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

Today's guest is Katie Anderson, and we're talking about her experiences living in Tokyo for 18 months and what she's learning about Lean culture, Japanese culture, and how those aren't always one and the same. I first met Katie through the Healthcare Value Network and our participation in that collaborative. She's an experienced Lean healthcare practitioner, coach, consultant, having worked for S...

Today's podcast, #232, is presented with a heavy heart, after the recent passing of my friend Dr. Michel Téatrault, the CEO of St. Boniface General Hospital and a great Lean leader. He was a friend to many in the Healthcare Value Network and the broader Lean healthcare community. As I was remembering Michel, it occurred to me that I had recorded a podcast with him, back in 2010, as part of a serie...

Today's guest is Eric Dickson,MD, MHCM, FACEP, the president and CEO of UMass Medical Center. Episode #231 of the podcast is a little different than the usual. Normally, I record a podcast interview via Skype or a phone call. Today's podcast is a recording of an interview that I did on stage at the 2015 Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, as part of the CEO panel I was moderating. Eric was one...

Audio remastered May 2025 Episode page Joining me for episode #230 is Paul DeChant, MD, MBA to talk about reducing burnout, especially physician burnout, through Lean. Paul (see his bio here) is the former CEO of Sutter Gould Medical Foundation, a 300-physician multispecialty medical group in California's Central Valley. Before that, he had stints at organizations including Geisinger Health System...

My guest for episode #229 is John Dyer, president of his consulting firm, JD&A, Inc., and a contributor for IndustryWeek.com. John started his career at General Electric and later moved to Ingersoll-Rand, where he was VP of Operations for their Security and Safety sector. John had the good fortune to learn directly from W. Edwards Deming, as he took the famed four-day seminar (that included the Re...

Remastered January 2022 Episode page: https://www.leanblog.org/228 Labor Day is Monday, so maybe it's appropriate that my guest for episode #228 of the podcast is  Zeynep Ton , an Adjunct Associate Professor of Operations Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. You may have recently seen her being  interviewed by Fareed Zakaria  on CNN.  Read her full bio here . She is author of the 2014...

Joining me for episode #227 are  Ruthie Davis  and  Stephen Cook , talking about the book that they edited,  Do the Right Thing: Real Life Stories of Leaders Facing Tough Choices .' Episode page: https://www.leanblog.org/227   While this episode isn't focused on Lean, per se, I think you'll enjoy the discussion and I highly recommend the  book , which highlights the role of ethics and integrity in...

My guests for episode #226 are Steve Hoeft and Dr. Robert (Bob) Pryor from Baylor Scott & White Health in Texas. Bob serves as President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer for the system and was formerly CEO of Scott & White Health before their merger with Baylor Health Care System. Steve is the Chief of Operations Excellence for the system. hoeft-pryor bookThey are co-authors of a...

Joining me once again on the podcast today is John Toussaint, MD, the founder and CEO of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value. We're talking about his latest book, Management on the Mend. John wrote this new book to document "core elements of successful Lean transformations" that he's seen, not just at ThedaCare, but at other organizations around the world. The book outlines a "transformation...

My guest for episode #224 of my podcast is a returning guest, Mike Grogan. About two years ago, we talked about his Lean work in Tanzanian healthcare, in episode #182. Mike is an international trainer, coach, and speaker, who works with successful but overwhelmed management teams, to help them understand the technical and behavioral elements of Lean leadership, so that they can realize a culture o...

My guest for podcast episode #223 is Christian Wolcott, a senior advisor and director of Kaizen Institute North America and their director for Japan tours. Christian was an integral part of the team for the Japan Lean Healthcare Tour that I participated in last November as an instructor. Christian taught Lean concepts and facilitated discussions with me and the global attendees. In this podcast, w...

Joining me for episode #222 of the podcast is Erin S. DuPree, M.D., FACOG, the Chief Medical Officer and Vice President for the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare. Dr. DuPree is an OB/GYN by training, was previously the Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. She is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt and...

My guest for episode #221 is Jacob Stoller, author of a book that was just released: The Lean CEO: Leading the Way to World-Class Excellence. It's available now through Amazon or you can learn more through his book's website. As Jacob explains, he's a journalist, not a Lean practitioner, and he interviewed CEOs across different industries to get their thoughts on Lean management. We discuss topics...

My guest for episode #220 is somebody I've wanted to interview for a long time, Dr. Robert Wachter, one of the leading voices in the modern patient safety movement. He's most recently author of a brand-new book The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age. His book was excerpted in this New York Times Op-Ed piece, "Why Health Care Tech Is Still So Bad." In this e...

Joining me for episode #219 is Tristan Kromer, a professional "Lean Startup" coach who works with startups around the world and volunteers for the non-profit Lean Startup Circle. In this episode, we discuss topics including how he got involved in the Lean Startup movement, the difference between a coach and a consultant, and lessons from various startups. When are you "pivoting" versus just giving...

My guest for episode #218 is Karen Kiel-Rosser, Vice President/Quality Improvement Officer at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Iowa. You can see her full bio below in this post. You might remember Karen from a recent post where she told a great story about putting patient safety first. We're talking today about the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and how that framework and process is mutuall...

Podcasts are sponsored by KaiNexus and their continuous improvement software platform -- www. KaiNexus.com Our guest today is Alan G. Robinson, PhD, an award-winning author, educator, researcher and consultant. He has co-authored six books, including Modern Approaches to Manufacturing Improvement: The Shingo System, Ideas Are Free, and his latest, The Idea-Driven Organization. His specialties incl...

Podcasts are sponsored by KaiNexus and their continuous improvement software platform -- www. KaiNexus.com Returning to the podcast after his first appearance in Episode #188 is Daniel T. Jones, founder and chairman of the UK-based Lean Enterprise Academy. You can find him on Twitter now as @DanielJonesLean. Dan collaborated with Jim Womack on the books The Machine That Changed the World, Lean Thi...

Today's guest is my friend  John Ervin  and we were able to sit down together here in San Antonio to record this episode. John has about 20 years of healthcare leadership experience, including in military medicine and the civilian sector. He's been a manager and director of operating rooms in many types of hospital and surgical center settings. 2022 update: John is now a part of the team and is  m...

Today's guest is Michael Ballé, an author of  many novels about Lean management ,  published by the Lean Enterprise Institute . He joins us for this episode from Paris (he shares many photos of “ Paris moments”  via his  Twitter account @Michael_Balle ). Michael and his father, Freddy, have collaborated on these books and have learned about as directly from Toyota as anybody (Freddy was CEO of the...

Today's podcast is different than my usual interview format. I still plan on continuing the podcast format and series, but I also wanted to try something new. I'm starting a “ Lean Blog Audio ” podcast, which is basically an “audio book” type reading of blog posts. I won't do it for all posts, but maybe a few a week. I'll also occasionally look back at an old post, as I did in this episode, which...

Today's guest is  David Mann  ( bio ), talking about the new 3rd edition of his Shingo Research Award winning book  Creating a Lean Culture . David tells us what's new in the book and we discuss “leader standard work” and other elements of a Lean culture. David also talks about the difference between “Lean production” and a “Lean management system,” and we discuss forcing “compliance” versus leade...

Normally, my podcast is all about my guests. This episode has me being interviewed by the hosts at  Healthcare Tech Talk , a new podcast for Healthcare IS professionals. This originally appeared as  episode #23 of their series . Thanks to hosts Terry Baker and Kelley Hill for interviewing me and for allowing me to republish their episode here. I hope you like the podcast. You can subscribe to thei...

My guests today are  Darrell Damron  and  Hollie Jensen  and we're talking about Lean in Washington state government. Darrell and Hollie are both state employees, serving in the role of Enterprise Lean Consultant within a team called “ Results Washington .” I've seen them both present at a  Lean Enterprise Institute summit  and I'm really happy to have them share their ongoing improvement story he...

My guest for episode #209 is George Friesen, Business Practice Leader for  Lean Transformations in the Workforce Solutions Group at   St. Louis Community College . In this episode, we talk about his early experiences at the GM/Toyota NUMMI plant, why candor and trust are so important in a Lean transformation, and how to engage front-line employees in Kaizen and continuous improvement, and much mor...