Most NFL owners watch games from a luxury suite. Carlie Irsay-Gordon, the principal owner and CEO of the Indianapolis Colts, watches from the sideline near the bench, with a headset on and a notebook in her hand. She’s been doing…
You might think that "command and control" leadership styles are a thing of the past. But, old habits die slowly and many leaders today still seem to have a mental model that longs for a workforce that would "just do what they're told."
What did former President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower say about leaders who are "hitting people over the head?" I blog about that here...
This article from the Toronto Star caught my eye the other day: Cyclist says his pool noodle makes Toronto streets safer for him There was a law passed in Ontario requiring drivers leave one meter of space between them and…
...this WSJ article caught my attention: "The Coach Who Won't Leave the Locker Room." The sub headline is "Why Carolina Panthers' Ron Rivera has become obsessed with integrating himself into his players' personal workspace." An NFL coach is at "the gemba" during a game, of course...
Jack Dorsey is well known among tech circles, as a co-founder of Twitter (he’s @Jack) and, now, as the CEO of Square. I’m a frequent Twitter user (I’m @MarkGraban) and I also utilize the Square reader occasionally to sell a book…
A few weeks back, USA Today published an article that made me think of some of the approaches being used by hospitals under the banner of “Lean Design.” In Lean Design efforts (see this great book), hospitals involve customers (patients…
Joining me for episode #157 is Nick Sarillo, founder of Nick’s Pizza & Pub and author of the new book (out September 13) called A Slice of the Pie: How to Build a Big Little Business. I had a chance…
Last week, my dad pointed out this grammar quiz on the Wall Street Journal website (as part of the article “This Embarrasses You and I*: Grammar Gaffes Invade the Office in an Age of Informal Email, Texting and Twitter.” We…
I don’t have any first hand experience with the country, but I have had many requests for the free first chapters of my books (Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen) from Saudi Arabia over the past few years. I’m certain there…
It was a very pleasant surprise that ASQ chose Ari Weizweig, a founder and CEO of Zingerman’s Deli (and other businesses) in Ann Arbor, to be the opening keynote speaker at the recent ASQ Lean & Six Sigma Conference in…
Last Thursday’s Journal had a story titled “How to Be a Better Boss? Spend Time on the Front Lines.” The article talks about senior leaders going to see work being done at the front lines. Does this have to be…
When it first came out, I was a big fan of Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game about the Oakland A’s major league baseball team and the unorthodox approach they took to building a team (under…
