Lean Coffee Talk (formerly known as Lean Whiskey)

Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh sit down with single-origin coffees and a 1987 GM Confidential report Mark pulled from the Don Ephlin papers at Wayne State's Reuther Library. The document, "NUMMI Management Practices: Executive Summary," lays out five management strategies behind the joint venture's success and the line that ties them together: "The key to NUMMI's success is not its tools or tec...

How many KPIs are too many — and how do leaders know which metrics actually matter? Episode page In Episode 7 of Lean Coffee Talk, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh explore how organizations overload themselves with metrics, why some “red” indicators fail to drive action, and how to evaluate whether KPIs are still relevant. They also discuss the role of change management in Lean transformations, w...

Episode page with links, video, and more In this episode, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh respond to listener questions about system design, leadership behavior, and navigating misguided Lean requirements. They explore why some systems—like college football playoffs or improvement quotas—fail to deliver their intended results, and what leaders can do instead. Topics include cultivating psycholog...

💡 Submit your question (and maybe win a Lean Coffee Talk mug!) at: LeanBlog.org/coffeequestions In this short bonus episode of Lean Coffee Talk, hosts Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh share an invitation for you to help shape future conversations. They’re asking for your toughest, most thought-provoking questions about Lean, leadership, culture, and continuous improvement — the ones without easy...

In Season 2, Episode 5, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh are going back in time (apologies to Huey Lewis and the News) to the 1990s and examining companies that were iconic then and trying to find new ground today. But we start with coffee mugs - our most vintage mugs. A coffee mug can make coffee better, or ruin it, or bring back memories. The vessel may not be more important than what’s in it,...

In Episode 4 (Season 2), Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh are joined by the hosts of the Just-in-Time Cafe podcast, Elisabeth Swan and Tracy O’Rourke. This is the second joint episode, the first being episode 45 of Lean Whiskey. In part, we celebrate the launch of Tracy and Elisabeth’s new book, the 2nd edition of "The Problem-Solver’s Toolkit," which we discuss on the show.  We talk quite a bit...

In Season 2, Episode 3, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh both share specific episodes of their other podcasts. Jamie shares his People Solve Problems episode featuring Crayola CEO Pete Ruggiero, and Mark shares a repeat guest for My Favorite Mistake with NFL Players Association Dr. Thom Mayer to talk about the experiment of new kickoff formats and the impact (pun intended) on concussions. We then...

In Season 2, Episode 2, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh begin with Mark sharing about his Australia and New Zealand workshop tour with the Association for Manufacturing Excellence. Even koalas find their way into the conversation. Episode page with videos and more We then shift to our coffee selection of the day - pour overs. This old school method has found a resurgence not for being inexpensiv...

We would have called this Episode 51 of the Lean Whiskey podcast with Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban . Episode page with video and more Lean Whiskey is transitioning to a new brand, Lean Coffee Talk , so stay tuned for more episodes from Mark and Jamie. We're also calling this Episode #1 of Season 2 of the podcast series. If you're subscribed, the podcast logo will change but the feed will cont...

Episode page It's Episode 50 of the  Lean Whiskey  podcast with  Jamie Flinchbaugh  and  Mark Graban ! tl;dr: Lean Whiskey will transition to a new brand  Lean Coffee Talk , so stay tuned for more episodes from Mark and Jamie In their 50th and final episode of Lean Whiskey, hosts Mark and Jamie announce a significant transition, revealing that while this marks the end of “Lean Whiskey,” the podcas...

It's Episode 49 of the Lean Whiskey podcast with Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban ! Episode page with video and more Mark shares tales of his holiday / study tour trip to Japan. Since we start with the whisky (like scotch, note the lack of an ‘e’), and Mark’s opportunity to visit bottle shops, his favorite whisky bar, and even a whisky museum, along with the many samples he had a chance to try al...

In Episode 48 of the Lean Whiskey podcast, Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban begin by comparing two whiskeys from the same distillery. OOPS! We recorded this in October... and I released it via YouTube and my blog. But it somehow ended up stuck in "Draft" unreleased status on the podcast. That's why we had two episodes released in the same week... Episode page with video and more Mark selected Woo...

In Episode 47 , Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh attempt another experiment in format, covering a range of quick-hit topics in the news rather than a single deep dive. As always, we welcome feedback. Before we got to that, however, our whiskey theme was also new, or new to us: we each picked a whiskey we hadn’t tried before. Jamie’s pick was Four Walls Irish American Whiskey, a celebrity whiskey...

In Episode 46, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh spend a lot of time talking about AI, but that still, as always, begins with the whiskey. Episode page We both asked ChatGPT to consider all our ingredients for making a whiskey-based cocktail, and to invent an original recipe. Jamie's is called The Bourbon Harmony, although there was a lot in there to try to reach harmony, and Mark's was called the...

Episode page In Episode 45, Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban join the Just-in-Time Cafe team of Elisabeth Swan and Tracy O’Rourke as a special nod to their 100th Episode, while also having a chance to toast Mark’s accomplishment of 250 episodes of My Favorite Mistake podcast and 500 episodes of the Lean Blog Podcast. This episode blended the two formats a bit, but you can be sure whiskey was one...

Episode page with video and more In Episode 44, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh get back together for this first episode of 2024. Since we’re not doing Dry January, we go right into the whiskey first by talking about old bottles, including one very old one found at auction. We then did our own comparison tasting, with Jamie trying two different age statements of Knob Creek bourbon and Mark tryin...

Episode page with video and more In Episode 43 of the “Lean Whiskey” podcast,  Jamie Flinchbaugh  and  Mark Graban  begin by talking about each of our interviews regarding the new book by Steve Spear and Gene Kim,  Wiring the Winning Organization . Mark  interviewed Steve and Gene for the Lean Blog Interviews podcast , and Jamie interviewed Steve for a forthcoming episode of the  People Solve Prob...

Episode page In Episode 42,  Jamie Flinchbaugh  visits  Mark Graban  in northern Kentucky and they get to record an episode in person. This was the origin of the podcast series — getting together in person, enjoying whiskey, and talking about Lean stuff.  In the last episode, we did an experiment that was inconclusive — sometimes that's how it goes. We had moved the whiskey talk to the end of the...

Episode link with video and more In Episode 41, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh try a couple experiments, in the spirit of continuous improvement. You’ll first notice that we moved the whiskey talk to the end. The hypothesis here is that some people don’t want to hear the whiskey talk, so they can just exit the podcast when we finish the lean talk. We also used a different platform for recording...

Episode page with video and more In Episode 40, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh get back together after their in-person visit where they enjoyed the origins of this podcast: talking about lean stuff while enjoying some whiskey. We get to celebrate the launch of Mark’s new book, The Mistakes That Make Us, as well as Jamie’s new podcast titled People Solve Problems. We recap our in-person visit an...

Episode page with links, video, and more In Episode 39, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh toast the completion of Mark's new book,  The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation  (coming soon!). We also acknowledge Jamie's forthcoming podcast based on the book People Solve Problems. That's already plenty to cover before we even get into our whiskey.  Our whiskey theme...

Episode page with video and more What do you do when you are chosen as Jim Murray’s US Micro Whiskey of the Year? You pop in to join Mark and Jamie on Lean Whiskey to talk about it. At least that’s what our friend David Meier of Glenns Creek Distilling did in Episode 38. While we were able to drink, and celebrate, the success of OCD #5, we also explored David’s continued learning, problem solving,...

Mark Graban & Jamie Flinchbaugh Alternative title: “I’ll have a half-caff no-whip soy-milk chestnut praline latte… to-go” Episode page with video and links In Episode 37, we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays with some new (to us) holiday cocktails. Mark tries the Bourbon Flip, and Jamie makes a Hot Buttered Bourbon. Neither will likely be in our regular rotation of cocktails, but...

In Episode 36,  Jamie Flinchbaugh  is joined by  Chris Kauzmann , an Adjunct Faculty and Innovator in Residence at Lehigh University. Chris, a self-described “bottom shelf” whiskey drinker, joins Jamie to sample some Nikka Coffee Malt Whiskey and Blue Run High Rye Bourbon.  We explore design thinking, which is both distinct from lean but also inherently consistent. The terminology is often quite d...

In Episode 35, Mark is recently back from his Scotland gemba visit. He isn't tired from jet lag, or from whiskey, but nevertheless, Mark and Jamie both end up complaining about being tired. Maybe we're just…old (gasp). We also didn't plan our color coordination (for those on video). Episode page with video and more   "We’re tired, but not tired of whisky. A gemba walk will pick us up..." We focus...