out for…
My blogging will be relatively light this week, given some holiday time off, family visiting, and a short trip for New Year’s. There’s nothing lazier, I guess, than linking to a reader comment, but I had a new comment from…
Paul Levy on Transparency, Social Media, and Quality Following up and continuing this morning’s post about MemorialCare. You can also read my notes and comments from Day 1 here. You probably know Paul as CEO, blogger, and twitter user. I’ve…
I had a great opportunity a few weeks back, seeing former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich give a talk at the Ontario Hospital Association annual event in Toronto. I had a chance to meet him briefly and had a…
I don’t mean to kick Fritz Henderson while he’s down, after he resigned as CEO of Government Motors this week. He resigned on Tuesday and I didn’t even learn about it until Thursday, as I was under a proverbial rock,…
