http://www.leanblog.org/377 My guest for Episode #377 is Ritu Ward , an experienced healthcare executive who has had success delivering quality, growth, and strategy while leading high performing teams. We have known each other for a while through Lean healthcare circles and she presented a webinar in our KaiNexus series titled, “ Leadership Behaviors to Guide Effective Change .” She was, until recently, the Regional Vice President for Mercy Labs in the West Region. Ritu also worked previously f...
Jul 20, 2020•57 min•Season 1Ep. 377
http://www.leanblog.org/376 Joining me for Episode #376 of the podcast is Lauren Hisey , a continuous improvement coach and consultant at her firm, Lauren Hisey Consulting . Before becoming a consultant, Lauren worked for AT&T and Nielsen in various technical and Lean Six Sigma roles. She has a BA in Political Science and Government and an MBA. Read more about Lauren via her bio. Today, we talk about the interface and overlap between concepts like Lean, Six Sigma, and Artificial Intelligence...
Jul 14, 2020•44 min•Season 1Ep. 376
http://www.leanblog.org/375 My guest for Episode #375 of the podcast is Mohamed Saleh, Ph.D. Dr. Saleh has been a practitioner in Lean & Six Sigma transformations, in both manufacturing and service sectors. Mohamed was directly mentored by one of the country’s foremost experts on enterprise-wide Lean transformation and the Toyota Production System (TPS). He has extensive experience in hands-on healthcare, manufacturing, supply chain, network optimization and enterprise information systems. M...
Jul 09, 2020•54 min•Season 1Ep. 375
http://www.leanblog.org/374 Joining me today for Episode #374 of the podcast are two colleagues, Brittany Wilson and Mark Valenti . The topic, as Mark and I discussed in Episode #306 , is " Motivational Interviewing ." We will all be exploring this topic in the context of talking to people about wearing masks during the pandemic. But, there are many applications to workplace situations, as well. Mark and Brittany do a series of very engaging webinars, which you can find on their YouTube channel ...
Jun 11, 2020•55 min•Season 1Ep. 374
http://www.leanblog.org/373 Joining me today for Episode #373 of the podcast is Professor Peter Hines , author of many books including Staying Lean: Thriving, Not Just Surviving . Peter founded S A Partners in 1994 as a spin-out from his activities in running the Lean Enterprise Research Centre at Cardiff University. Before this, he worked in supply chain and distribution and manufacturing industries. Peter has a degree from Cambridge University and an MBA and PhD from Cardiff University. He is ...
Jun 09, 2020•50 min•Season 1Ep. 373
http://www.leanblog.org/372 My guest for Episode #372 is Karen Gaudet , author of the excellent book Steady Work , which was published by the Lean Enterprise Institute. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a former employee of LEI and they provided a review copy of the book. In today's episode, we discuss her experience with Lean at Starbucks. It's a fascinating story that includes a transition from the old way (the Seattle HQ figuring out "best practices") to a new way (where store managers...
May 28, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 372
http://www.leanblog.org/371 For Episode #371, we bring the discussion back to Lean Manufacturing applications, as our guest is Marc Lushington-Murray . He currently lives in the Fort Worth, Texas area but, as you'll discover from his accent, he was originally born and raised in England. Marc is currently searching for a new opportunity, but he brings a great deal of experience from his time working for Nissan and then Parker Hannifan. He was originally self-taught but then had the opportunity to...
May 17, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 371
http://www.leanblog.org/370 Joining me for Episode #370 is Edward Blackman , the founder and managing partner of Kelda Consulting . He has previously had Lean and process improvement-focused roles at organizations as varied as Whirlpool, Amway, and Spectrum Health. Today, we are discussing behavioral science and the need to combine practices and lessons from that field with Lean and continuous improvement. Edward earned a Masters degree in Behavioral Science, along with undergraduate degrees in ...
May 12, 2020•56 min•Season 1Ep. 370
http://www.leanblog.org/369 Joining me again for Episode #369 of the podcast is Dr. Rachel Mandel , a self-described "healthcare whisperer" and Washington D.C.-based consultant for healthcare organizations. She has her own practice and also works as a Senior Healthcare Advisor for Operational Performance Solutions, Inc . She was a guest recently for Episode #367, but we had recorded that before the pandemic. So, we decided to do another episode, this time as a live YouTube stream, to talk about ...
May 08, 2020•59 min•Season 1Ep. 369
http://leanblog.org/368 My guest for Episode #368 is somebody I've met fairly recently through his excellent posts on LinkedIn, Steve Feltovich . He is the president of SJF Consulting, Inc. and he previously had a long career in the automotive industry, in particular collision and repair. Steve learned about Dr. Deming's approach and also learned the Toyota Production System from Toyota and Toyota University, so he has an interesting perspective that I really appreciate. I hope you enjoy the dis...
May 04, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 368
http://www.leanblog.org/367 Joining me for Episode #367 of the podcast is Dr. Rachel Mandel , a self-described "healthcare whisperer" and Washington D.C.-based consultant for healthcare organizations. She has her own practice and also works as a Senior Healthcare Advisor for Operational Performance Solutions, Inc . She is, of course, a physician (OB-GYN) and previously served as the Vice President of Medical Affairs for a health system in Maryland. Read her full bio here . We recorded this podca...
Apr 27, 2020•59 min•Season 1Ep. 367
http://www.leanblog.org/366 My guest for Episode #366 is Harry Moser , founder of the Reshoring Initiative. We talk about “reshoring,” in general, and why that's such an important issue in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. Harry definitely falls into the category of guests where I wonder, “Why haven't I had this person on the show before?” Harry and his work have been on my radar for a long time. I appreciate the mission and I wish more companies would consider the “ Total Cost ” ...
Apr 19, 2020•57 min•Season 1Ep. 366
Mark Graban interviews Dan Markovitz about his new book. http://www.leanblog.org/365 Joining me again for Episode #365 is Dan Markovitz, now a five-time guest (but he doesn't get a special jacket like SNL). The reason for getting together was to chat about his latest book, "The Conclusion Trap: Four Steps to Better Decisions," now available from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle formats. Why do people jump to conclusions (or solutions), often looking to “shiny new technology, reorganizations, ...
Apr 16, 2020•56 min•Season 1Ep. 365
Joining me for Episode #364 is a returning guest, Mitch Cahn, the president of Unionwear, a Newark-based company. Back in Episode #234 , we talked about how Lean manufacturing has helped them be competitive in the labor-intensive apparel industry, sewing goods in a union shop. Today (in an episode that is also a video podcast ), Mitch tells us how, a month ago, orders for political campaign hats and items evaporated as the Democratic presidential field consolidated. So, Unionwear needed to pivot...
Apr 14, 2020•32 min•Season 1Ep. 364
http://www.leanblog.org/363 For Episode #363, I'm joined by Crystal Davis as we discuss: What are you seeing in terms of how Covid-19 is disrupting businesses? How do we move from crisis mode, to survival mode, to recovery mode? Why do we need courageous leadership during these challenging times? This is also the first video podcast that I've done in a while. See the show notes page for the video: HTTP://www.leanblog.org/363 We share a background as industrial engineers who started our Lean care...
Apr 07, 2020•58 min•Season 1Ep. 363
http://www.leanblog.org/362 My guest for Episode #362 is Adam Lawrence , managing partner with Process Improvement Partners LLC . He's an industrial engineer who had a long career working with TQM, Six Sigma, and Lean at Thomasvile Furniture and other Armstrong World Industries companies. Today, we'll talk about setting kaizen events up for success with effective charter documents and team selection. What's the role of leadership? Adam will also talk about the "wheel of sustainability" (scroll d...
Mar 31, 2020•44 min•Season 1Ep. 362
http://www.leanblog.org/361 Episode #361 of the podcast is admittedly not about Lean, but it's an important topic that I think needs to be shared in these times. I'm sharing audio that came from a KaiNexus webinar yesterday that we called "Ask Docs Anything" and the topic was, of course, coronavirus and Covid-19. We put out a call for questions and got more than 100 questions for our customers and our community. For the webinar, we focused the questions mainly on personal health and things you c...
Mar 19, 2020•1 hr 36 min•Season 1Ep. 361
http://www.leanblog.org/360 Returning for Episode #360 of the podcast is Leah Binder , the president and CEO of Leapfrog Group . We last talked four years ago in Episode #240 about the patient safety crisis and efforts to improve. Today, we'll talk about hospitals' preparation for the Covid-19 / Coronavirus threat. Read her statement on this topic and stay tuned for announcements about free webinars and resources that Leapfrog Group will be providing. We'll also discuss safety (and the lack of r...
Mar 15, 2020•56 min•Season 1Ep. 360
My guest for Episode #359 of the podcast is Prof. Dr. Alfred Angerer , joining me from Switzerland to talk about Lean healthcare. I had a chance to visit a hospital with Alfred, in Switzerland, late last year, as we discussed in this episode of his podcast (which we recorded together in his office). In today's episode, he joins me via the internet and we'll talk about his path into studying, teaching, and consulting on Lean healthcare. We'll chat about what's different (and what's similar) in Sw...
Mar 02, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 359
http://www.leanblog.org/358 Returning to the podcast for Episode #358 is Steve Spear , a senior lecturer at MIT and author of the book The High-Velocity Edge: How Market Leaders Leverage Operational Excellence to Beat the Competition . He's also the founder and co-creator of a software company and product called See to Solve . He's also the author of two outstanding Harvard Business Review articles: “ Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System " and " Fixing Healthcare from the Inside, Tod...
Feb 10, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 358
http://leanblog.org/357 Joining me today for episode #357 is Michael Conroy, M.D. , the Chief Medical Officer of Sutter Medical Group in northern California. Mike was previously the Medical Director of the Lean Promotion Office for the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and he was in that role when we first met about a decade ago. We collaborated on some Lean workshop training material for him to deliver to other physicians, through my role at Catalysis at the time. In today's episode, we'll talk abou...
Feb 03, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 357
http://www.leanblog.org/356 My guest for episode #356 of the podcast is Amy C. Edmondson , PhD, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School. She is the author of three books on teaming and her most recent book is the topic of conversation today: The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth . In the episode, we explore the incredibly important concept of "psychological safety," which means, as...
Jan 22, 2020•53 min•Season 1Ep. 356
Http://www.leanblog.org/355 So, an engineer, an architect, and a nurse walk into a hospital... no, that's not a setup for the punchline to a joke. Today, in episode #355 of the podcast, I'm sharing three short conversations with three people who have very different backgrounds, but they still all ended up working to improve healthcare. We have a Toyota-trained engineer ( Isaac Mitchell ), who transitioned (like me) from manufacturing to healthcare. We are also joined by an architect ( Laura Silv...
Jan 15, 2020•58 min•Season 1Ep. 355
http://www.leanblog.org/354 Joining me for episode #354 of the podcast is Kim Hollon , the CEO and President of Signature Healthcare, based in Brockton, Massachusetts. I first met Kim about a decade ago and, as we discover during the podcast discussion, one of my Lean healthcare clients in Dallas was later an important influence in Kim's discovery and embrace of Lean. What prompted the podcast interview was Kim's recent article titled " The Health Care Leader's Role in Safety ," which I blogged ...
Jan 08, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 354
Links and full transcript: http://www.leanblog.org/353 My guest for Episode #353 of the podcast is somebody whose work I've appreciated for a long time -- Quint Studer. I was first introduced to his book Hardwiring Excellence back in 2005 and I've been following his work (and reading his books ) ever since. Today, we'll talk about "hardwiring" and other concepts from his first book. We will also explore his latest book, The Busy Leader's Handbook: How To Lead People and Places That Thrive , a bo...
Dec 01, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 353
http://www.leanblog.org/352 Joining me for Episode #352 of the podcast is Frederick Southwick, M.D. He is a Professor of Medicine and is also Director of Patient Care Quality and Safety in the Division of Hospitalist Medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Fred is the author of many books including Critically Ill: A 5-Point Plan to Cure Healthcare Delivery . In the podcast, Fred will talk about why he shifted from infectious diseases to focusing on hospital medicine and healthcare ...
Nov 18, 2019•56 min•Season 1Ep. 352
http://www.leanblog.org/351 Joining me for Episode #351 of the podcast are my friends Joel Tosi and Dion Stewart , co-founders of the company Dojo & Co . They're the authors of the new book (to be released on November 19) called Creating Your Dojo: Upskill Your Organization for Digital Evolution . A "dojo" is a learning environment -- whether that's for the martial arts or if it's a "safety dojo" in a Toyota factory . Today, we talk about what it means to create an "immersive learning enviro...
Nov 12, 2019•55 min•Season 1Ep. 351
http://www.leanblog.org/350 Our guest today is Tim Turner, who joined us previously in 2010 for episode #90. Tim was the lead author for a book called One Team on All Levels that was about the Toyota plant and its people in Kentucky. Tim was involved in the ramp up of Kentucky Lexus production and then left Toyota after 22 years. He was at another manufacturing company and now works as a consultant, so it's interesting to hear about all of those different experiences....
Nov 04, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 350
http://www.leanblog.org/349 My guest for episode #349 is John Dyer , president of his consulting firm, John Dyer & Associates, Inc., and author of the new book, The Façade of Excellence: Defining a New Normal of Leadership , which will be released on October 1, 2019. John has been a guest previously in episodes # 229 and # 280 , talking about Dr. W. Edwards Deming, "The Red Bead Experiment," and more. Today, we talk about the book, how to find out of there is a "facade" of excellence, and wh...
Sep 23, 2019•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 349
http://www.leanblog.org/348 Our guest today for Episode 348 is Cinnamon Dixon , Director Of Continuous Improvement at Cleveland Clinic. I interviewed her for the KaiNexus Continuous Improvement Podcast series and I'm cross posting that interview here to give it more exposure. Our KaiNexus team members who were at the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit in June were really impressed with Cinnamon's presentation on their "tiered huddle" process that's part of their Lean methodology. So, we asked...
Sep 17, 2019•44 min•Season 1Ep. 348
