Lean Blog Interviews

Episode page: https://www.leanblog.org/438 My guests for Episode #438 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are Shannon Karels and Kathy Miller, the authors of the recently-released book Steel Toes and Stilettos: A True Story of Women Manufacturing Leaders and Lean Transformation Success. Their website is opsisters.com. Kathy Miller is a Senior Operations Executive who has held numerous global vice president and director roles both in manufacturing and lean enterprise leadership.  Kathy is a Shingo Prize Recipient for Large Businesses as a Plant Manager.   She started her career in Operations as a 17-year-old co-op student at a vehicle assembly plant, and progressed through engineering, marketing, lean, and operations leadership roles, working for four large publicly traded corporations in executive roles.   Shannon Karels is a Senior Operations Manager who has led multiple lean transformations and run operations for two large publicly traded corporations across various industries and business models.  She

Episode page: https://www.leanblog.org/437 My guest for Episode #437 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Peter Docker. He is the author of the book Leading From the Jumpseat: How to Create Extraordinary Opportunities by Handing Over Control. He was the co-author of the book Find Your Why and formerly a founding Igniter at Simon Sinek Inc. Peter draws on his 25-year career in the Royal Air Force, and over 14 years spent partnering with businesses around the world, to inspire others to “Lead from the Jumpseat.” There are opportunities today to connect the dots to Lean, as we focus on styles of leadership that are very compatible with Lean. Today, we discuss topics and questions including: Mutual respect… “respect for people” connection What is jumpseat leadership? Humility / courage to ask for help — a culture that invites that? Doing nothing vs. choosing to not intervene React vs. response Planning for likely events – checklists  Standardized Work parallel — Mental capacity to deal with th

Founder/CEO of CJ Young Consulting, LLC Episode page: https://www.leanblog.org/436 My guest for Episode #436 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Dr. Cynthia J. Young, PMP, LSS MBB, CMQ-OE, the Founder/CEO of CJ Young Consulting, LLC. Cindy helps organizations optimize human-centric knowledge to increase trust and support collaboration and inclusion. She is a TEDx Speaker, an HBR Contributor, and a Veteran (23 years in the U.S. Navy) She is also a Curriculum Developer and Instructor with Leidos, an engineering and defense contractor. Cindy is also presenting a webinar on February 10th, part of the KaiNexus CI Webinar series… learn more and register here: Impactful Methods to Benefit Organizational Knowledge Management and Continuous Improvement Efforts She is also leading an upcoming “Knowledge Management Bootcamp.” Today, we discuss topics and questions including: Origin story as a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt? –> In the Navy Combining LSS, PMP, CMQ-OE certifications? What is “knowledge mana

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/435  My guests for Episode #435 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are Sunil Khushalani, MD, a psychiatrist who specializes in Addiction Psychiatry and Antonio DePaolo, PhD, a transformation executive and a Baldrige Fellow with over 22 years of experience in improvement science. My guests today are the co-authors of the new book, released in December, titled Transforming Mental Healthcare: Applying Performance Improvement Methods to Mental Healthcare. You can order the book through the publisher at a 20% discount, using code ESBAC. They are a physician (psychiatrist more specifically) and an industrial engineer: Sunil Khushalani, MD, a psychiatrist who specializes in Addiction Psychiatry Antonio DePaolo, PhD, a transformation executive and a Baldrige Fellow with over 22 years of experience in improvement science. Today, we discuss topics and questions including:  I'm always fascinated to hear your ‘lean origin stories” if you will Antonio? 16 years in manufactur

Professor at INSEAD, author of "Built to Innovate" Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/434 My guest for Episode #434 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Ben Bensaou. He is an INSEAD professor and author of Built to Innovate: Essential Practices to Wire Innovation into Your Company's DNA. Ben earned his PhD at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where I was an MBA student. He was part of Jim Womack‘s research team that studied the auto industry and that group coined the term “Lean.” He's joining us from Kobe, Japan, where he is on sabbatical. Today, we discuss topics and questions including: I'm curious to hear your memories and reflections of the Womack research era “Japanese management model”? – how would you describe that?  Jim Womack episode on “Machine Revisited” Labor / talent shortages — similar challenge in Europe or Japan now? Was there anything from that research that wasn't widely understood by readers and business leaders? “It's a mindset” not tools, techniques, and gimmicks  Parall

My guest for Episode #433 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Gerard Ibarra, an author, business consultant, speaker, and entrepreneur. Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/433 Gerard is the author of the book Good Decisions, Better Outcomes: A Simple, Five-Step Process to Help You Make Important and Difficult Decisions with Confidence and Clarity, available now. Gerard received his PhD from Southern Methodist University's (SMU) Lyle School of Engineering with emphasis in Logistics Systems Engineering and Operations Research. He has taught graduate courses in logistics systems engineering at SMU, as well as logistics, supply chain management and e-business courses at the University of Dallas' Graduate School of Management. He's had executive roles in logistics companies, has had his own consulting firm, and was President and CEO of a company from 2008 to 2010. He was also the CEO of Jaguar Logistics, the largest medical on-demand transport company in Texas until acquired by Dropoff in 2018. Today, we

Show page: https://www.leanblog.org/432  My guest for Episode #432 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Jamie Flinchbaugh, an old friend of mine and a frequent guest (Episodes 5, 6, 10, 64, and 261, plus the two times he's interviewed me, Episodes 50 and 316). He's also the co-creator and frequent co-host with me on the Lean Whiskey podcast series. Today, the talk is all Lean, no whiskey. We talk about leadership, problem solving, more today — talking about his new book, People Solve Problems: The Power of Every Person, Every Day, Every Problem. I put Jamie on the spot to coach me through some problem solving I'm doing related to podcast growth, and he makes a lot of great points. Today, we discuss topics and questions including: So, we don't need to worry about AI problem solving? The role of software, like KaiNexus The story behind the book – after The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean in '06 Why this book? Why now? Behaviors drive action — what are some of the key behaviors that drive problem solving?

Show notes and links: https://leanblog.org/431 My guests for Episode #431 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Sonia Singh, a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, executive coach, and professor with 19 years of experience in healthcare operations, management consulting, leadership development, and culture transformation. She's worked with dozens of companies in improving their performance, resulting in a collective financial impact of $30M. She's trained and coached over 2000 emerging and experienced leaders.  Sonia is the founder of Sonia Singh International, and one of her offerings is the Influential Leadership Academy, where she helps leaders build emotional intelligence and master their influence.  She was previously an employee at some healthcare systems and Cardinal Health. Sonia holds a degree in Psychology from Northern Illinois University, a Master's degree in Health Administration from Tulane University, and completed her professional coaching training at the University of California

Show notes and links: https://www.leanblog.org/430 My guests for Episode #430 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are Eric Ethington and Matt Zayko, the authors of the new book The Power of Process: The Story of of Innovative Lean Process Development. They are both faculty for the Lean Enterprise Institute, among other roles. Eric has a firm called Lean Shift Consulting and Matt has a new role as Lean Leader at GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. The book is available now through the publisher, or from Amazon in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats. Today, we discuss their book, with topics and questions including: I like to ask guests about their “Lean origin stories” — When did you first learn about Lean and what was the context? Deming's book Out of the Crisis The way it's always been? – how to get past this? LEAN PROCESS DESIGN –> There's a lot emphasis on “process improvement” in organizations, often in the context of Lean. How do you define “process development” and why is this so important? How d

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/429 My guest for Episode #429 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is John Chacon, the Director of Construction Excellence at Black & Veatch. We've been connected on social media for a while and John's reply to a tweet led to this podcast conversation, where he said: “If you have read this blog post and are still thinking about incentivizing folks for ideas…stop…give me a call and I will tell you some stories about paying your folks to think.” Today, we discuss topics and questions including: John's Lean origin story? In the Marine Corps. Deployed to Japan – painted a different picture – in what way? Cultural differences? A different level of respect? Why didn't you like it at first? How do you define Kaizen? Not just the process, it's the people Continuously improving the people Later company — “The work was to improve the work” How do you foster that culture? Curiosity and genuine wonderment What does Kaizen (what does John) suggest about how to ince

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/428 My guests for Episode #428 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are Nick Katko and Mike De Luca. Nick is president and owner of the firm BMA and Mike is a Lean coach, serving as principal and owner of Torre Consulting. Nick and Mike have a new book out called Practicing Lean Accounting. And I'm thrilled that the title is inspired by the book I edited called Practicing Lean. Their book is available now in paperback and Amazon Kindle formats. Nick has been practicing lean accounting for over 25 years, both as a CFO and as a lean accounting trainer and coach. Nick is also the author of the book The Lean CFO (2013) and is co-author of The Lean Business Management System (2007). Mike's lean journey began with implementing lean accounting as a finance leader in the early 2000's – evolving the finance department's role to meet the changing needs of a lean organization. Today, we talk about the book and more, with topics and questions including: Nick and then Mike,

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/427  My guest for Episode #427 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is a returning guest, Karyn Ross. She was previously a guest in Episodes 266 and 411. She was also my guest for Episode #3 of My Favorite Mistake. Karyn has a new book called The Kind Leader: A Practical Guide to Eliminating Fear, Creating Trust, and Leading with Kindness. Scroll down for a 20% coupon you can use if you buy through the publisher. You can also enter to win a copy. Today, we talk the book and more, with topics and questions including: How do you define kindness? NPR story on the kindest family How do we help people understand that kindness is not a sign of weakness?  My Favorite Mistake (out Thursday) Moses Harris interview Episode #110 How much unkind behavior is driven by people being scared? "Vicious circle of fear" "Collaboration, cooperation and kindness" chapter heading -- reminds me of how Dr. Deming used to rail against competition -- and I think that's especially t

CEO of Growing Champions, LLC Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/426 My guest for Episode #426 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is John Gallagher, Founder and CEO of Growing Champions, LLC, an Executive Coach, Mentor, and Consultant. John was with Simpler Consulting for over a decade after being an operations manager and a division president for two different companies. He's also the host of a new podcast called The Uncommon Leader. I'll be John's guest in an episode to be released on October 19th. Today, we talk about topics and questions including: Where did you first get exposed to Lean? Why were you skeptical about Lean at first? Came from MRP batch & queue world Rapid Improvement Event or Rapid Planning Event? His first sensei, the late Bill Moffitt “Comfort the afflicted or afflict the comforted?” Who were some of your key mentors? Lean Thinking was a key book, the first book he read on Lean Being an operations manager vs. a division president… what did you learn from those roles?

Show notes, links, and video: https://www.markgraban.com/425 My guest for Episode #425 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Katie Anderson, who is joining us for the seventh time as a guest. Katie is, of course, the author of the book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: Lessons from Toyota Leader Isao Yoshino on a Lifetime of Continuous Learning. It has now been out over a year as eBook and paperback, and the audiobook is now available. Today, we sketched out a few topics for a fun conversation. First, we talk about “breaking the telling habit” (get Katie's free guide). When do leaders have to “tell”? Does it get annoying when you only ask questions? You'll also hear about how Katie “pulled the andon cord” (virtually) when she had a concern about the sound of me typing some notes. So, we'll talk about countermeasures and such related to that, and you'll hear our problem solving minds at work. Katie then shares a story about the use of “Process Behavior Charts” at a non-profit organization. I share a st

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/424 My guest for Episode #424 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Balaji Reddie, the founder of The Deming Forum of India. An engineer by trade, Balaji was exposed to W. Edwards Deming's ideas through his father, then became highly interested in the Deming Philosophy after a chance introduction to the founder of the British Deming Association, Dr. Henry R. Neave, who became Balaji's mentor. As it says in his bio: “Balaji's contributions have been featured in textbooks and coursework on Quality and the Deming Philosophy. He holds a Degree in Electrical Engineering from COEP (the Government College of Engineering in Pune), and a Master of Science in Quality Management from BITS (Birla Institute of Technology & Science).” Topics and questions: Tell us more about your professional background In his factory, had a “quality section” but not department – what's the difference? 1991 was a key year for India – opened up outside investment and foreign products Xerox

My guest for Episode #423 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Laura Kriska, a Cross-Cultural Consultant and the author of the book The Business of We: The Proven Three-Step Process for Closing the Gap Between Us and Them in Your Workplace. Notes: https://www.leanblog.org/423 She was previously my guest on Episode 61 of the “My Favorite Mistake” podcast. Laura was previously the author of the book The Accidental Office Lady: An American Woman in Corporate Japan, a book about her time as the first American woman to work for Honda in Tokyo, Japan. We talk about those experiences and so much more today. Topics and questions: How did you get to become the first American woman to work at Honda HQ in Japan?  What was it like working in the Ohio factory?  Quality Circles Kaizen — We can always do things better What was an “office lady”? Adjustments to the Japanese working culture? You initiated a Quality Circle around the uniform for office ladies, tell us about that… “Let's Abolish Women's Uniforms”

Author of Disruption Proof and The Lean Entrepreneur My guest for Episode #422 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Brant Cooper, appearing for the third time and the first time solo. Brant previously appeared, alongside Patrick Vlaskovits, in Episodes 99 and 162. Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/422 Brant is the author of the upcoming book, Disruption Proof: Empower People, Create Value, Drive Change, due out in late October, but is available for pre-order now. Brant is The New York Times bestselling author of the book The Lean Entrepreneur (now in a 2nd Edition) and he's CEO and founder of the firm Moves the Needle. He is also organizing a virtual summit — the Endless Disruption Summit — on Sept 30. Topics and questions: “One thing in life is certain: Disruption is the new norm.” — Why is that increasingly so? How can a company become disruption proof? What's a good example of an Industrial Age company that has transformed to thrive in the Digital Age? Lessons from the pandemic? Working from

We've been on hiatus over the summer here, so I've taken a look back at some of the older episodes from the podcast archives, while being on a bit of a hiatus from recording new episodes. New episodes will be coming again in September Today we're looking back at the episode that I did with John Shook. It was Episode #56, released in January 2009. I hope you enjoy our discussion -- I think it's just as relevant today as it was then even though his book Managing to Learn has been available for more than a decade (it was new when we did this episode). I had a chance to talk with John a few months back and I'm hoping to do a new episode with him sometime soon. The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more. This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.   

I don't always share new episodes of the "My Favorite Mistake" podcast with you here, but when I do... it's a Lean practitioner. Today, that guest is David Meier, a former Toyota team member and leader, author of two https://amzn.to/3xPHcre with Jeffrey Liker, and a TPS/Lean consultant. Oh, and he has a great distillery in Kentucky now called Glenn's Creek Distillery. Toyota / Lean topics include: More background about what you learned at Toyota Hard for people to talk about mistakes, admitting they're human Blame vs. responsibility?  Toyota teaches that leaders have responsibility  Blame with punishment = "accountability"? Punishment replaced with learning and improvement? Hard on the process, not on the people Mr. Yoshino's mix up with the paint area (Episode #30) My episode about the nearly lost episodes (Episode #16) Mistakes made in the distillery Mistakes about mistakes?

Author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean We've been on hiatus over the summer here, so I've taken a look back at some of the older episodes from the podcast archives, while being on a bit of a hiatus from recording new episodes. Today we're looking back at my first episodes with my good friend, Jamie Flinchbaugh. Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/2021/08/podcast-bonus-episode-jamie-flinchbaugh-revisited-from-2006/ My voice has gone on hiatus this week… since he can’t talk, he asked me to record this intro for a podcast where we look back at some episodes I’ve been involved in. Jamie was my guest for Episodes 5 and 6 back in 2006, then again for Episode 10 that year. In 2008, he turned the tables and interviewed me in Episode 50. Then, I interviewed Jamie in Episodes 64 and 261, and Jamie turned the tables once again to interview me, in Episode 316, about my book “Measures of Success.” In April 2019, Jamie and I started the “Lean Whiskey” podcast and we plan on recording episode #29 of that series on