Toyota is often cited as the inspiration for Lean, but its success is rooted in leadership behaviors, management systems, and a deep commitment to learning—not tools or slogans. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections on Toyota’s approach to quality, continuous improvement, psychological safety, and respect for people. Many of these posts explore what leaders outside Toyota often misunderstand—and what truly matters if they hope to learn from Toyota rather than copy it.
TL;DR: Many Lean healthcare job postings fail because they expect a single mid-level hire to “fix” culture, strategy, and results–while executives delegate leadership instead of practicing it. Overemphasis on certifications, industry “insider” status, and toolkits (Lean, Six Sigma, PDSA) misses…
I’m teaching a daylong class on Lean healthcare today in San Antonio. It’s something I’ve done twice a year for the past four years or so. My day here is part of a six-month program for healthcare professionals and different…
it's great to see an 11 year old thinking like an engineer and an entrepreneur. He's the son of a Toyota "operational excellence" consultant. For those who try to unfortunately equate Lean to a "clean desk policy," the father's desk is a great argument against banning family photos and an illustration of why Lean isn't about putting tape around everything...
Last week, I mentioned it was the 25th anniversary of TSSC — formerly known as the Toyota Supplier Support Center (it’s now called the Toyota Production System Support Center). TSSC helped Children’s Health in Dallas learn how to reduce CLABSI…
"Through a collaboration with Toyota, Children's HealthSM, the leading pediatric health system in North Texas, announced today it has successfully reduced rates of central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSIs) by 75 percent with patients in the gastroenterology unit."
Today at 3 PM, I'm doing a webinar at the invitation of the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council, as part of their "Quality Café" series. Thanks for the invitation!
It's open to the public and it's titled:
"Standardize What Makes Sense... Then Engage Everybody in Improving What You Standardized"
I hope you can join us...
I enjoy “gemba visits” (of sorts) to wineries and vacations often focus on this walking, tasting, and learning. I usually read the wine column that’s in the Wall St. Journal each Saturday, and this one stood out to me: “Do…
On Thursday, August 10, I hosted our latest KaiNexus webinar. It’s being presented by Warren Stokes, Director of Process Improvement at HonorHealth, a health system in Arizona. The title of the webinar is: How to Leverage Lean for Long-Term Success (Under…
Update: See the end of the post with some photos I took at the game yesterday where Beltre got his 3000th career hit – quite a milestone! Those who study and practice Lean often know about Taiichi Ohno, one of…
I’m at the 8th annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit in Palm Springs, California. Follow on Twitter using the hashtag #HCSummit2017. If you’re here at the event, please say hello! I love meeting blog readers and podcast listeners. I’ll be adding…
There are many helpful videos on YouTube with great illustrations of Kaizen and continuous improvement mindsets and principles. In this post, I’m going to share three videos: Kaizen Upon Kaizen in a Team In this video, Ashley explains how a Kaizen…
What if "easier" is less safe? Great question. It begs the question of why Safer isn't first in Shingo's list? Is it because safety is assumed to be such a fundamental pre-condition in the Toyota culture or the Lean approach? Safety is such a non-negotiable point that it doesn't need to be said?
