Lean Blog Audio

The blog postIn this episode of the Lean Blog Audio podcast, Mark Graban shares a story that perfectly captures the human side of Lean leadership—how a CEO’s shaved head became a powerful symbol of trust, empowerment, and respect for people.At IU Health Goshen Hospital, Lean wasn’t just a set of tools; it was a cultural transformation. Starting in 1998, their staff-driven improvement program generated over $30 million in savings by 2012. But one moment in 2009 stood out: CEO James Dague’s promise to shave his head if employees could achieve $3.5 million in improvement savings. They didn’t just hit the goal—they doubled it.That public act of humility wasn’t about theatrics. It represented a deep cultural shift where improvement was owned by staff, not dictated from above. For more than 17 years, Goshen avoided layoffs, reinforcing psychological safety and building a workforce that trusted leadership enough to take risks, speak up, and continuously improve.Mark reflects on what organizations everywhere can learn from Goshen’s story:How leadership visibility builds credibilityWhy psychological safety drives real innovationAnd how celebrating small wins every day sustains a culture of improvementLean isn’t about tools—it’s about people. And sometimes, it’s about hair.Listen and reflect on what your leaders might do to show their true commitment to continuous improvement.

The blog postHalloween might be about ghosts, zombies, and monsters -- but those same creatures sometimes show up in our organizations all year long. They lurk in old processes, mindless routines, and fear-based management habits. Here's how to spot the spooky stuff in your systems -- and how Lean thinking helps us drive the fear out of improvement.Halloween monsters are fun when they stay in movies. They're less fun when they show up in your workplace.Ghosts of outdated processes.Zombie routines that waste energy.Monsters born of fear and blame.Frankenstein systems cobbled together without purpose.

The blog postToo many organizations treat Leader Standard Work (LSW) as a scheduling tool — a calendar filled with Gemba walks, meetings, and routines. But Lean leadership isn’t about how you plan your time — it’s about how you show up.In this episode, Mark reads and reflects on his LeanBlog.org article, “Leader Standard Work Is About Behavior, Not Just Your Calendar.” He explores what it means to make leadership a daily practice of intentional behaviors — listening, asking, thanking, reflecting — instead of just checking boxes.You’ll hear about:Why a color-coded schedule doesn’t make someone a Lean leaderHow mindset and presence define real Leader Standard WorkA behavior-based checklist for leaders to use as daily reflectionThe connection between psychological safety and consistent leadership habitsRead the full post: leanblog.org/2025/10/leader-standard-work-is-about-behavior-not-just-your-calendarLearn more about Mark’s work, books, and speaking: MarkGraban.com#LeanLeadership #LeaderStandardWork #LeanCulture #PsychologicalSafety #ContinuousImprovement

In this episode, I revisit a classic post—Coaching vs. Berating: Lessons from Football for Better Leadership. ⁠The blog post⁠With Brian Kelly recently fired as LSU’s head coach, it’s worth contrasting his sideline outbursts with the calmer, teaching-oriented approach of Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald. Years ago, Kelly’s tirades at Notre Dame raised questions about what real coaching looks like—and those questions still matter today. Whether it’s football or the workplace, leaders who coach build confidence and learning; those who berate only create fear.

The blog postIn this solo episode, I explore the contrast between two powerful management cycles — PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) and its dysfunctional cousin, PDCYA (Plan, Do, Cover Your A**).Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s PDCA framework was meant to bring the scientific method into management — to help teams learn, experiment, and improve. But in too many organizations, fear and blame have quietly replaced learning and accountability. That’s when PDCYA takes over.I share examples from healthcare and beyond that show how psychological safety, not heroics or perfection, determines whether PDCA thrives or dies. Leaders who react to mistakes with curiosity instead of punishment create systems that learn. Those who don’t end up with teams who stay silent and stuck.If your organization seems to be running on PDCYA, this episode offers a way back — one safer question, one better response, and one small cycle of learning at a time.📘 Related reading: The Mistakes That Make Us#Lean #Leadership #PsychologicalSafety #ContinuousImprovement #Deming #PDCA #LearningCulture

The blog postIn this audio edition of the Lean Blog, Mark Graban revisits a 2014 case study co-authored with Gregory Clancy about Allina Health’s early Kaizen journey. What began as four pilot units became a model for engaging everyone in improvement—from nurses to leaders. Mark reflects on concrete examples that still resonate today: reducing wasted motion, improving safety, and building psychological safety so staff feel safe to speak up with ideas.Ten years later, the lessons endure: small ideas create big impact, leaders must coach not control, and improvement thrives only where people feel respected and safe to experiment.Learn how Allina’s story connects to enduring principles from Healthcare Kaizen and The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen, and how psychological safety remains the foundation for continuous improvement in healthcare today.

The blog postIn this episode of Lean Blog Audio, Mark Graban reads and expands on his article, Leader Standard Work Is About Behavior, Not Just Your Calendar.Too many organizations treat “Leader Standard Work” (LSW) as a scheduling exercise—a calendar full of gemba walks, huddles, and recurring meetings. But true Lean leadership isn’t about where you go or how often you show up—it’s about how you show up.Mark explores the deeper intent behind LSW: to make leadership behavior intentional, consistent, and aligned with the principles of respect for people and continuous improvement. He contrasts superficial routines with authentic engagement, drawing on a real complaint from a hospital employee who saw a painful disconnect between a CEO’s Lean rhetoric and their daily behavior.The episode also introduces Mark’s Behavior-Based Leader Standard Work Checklist—ten daily reflection questions to help leaders practice curiosity, humility, and genuine respect, from “Did I listen without interrupting?” to “Did I follow up on yesterday’s concern?”Whether you’re a frontline supervisor or a CEO, this reflection-driven view of LSW will challenge you to think less about your calendar and more about your conduct.Lean leadership isn’t a set of appointments—it’s a set of habits.Listen now and consider: what does your behavior say about the kind of culture you’re building?

The blog postIn this episode of Lean Blog Audio, Mark Graban reads and reflects on his recent article, From Know-It-All to Learn-It-All: Leadership Lessons from Mistakes.Drawing from themes in his Shingo Award–winning book The Mistakes That Make Us and interviews with leaders Phillip Cantrell and Damon Lembi on My Favorite Mistake, Mark explores the transformative shift from being a leader who must always be right to one who is willing to learn.You’ll hear stories of humility in action—from Cantrell’s reinvention of Benchmark Realty after the housing collapse to Lembi’s recovery from near-bankruptcy during the dot-com bust. Both leaders learned that progress doesn’t come from certainty, but from curiosity, reflection, and the courage to say, “I might be wrong.”Mark also connects these lessons to healthcare leader Dr. John Toussaint’s evolution from “all-knowing” executive to facilitator and coach—showing how psychological safety, experimentation, and evidence-based learning drive true continuous improvement.If you’ve ever felt pressure to have all the answers, this episode is a reminder that the best leaders aren’t know-it-alls—they’re learn-it-alls.Listen, reflect, and consider: how might humility strengthen your own leadership practice?

The blog postIn this episode, Mark Graban shares a small but revealing story from a local post office — and what it teaches us about bad metrics and broken systems. When a clerk tapped the “green smiley face” on a customer feedback device for the customer, it raised an important question: was this about genuine service, or just gaming the system?Mark explains why the issue isn’t the clerk, but the system around him — a system that encourages scoring over substance, compliance over improvement. Drawing on Lean thinking and Deming’s philosophy, he explores how poorly designed metrics push people to protect themselves instead of serving customers.You’ll hear why:Metrics without context mislead more than they informPeople naturally adapt to meet incentives, even if it means gaming the numbersMost performance is a function of the system, not individual effortIf you’ve ever wondered why “customer satisfaction scores” or other simplistic measures don’t always match reality, this episode will resonate. Leaders everywhere — in healthcare, government, and business — need to ask not “why did they do that?” but “what about the system made that behavior the best option?”Because when we fix the system, we don’t need people to game it.

The blog postIn this episode, Mark Graban shares a powerful story from an operating room that highlights the importance of culture, leadership, and psychological safety in healthcare. A nurse noticed a small break in sterility, spoke up, and apologized. The surgeon’s response? “Don’t be sorry, you’re being safe.”That short exchange changed the tone of the entire room. Instead of discouraging or shaming, the surgeon encouraged and reinforced the nurse’s action — preserving not only sterility, but also trust.Mark unpacks why moments like this matter so much, how leaders’ real-time reactions shape culture, and why “you’re being safe” should be the norm in every hospital. He connects the story to key themes from The Mistakes That Make Us and Lean Hospitals, emphasizing that safety and respect for people aren’t abstract ideals — they’re daily practices that save lives and build better systems.Whether you work in healthcare, manufacturing, or any high-stakes environment, this episode challenges you to reflect: How do you respond when someone speaks up? Do you reward their courage — or risk silencing it?

The blog postAre 95% of enterprise AI pilots really “failing”? And how does that compare to the long-repeated claim that 70% of Lean initiatives fail? In this episode of Lean Blog Audio, Mark Graban examines what’s really behind these numbers. He explains why many so-called “failures” stem not from flawed tools or technologies, but from leadership gaps, unrealistic goals, and a lack of psychological safety.Drawing lessons from Lean practice and his book The Mistakes That Make Us, Mark highlights the importance of experimentation, learning from setbacks, and creating an environment where people feel safe to try, adjust, and improve. Whether you’re implementing AI, Lean, or any transformation, the key is shifting from fear of failure to a culture of continuous learning.

In this episode, Mark revisits a 2007 conversation with James P. (Jim) Womack, founder of the Lean Enterprise Institute and co-author of The Machine That Changed the World. Nearly two decades later, Jim’s reflections on the origins of the word “Lean” remain just as relevant.The blog postThe discussion takes us back to MIT in 1987, when Womack and his colleagues were analyzing data from auto plants around the world. Toyota and Honda were clearly operating in a fundamentally different way—faster design cycles, fewer errors, less capital, less space, and more value. But they needed a name for this system. That’s when researcher John Krafcik suggested a term that captured the essence of “less”: Lean.Womack reflects on how the word solved one problem—it shifted attention away from “Japanese manufacturing” or “the Toyota Production System” to something more universal. But the name also created challenges: because Lean rhymes with “mean,” too many managers misused it as shorthand for cutting jobs rather than creating more value while respecting people.Mark reads Womack’s timeless warnings and lessons: Lean was never about headcount reduction; it was always about eliminating waste, improving flow, and engaging people in problem-solving. And while the term has traveled in many directions since that 1987 “naming moment,” its underlying principles—value for customers, respect for people, and continuous improvement—remain as important in 2025 as ever.Listen in to hear Jim’s words from that original 2007 interview, plus Mark’s reflections on why this conversation still matters today.

Episode pageIn this episode, I share a reading of my recent blog post, based on a Catalysis webinar where I explored what we can learn from Lean in Japan. Since 2012, I’ve been fortunate to travel to Japan six times with study groups, including those led by the Kaizen Institute, Honsha, and Katie Anderson. Each trip has reinforced the paradox that Lean is both easier and harder in Japan—and that the deepest lessons are not about tools, but about mindsets, culture, and leadership.What You’ll Learn in This EpisodeWhy Lean in Japan isn’t about “being Japanese,” but about cultivating long-term thinking and respect for people.How Ina Food practices “tree-ring management” and why profit is seen as a byproduct, not the goal.How Toyota reinforces its role as a “people development company” through problem-solving and Kaizen.The double-edged role of Japanese culture: precision and standardization on one hand, but reluctance to speak up on the other.How mechanisms like the andon cord create safer ways to surface problems.What Japanese hospitals are learning from American health systems—and vice versa.Why Kaizen isn’t about cost savings alone, but about making work easier and building capability.Memorable lessons from leaders like Dr. Shuhei Iida of Nerima General Hospital: “If you keep doing Kaizen, you will get innovation.”Key Quotes from the Episode“Profit is like excrement produced by a healthy body. Nobody’s goal is to wake up and produce excrement — it’s just the natural result of living and doing things well.” — Chairman of Ina Food“The role of the leader is to set the vision — that cannot be delegated.” — Japanese executive“If you keep doing Kaizen, you will get innovation.” — Dr. Shuhei Iida, Nerima General HospitalWhy It MattersLean is not a set of tools to copy, but a system of beliefs and practices rooted in respect, learning, and long-term thinking. Speaking up about problems isn’t easy—whether in Japan or elsewhere—which is why leaders must create psychological safety and model improvement themselves.Resources & LinksCatalysis webinar recording (available soon)Learn more about upcoming Lean Healthcare Accelerator Experience in JapanWork With MeIf you’re a leader aiming for lasting cultural change—not just more projects—I help organizations:Engage people at all levels in sustainable improvementShift from fear of mistakes to learning from themApply Lean thinking in practical, people-centered ways📩 Let’s talk: mark@leanblog.org

The blog postWhen Mark applied for a burglar alarm permit, he accidentally sent the form to the wrong Newport — Rhode Island instead of Kentucky. The voicemail he got back was kind, clear, and even funny: pointing out that an 845-mile police response probably wasn’t going to work.In this story, Mark reflects on:Why small mistakes are easier to handle with humility and humorHow Toyota’s “expected vs. actual” lens helps frame errorsWhy psychological safety and kindness matter more than blameHow to turn a minor error into a “favorite mistake” — one you can laugh about and learn fromIt’s a reminder that even harmless slip-ups can reinforce bigger lessons about improvement, culture, and how we respond to mistakes.

The blog postIn this episode, Mark explores how the Dunning-Kruger effect shows up in Lean—especially after a first belt course, workshop, or book. Early enthusiasm can turn into overconfidence, creating blind spots and stalling growth.Drawing from his book Practicing Lean, Mark shares stories (his own and from contributors like Paul Akers and Jamie Flinchbaugh) about mistakes made early on, what they taught us, and why Lean should be treated as a practice, not a project.Key themes:Why certifications are a starting point, not the finish lineHow psychological safety helps keep overconfidence in checkLessons learned from early Lean misstepsPractical tips for avoiding common training pitfallsAll royalties from Practicing Lean benefit the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation, supporting safer care for patients and families.

The blog postSometimes an “improvement” makes things worse. The Germans even have a word for it: verschlimmbesserung.In this episode, Mark Graban shares the story of how a well-intentioned fix to Europe’s vineyard fungus problem in the 19th century nearly wiped out the continent’s wine industry. The introduction of American grapevines solved one issue but unleashed a far bigger one: phylloxera, a microscopic pest that devastated vineyards, economies, and cultures across Europe — including Mallorca, where wine production lay dormant for nearly a century.This historical case offers powerful lessons for today’s leaders:Why most of the time small, contained tests are bestWhen risks are irreversible, testing may not be safe at allHow to balance experimentation with rigorous risk assessmentWhy good intentions aren’t enough if you create tomorrow’s crisis while solving today’s problemFrom vineyards to hospitals, factories, and offices, the challenge is the same: how do we solve problems without making things worse?

The blog postToo often, leaders think that if they simply “get everyone doing Kaizen,” performance will automatically improve. While daily improvement is essential, some problems are too deeply rooted in the system for frontline staff to fix on their own.In this episode, Mark Graban explores why Kaizen is necessary but not sufficient — and why leaders must take responsibility for changing the systems that shape performance. Drawing on Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s reminder that “a bad system will beat a good person every time,” Mark shares real-world examples, including a hospital laboratory redesign that transformed results once leadership tackled systemic constraints.You’ll learn:Why leaders can’t delegate away system-level changeThe difference between local improvements and structural redesignsHow system fixes and daily Kaizen reinforce one anotherPractical lessons for avoiding frustration and building real, sustainable improvementThe message is clear: frontline staff can’t Kaizen their way out of a broken system. Leaders must create the conditions where Kaizen can truly flourish.

The blog postAlbert Einstein once called the “cosmological constant” the biggest blunder of his life. But what if that so-called mistake actually holds timeless lessons for leaders today?In this episode, Mark Graban explores Einstein’s “favorite mistake” — why he altered his equations to fit prevailing beliefs, what he missed in the process, and how the story connects directly to Lean thinking, Toyota Kata, and continuous improvement.You’ll hear how Einstein’s cautionary tale mirrors what happens in organizations when:Data contradicts long-held assumptionsTeams run pilots that outperform the old way, but leaders resist changePeople hesitate to speak up because it feels unsafe to challenge the consensusThe conversation highlights the importance of scientific thinking, experimentation, and psychological safety — and why the real mistake isn’t being wrong, but failing to learn.Whether you’re leading change in healthcare, manufacturing, software, or beyond, you’ll come away with practical insights to help you trust the data, encourage dissent, and model learning from mistakes.

the blog postIn this episode, Mark Graban previews his upcoming half-day workshop at the AME St. Louis 2025 International Conference: The Deming Red Bead Game and Process Behavior Charts: Practical Applications for Lean Management.If you’ve ever felt stuck in the exhausting cycle of reacting to every up and down in your performance metrics—or frustrated by red/green scorecards that drive pressure and finger-pointing more than improvement—this session is for you.Mark explains why Process Behavior Charts provide a more thoughtful, statistically sound alternative to arbitrary targets and binary dashboards. He also shares how the famous Deming Red Bead Game makes visible the ways that systems set people up to fail—and how leaders can do better.What you’ll learn in this episode:How to distinguish between signal and noise in performance dataWhy Process Behavior Charts help leaders react less and improve moreThe pitfalls of red/green scorecards and arbitrary targetsHow to connect better data interpretation to Lean management and strategy deploymentWhether you’re a leader, manager, or improvement professional in any industry, you’ll come away with practical takeaways to reduce firefighting and improve decision-making.

the blog postWhat does Lean healthcare really mean? It’s more than tools like 5S, A3s, or huddle boards. Lean is a management system that depends on two pillars: respect for people and continuous improvement. Without both, attempts to copy Lean practices in healthcare fail.In this episode, Mark Graban—author of Lean Hospitals, Healthcare Kaizen, and The Mistakes That Make Us—explores how the Toyota Way philosophy applies to hospitals and health systems. He shares lessons from Toyota, Franciscan Health in Indianapolis, and other organizations proving that Lean leadership in healthcare is not about cost-cutting—it’s about creating a culture of improvement.What You’ll Learn About Lean Healthcare:Why Lean is a system, not a toolbox of methodsHow respect for people means designing systems that prevent mistakes, not blaming staffHow Kaizen in healthcare develops people while improving quality and safetyWhy suggestion boxes fail and daily improvement succeedsThe four goals of Kaizen: Easier, Better, Faster, Cheaper (in that order)How Lean leadership means coaching, not controllingWhy psychological safety and trust are essential for sustainable improvementKey Quotes from Mark:“Improvement happens at the speed of trust.”“The primary goal of Kaizen is to develop people first and meet goals second.”“A Lean environment doesn’t cut costs through layoffs. It invests in people and meaningful work.”If you’re a healthcare leader trying to reduce errors, engage staff, and build a lasting culture of improvement, this episode provides practical insights you can apply today.