The Lean Blog Interviews Podcast explores leadership, systems, and continuous improvement through thoughtful conversations with practitioners, executives, authors, and researchers. These episodes go beyond tools to examine how organizations really improve—through better leadership behaviors, respect for people, learning from mistakes, and sound management systems. This archive brings together podcast episodes focused on Lean, healthcare, Toyota, Deming, psychological safety, and what it actually takes to sustain improvement over time.
Joining me for episode #277 of the podcast is Kay Kendall (@KayAKendall), co-author (with Glenn Bodinson) of the excellent book Leading the Malcolm Baldrige Way: How World-Class Leaders Align Their Organizations to Deliver Exceptional Results. Kay is CEO & Principal at BaldrigeCoach…
My guest for Episode #276 is a Lean consultant (although he might not prefer that term) and an author, A J (Andy) Sheppard. Andy is the author of The Incredible Transformation of Gregory Todd: A Novel about Leadership and Managing Change and also contributed a chapter to my Practicing Lean book project.
My guest Katie Anderson, previously a guest for Episode #233, is back again talking about lessons learned and reflections from her 18 months living in Japan. And check out a contest to win a copy of my book, courtesy of Katie and her blog...
My guest for Episode #274 of the podcast is Jay Arthur, author of Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals: Improving Patient Safety, Patient Flow and the Bottom Line, Second Edition. To me, "Lean Sigma" is often a controversial topic... not because anything is wrong with Six Sigma…
Joining me for Episode #273 of the podcast is David Veech, author of the new book Leadersights: Creating Great Leaders Who Create Great Workplaces. David is a senior lecturer in the Department of Management Sciences at Ohio State University and their Fisher…
My guest for Episode #272 is Steve Thompson, Director of Patient Driven Supply Network initiatives for Cardinal Health, a global, integrated healthcare services and products company. He is also a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, dating back to his time spent…
Joining me for Episode #271 is Isaac Mitchell (@IsaacMitchell), talking about Lean Design for healthcare, the Society for Health Systems, and more. Isaac is a full-time lean practitioner at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, a lecturer at the University of Tennessee’s…
My guests for Episode #270 of the podcast are two physicians: Paul DeChant, MD and Diane Shannon, MD. They are co-authors of the recently-released book Preventing Physician Burnout: Curing the Chaos and Returning Joy to the Practice of Medicine.
Joining me for Episode #269 are Brian MacNeice & James Bowen, co-authors of the recently released book Powerhouse: Insider Accounts into the World’s Top High-performance Organizations. They are founders of the international Kotinos Partners consultancy. In this episode, we talk about the…
My guest for Episode #268 is a long-time friend of mine in the Lean community and Lean Enterprise Institute circles, Tom Ehrenfeld (@tomehrenfeld). Tom is a writer and editor living in Cambridge, MA. A former writer/editor with Inc. Magazine and Harvard Business Review, he is the…
Joining me for Episode #267 is Stephen M. Shortell PhD, MPH, MBA. He is Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professorship, HPM and is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health. He is the director…
Joining me for Episode #265 of the podcast is Bernita Beikmann, AIA, EDAC, LSSBB, a Principal and Director of Lean Strategy at HKS, an international architecture firm. Bernita is originally from Kansas and has a Bachelor of Architecture from Kansas State University…
