Profitable at Any Price: Lessons from Toyota, Daily Kaizen, and Safer Workplaces with Gregg Stocker

Episode blog post with video, transcript, and more

My guest for Episode #535 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Gregg Stocker, a seasoned Lean practitioner, consultant, and author. Over the past 30+ years, Gregg has worked across industries, including oil and gas, energy services, manufacturing, and construction, guiding both independent operators and major corporations on their Lean journeys.

He is the author of Profitable at Any Price: Lean Thinking for Safer, Cheaper, and More Responsible Oil and Gas Production and is revising his earlier book Avoiding the Corporate Death Spiral.

In this conversation, Gregg shares his Lean origin story, which began with exposure to Dr. W. Edwards Deming's teachings in college and later expanded through hands-on work with Toyota. We discuss the importance of daily Kaizen, the influence of Deming's philosophy of profound knowledge, and why psychological safety and systems thinking are essential to effective Lean leadership.

Gregg also reflects on his experiences helping organizations in high-risk industries such as oil and gas. He explains how Lean thinking can simultaneously drive improvements in safety, cost, and reliability -- showing that these are not trade-offs, but outcomes of a stronger system. Listeners will hear stories of transformation, lessons from Toyota, and practical insights on structured problem-solving, leadership behaviors, and building a culture where people feel safe speaking up.

Whether you work in energy, healthcare, manufacturing, or any other sector, Gregg's insights are broadly applicable. This episode is a reminder that Lean isn't just about tools -- it's about leadership, systems thinking, and creating conditions for continuous improvement.

Questions, Notes, and Highlights:

• How did you first get introduced to Lean and Deming?
• What did you learn from Toyota about shifting from TQM to daily Kaizen?
• How did senior leaders in your early company become engaged in Lean?
• What were your experiences attending Dr. Deming's four-day seminars?
• Which of Deming's principles do you wish leaders better understood today?
• How do systems thinking and psychology apply in high-risk industries like oil and gas?
• What are some Lean approaches to improving both safety and performance?
• What's the origin story behind your book Profitable at Any Price?
• How do oil and gas companies typically react to fluctuating prices, and how does Lean help?
• How has Lean adoption in oil and gas evolved over the past 15 years?
• When starting a Lean transformation, what should leaders do -- and avoid?
• How do you define better problem solving, beyond just tools and structure?
• What leadership behaviors help create psychological safety and encourage people to speak up?
• Can you tell us about your upcoming books and where your writing is headed next?

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.