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 book The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Pr...
Sep 03, 2015•32 min•Season 1Ep. 228
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 leadership… hence “doing the right thing” and being a great leader who others chose to follow. The book is...
Aug 13, 2015•41 min•Season 1Ep. 227
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 recently released book that I think is outstanding: The Power of Ideas to Transform Healthc...
Jul 28, 2015•47 min•Season 1Ep. 226
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 model" that can be used to structure a Lean transformation, while John admits there's not just one ...
Jul 21, 2015•43 min•Season 1Ep. 225
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 of constant and never-ending improvement in their organization. In this eposide, we talk about his ex...
Jun 14, 2015•48 min•Season 1Ep. 224
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, we talk about our reflections on Japan and the tour, lessons learned, and reasons to go (which includ...
Jun 02, 2015•40 min•Season 1Ep. 222
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 is also a TeamSTEPPS (Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety) master t...
May 20, 2015•40 min•Season 1Ep. 222
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 including how CEOs get exposed to Lean thinking, why humility is so important, what "respect for pe...
Apr 08, 2015•38 min•Season 1Ep. 221
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 episode, we cover topics including: How Bob got into the patient safety field Of all of the estimates...
Mar 29, 2015•47 min•Season 1Ep. 220
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 up on an idea? Tristan also talks about why being data driven and scientific "is the aspiration" an...
Mar 24, 2015•41 min•Season 1Ep. 219
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 mutually supportive of Lean and quality improvement. In December, Mary Greeley Medical Center was named a r...
Mar 16, 2015•34 min•Season 1Ep. 218
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 include managing continuous improvement, creativity, ideas and innovation, and Lean production, being one...
Mar 02, 2015•39 min•Season 1Ep. 217
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 Thinking, and Lean Solutions and published other books through the LEA. He is also a senior advisor to t...
Feb 20, 2015•45 min•Season 1Ep. 216
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 my colleague with the firm Value Capture and we were able to collaborate on an engagement with a Philade...
Feb 12, 2015•47 min•Season 1Ep. 215
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 French automotive supplier Sommer-Allibert and was coached by Toyota there). The three novels are: The ...
Feb 01, 2015•43 min•Season 1Ep. 214
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 is actually #4 in the new series . The episodes in this new series won't have their own page, but th...
Jan 15, 2015•11 min•Season 1Ep. 213
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 leaders teaching and learning in the workplace. What is the role of executives in creating a Lean culture? I...
Dec 30, 2014•51 min•Season 1Ep. 212
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 their series via iTunes, Google Play, and their app for iOS or Android. Learn more at their site . My podc...
Oct 08, 2014•52 min•Season 1Ep. 211
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 here in the podcast. In the episode, we talk about their backgrounds and how they got started with Lean – Da...
Sep 30, 2014•40 min•Season 1Ep. 210
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 more. For a link to this episode, refer people to www.leanblog.org/209 . For earlier episodes of my podcas...
Sep 17, 2014•34 min•Season 1Ep. 209
Joining me for episode #208 is Michael Bremer , author of the recently released book How to Do a Gemba Walk . Michael is president of The Cumberland Group , a business improvement consulting firm based in Illinois. In today's episode, Michael talks about different types of gemba walks, key behaviors that need to be exhibited by leaders, and why it's critically important to build trust and credibility over time. How can gemba walks help a leader be more in touch with reality in the workplace? How...
Sep 09, 2014•36 min•Season 1Ep. 208
Episode #207 is part two of my conversation with Chris Jerry , founder of The Emily Jerry Foundation . The foundation was created in the aftermath of the tragic death of his daughter, Emily – a preventable medical error caused by a number of factors and bad systems. You can read Emily's story here . In the first part (Episode #203) , Chris told the story of what happened. In part two, we talk about topics including: A systems view vs. blaming an individual Chris skipping over the “anger” phase o...
Aug 27, 2014•50 min•Season 1Ep. 207
My guest for episode #206 is Ed Pound, co-author of the book Factory Physics for Managers: How Leaders Improve Performance in a Post-Lean Six Sigma World that was released in April. It is, of course, a new version of the original Factory Physics textbook that I used in college and was the subject of Podcast #25 with Prof. Mark Spearman. Ed is the chief operations officer of Factory Physics, Inc., a company started by Spearman. In the podcast, we talk about the term "Factory Physics" (including t...
Aug 14, 2014•39 min•Season 1Ep. 206
Episode #205 is a conversation with Joe Schnur , VP Business Development at Intelligent M , a company that “designs data-driven hand hygiene compliance improvement solutions for hospitals that dramatically reduce healthcare-acquired infections and their associated costs.” Joe and I share a passion for improving patient safety and we've had a number of great conversations comparing notes on the problem and the different ways we need to work toward solving it. We decided to finally record one of t...
Jul 23, 2014•33 min•Season 1Ep. 205
Joining me today for Episode #204 is Paul Plsek ( @PaulPlsek ) and we're talking about his excellent book (a Shingo Research Award recipient this year) titled Accelerating Health Care Transformation with Lean and Innovation: The Virginia Mason Experience . Virginia Mason, of course, is Virginia Mason Medical Center, the outstanding Lean organization that was named “Hospital of the Decade” by Leapfrog Group . In our discussion, we touch on topics including how you can be Lean AND innovative, how ...
Jul 17, 2014•35 min•Season 1Ep. 204
My guest for Episode #203 (and for Part 2 of our discussion in episode #207 ) is Chris Jerry , founder of The Emily Jerry Foundation. The foundation was created in the aftermath of the tragic death of his daughter, Emily – a preventable medical error caused by a number of factors and bad systems. You can read Emily's story here . I first learned about this tragedy a few years back and I blogged about it: “ A Pharmacist's Jail Cell Interview – What Good Does Blame Do ?” Some people ask, “Why are ...
Jun 22, 2014•40 min•Season 1Ep. 203
My guest today for Episode 202 is Patrick Graupp , co-author of the excellent book Getting to Standard Work in Health Care: Using TWI to Create a Foundation for Quality Care , co-authored with Martha Purrier from Virginia Mason Medical Center. If you're brand new to the Training Within Industry (TWI) model, you might want to first listen to Episode 196, with Jim Huntzinger, on “What is TWI? “ Patrick is also a senior master trainer with the TWI Institute . His other publications include the book...
Jun 13, 2014•35 min•Season 1Ep. 202
Joining me for episode #201 are Ron Smith , a Process Improvement Coordinator/Lean Facilitator at Mary Greeley Medical Center (in Iowa) and Suz Kaprich , a consultant with KaiNexus (disclosure: I'm on the management team of KaiNexus and have an ownership stake in the company). Today, they are talking about a three-month “WorkOut” process that Ron and Suz ran recently at the hospital. Given the challenges in today's healthcare environment, the focus was on cost reduction and financial benefits, b...
Jun 06, 2014•37 min•Season 1Ep. 201
My guest for episode 200 is Paul Spiegelman , author of the book Patients Come Second: Leading Change by Changing the Way You Lead . Today, we're talking about his book and its provocative title – what do you mean patients don't come first? What about this trend for “patient-centered care” (and why wasn't it patient-centered to begin with?). In the podcast, Paul talks about: The book's title and how it was meant to be provocative Why focusing on engaged employees leads to better patient care and...
May 30, 2014•31 min•Season 1Ep. 200
Joining me for episode #199 is Jeff Gothelf ( @jboogie ), talking about “Lean UX” or “Lean User Experience,” a key method for software development, usually used in conjunction with design thinking , agile development , and Lean Startup business practices. Jeff is author of the book Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience and he is Managing Director at Neo , the global product innovation company. Jeff is teaching a workshop in Austin on June 10 called “ Lean UX Bootcamp: Agil...
May 23, 2014•34 min•Season 1Ep. 199
