Lean Blog Interviews: Real-World Lean Leadership Conversations in Healthcare and Beyond

Episode 333 - Jean-Marc Legentil and Marc-Olivier Legentil, The Toyota Kata Memory Jogger My guests for Episode #333 are Jean-Marc Legentil and Marc-Olivier Legentil, father-and-son Lean consultants from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They work together in the firm Bell-Nordic Consulting. I've had the pleasure of meeting both of them on numerous trips to Montreal and was happy to hear they were part of...

Joining me today for Episode #332 is Jason Burt, owner of EHIP Consulting. Jason is a Lean consultant and business coach with an extensive and diverse background, including a manufacturing career where he has led and coached organizations to increased levels of efficiency and performance. Using the Toyota Production System (TPS) approach has allowed him to positively change cultures to achieve sus...

My guest today for Episode #331 is Eric W. Dickson, MD, MHCM, FACEP, a Professor of Emergency Medicine at UMass Medical School and Chief Executive Officer of the UMass Memorial Health Care system. Episode page with links and more You might have heard Dr. Dickson speak in Episode #231 of the podcast, which was audio from the CEO panel at the 2015 Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit. By the way, I...

Joining me today for Episode #330 of the podcast is Christoph Roser, a professor of production management at the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences in Germany. He has decades of experience with Lean manufacturing including time with Toyota in Japan, as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, and as a Lean expert and manager at Robert Bosch GmbH. He earned a Ph. D. from the University of Massachu...

Joining me today for Episode #329 of the podcast is  Mike Eisenberg , the director, editor, and producer of the film “ To Err is Human ,” a documentary about the incredibly important issue of patient safety. The film shares a title with the groundbreaking 1999  report  from the Institute of Medicine. The film is available on as a digital download ( through iTunes  and other platforms) and a Blu-ra...

My guests for Episode #328 are Bette Gardner and Jeff Heil, of the company Breakthrough Learning. Bette is the creator of a fantastic simulation called "Friday Night at the ER" -- which I've blogged about. When we recorded the webinar, Bette was CEO and Jeff was COO, but recently Jeff took over the CEO role. They are also, as they mention, mother and son... which will be followed by an upcoming po...

My guest for Episode #327 of the podcast is Marc Rouppe van der Voort, Ph. D., who is joining me from Utrecht in the Netherlands. We first met back in 2009 when he invited me to come speak at a Dutch Lean Healthcare conference (which I blogged about here). We've crossed paths many times, as Marc has frequently visited the U.S. for the annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, coming with a lar...

Joining me for the fourth time, here for Episode #326 of the  podcast , is my friend and colleague  Katie Anderson , a leadership coach, Lean consultant, speaker and writer from the San Francisco area.  Hear our previous podcasts about visiting and living in Japan . Today, we're talking about a number of topics related to learning and collaboration: Her upcoming book with  Isao Yoshino , the local...

Joining me for Episode #325 of the podcast is Andrea Hardaway, an operational leader and the executive director of the Association for Vocal Disorders. Andrea and I first crossed paths through LinkedIn, seeing what she shares there and vice versa. We also had a chance to visit a hospital together in Florida last year to learn about their Lean improvement work. We have enough professional interests...

My guest for Episode #324 of the podcast is Art Smalley. Art was one of the first Americans to work for Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan and, since then, has been helping other organizations with the Toyota Production System (a.k.a. “Lean”) methods and approaches. You can also visit his website to learn more,  www. ArtOfLean.com . Episode page: http://leanblog.org/324   Art is a fellow  faculty m...

I first met  Davis Balestracci  at a conference a few years back, where I heard him give a very spirited and insightful presentation. That's why I'm happy to have him as my guest for Episode #323 of the podcast. We'll talk about a range of topics, including some of the key lessons that you'll find in his book (as a much deeper dive than we can get into here)  Data Sanity: A Quantum Leap to Unprece...

Today's podcast is a departure from the usual interview format. As I blogged about last week, the Lean community has lost a young, thoughtful, inquisitive, and reflective member -- Samuel Selay. I regret not having Sam on the podcast to talk about our learning and reflections. He was a guest of Ron Pereira's on the Gemba Academy podcast in 2016, talking about Lean in the Department of Defense. Tod...

My guest for episode #321 of the podcast is Mark Hamel, He is a partner and COO with The Murli Group. Mark is a two-time recipient of the Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award for his books The Kaizen Event Fieldbook and his most recent book Lean Math, the main subject of this episode. I hope you enjoy the discussion, which is about people as much as it is about math.

Skip Steward, the Chief Improvement Officer at Baptist Memorial Health Care in Tennessee, was a guest on Episode #314 of the podcast talking about TWI and Toyota Kata in healthcare (he was joined by Brandon Brown). Today, I've asked Skip to come back and chat 1x1, in Episode #320, about his experience with Don Wheeler, learning from W. Edwards Deming, and more. I hope you enjoy his reflections, ou...

My guest for Episode #319 is Karen Martin, whose most recent book is Clarity First: How Smart Leaders and Organizations Achieve Outstanding Performance. Episode page  She was previously a guest on Episodes #151, #190, and #285. Karen is an author of many books on Lean, quality, and performance excellence. She is also a speaker and a consultant with a B.S. in Microbiology from Pennsylvania State Un...

318 - Marcus Hammarberg, How Lean & Kanban Saved an Indonesian Hospital Joining me from Sweden for Episode 318 of the podcast is Marcus Hammarberg, author of the fascinating book Salvation: The Bungsu Story: How Lean and Kanban saved a small hospital in Indonesia. Twice. And can help you reshape work in your company. Marcus is a software developer, consultant, lean/agile coach, speaker, and author...

My guest for Episode #317 of the podcast is  Patricia Morrill , a speaker, trainer, consultant, researcher, and author of the book  The Perils of Un-Coordinated Healthcare: A Strategic Approach toward Eliminating Preventable Harm. With 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry, she has focused on blending operational efficiencies with healing environments. Patricia has successfully integra...

@Flinchbaugh Interviews @MarkGraban About "Measures of Success" Today's episode is the second time that friend and podcast guest Jamie Flinchbaugh has turned the tables by playing host to interview me about my new book, Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, which has recently been the #1 best selling book in Amazon's Total Quality Management category. Jamie is very knowledgea...

Why do people fear change? Why are adults afraid of talking about their fears? My guest today is eminently qualified to answer such questions and to provide advice that can help us. My guest for Episode #315 is Robert Maurer, Ph. D., author of the outstanding book Mastering Fear. Bob was previously my guest for Episode #153, where we discussed one of his earlier books on Kaizen, One Small Step Can...

314 - Skip Steward & Brandon Brown, on TWI & Kata in Healthcare Today I have two guests joining me for Episode #314 of the podcast. They are Skip Steward, the Chief Improvement Officer at Baptist Memorial Health Care in Tennessee and Brandon Brown, the owner and "Master Kata Coach" of his firm, Continuous Coaching Commitment, LLC. In this episode, we discuss their use of methods such as "Training...

Today's episode (#313) of the podcast is a bit of a departure from the norm. Instead of interviewing a guest about their book or other work, I'm reading what's basically an audiobook-style excerpt of the first part of my new book Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More. I say "audiobook-style" because it's not professionally produced and my voice has been bad after being sick la...

Joining me today for Episode #312 of the podcast is Jeff Hunter, author of the excellent book "Patient-Centered Strategy: A Learning System for Better Care." Jeff was with the ThedaCare in Wisconsin, where he was Senior Vice President, Strategy and Marketing for the health system. After retiring from ThedaCare, he has been a faculty member for Catalysis and has started his own consulting firm, Jef...

http://www.leanblog.org/311  -- show notes My guest for Episode 311 is Jess Orr, a continuous improvement practitioner at WestRock, a large paper and packaging company, where she helps plants foster a culture of continuous improvement and employee engagement. Her experience includes working directly for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky. She is particularly passionate about sharing best practice...

Steve Shortell, The Impact of #Lean on Healthcare Quality http://leanblog.org/310 Joining me again for Episode 310 is Stephen M. Shortell Ph. D., 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 was previously a guest on Episode 267 talking about the establi...

Episode page Back on the podcast for the sixth time is my friend  David Meier , a Lean / TPS consultant who is a former Toyota leader at their plant in Georgetown, Kentucky. As  we mentioned in our April episode (#304) , he's gotten into what's, perhaps, the most Kentucky of industries…  distilling bourbon  (and more) at  Glenn's Creek Distillery . Update — His “OCD #5” was named “US Micro Whisky...