Lean Blog Interviews - Healthcare, Manufacturing, Business, and Leadership

Mark Graban

Episodes

Mentioned books

undefined
Oct 14, 2020 • 53min

Michael Lombard on Kata, Crises, and his AME Conference Keynote

Healthcare leader, coach, and Kata Geek https://www.leanblog.org/388 My guest for Episode #388 is my friend Michael Lombard. I first met Michael when he lived in the DFW area and first got into healthcare. He has been a Lean facilitator / coach in numerous healthcare organizations and has been a hospital CEO in Louisiana before taking his current role, again focusing on process improvement, at Kaiser Permanente in California. Michael is doing a unique and, I think, groundbreaking keynote talk at the upcoming AME Virtual Conference. The session, which he invited me to moderate, is called "Striving together in a crisis: How improvement science can build resiliency in a crisis and perhaps even progress complex social issues." These crises include Covid-19, wildfires, and social injustice and unrest. He will be incorporating videos by two physicians, Dr. Rita Ng and Dr. Carla Wicks and they will both be participating in the Q&A for this "conversation-style" keynote. Our podcast today is a preview of this session. Michael and I also talk about how (and why) he got into healthcare and why the Toyota Kata methodology is so important to him.
undefined
Oct 4, 2020 • 1h 7min

Seán Paul Teeling on Lean Healthcare and Covid-19 Treatment in Ireland

Irish Lean healthcare leader and nurse Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/387 My guest for Episode #387 of the podcast is Sán Paul Teeling, who joins us from Dublin, Ireland. He is the Programme Director for the Professional Certificate and Graduate Diploma in Lean Healthcare at UCD Health Systems. Seán Paul is also an Assistant Professor in Health Systems/Mater Lean Academy. He was previously Lean Manager at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital Dublin. You can read his full bio here. Seán Paul and I have collaborated a few times — I was invited to give a virtual lecture last year and I had the opportunity to visit the hospital and the Lean Academy last November, leading a workshop for a group there about continuous improvement and the methods from Measures of Success (yes, I had my “red bead game” kit with me). Seán Paul also invited me to review articles and to contribute an editorial to a special supplement about Lean and Six Sigma in the journal International Journal for Quality in Health Care. In the episode, we discuss the Irish health system and his experience practicing and teaching Lean. We also have the unique opportunity to chat with somebody who designed a Covid-19 clinic and then got treatment in that same clinic (thankfully, he has now recovered). I hope you enjoy the conversation like I did.   
undefined
Oct 2, 2020 • 29min

Bonus: Billy Taylor's "Favorite Mistake"

I'm crossposting Episode #5 of my new podcast series "My Favorite Mistake." My guest here is Billy Taylor, who was my guest on episodes #293 and 298 of this series, Lean Blog Interviews. Billy is a retired operations executive with Goodyear who now has his own consulting group. In this episode, Billy talks about how he learned from mistakes related to not respecting standards -- when he was a kid and when he was a rising operations leader at Goodyear. I know you'll enjoy this episode as a Lean practitioner and I think you'll like the whole "My Favorite Mistake" series on the theme of learning from mistakes.    
undefined
Sep 29, 2020 • 45min

Steven J. Spear Remembers Hajime Oba of Toyota

MIT professor, author, and consultant http://www.leanblog.org/386 Joining me again for Episode #386 is Steve Spear, who reached out to share recollections of one of his most influential teachers and mentors, Hajime Oba, who passed away earlier this month at 75. I never had the chance to learn directly from Mr. Oba, but he is legendary in Lean circles and I know many people who were deeply influenced by Mr. Oba. I hope to interview more of them in the near future. My deepest condolences go out to Mr. Oba's family, friends, and colleagues. Here is a classic 2001 WSJ article that features him:   "How Does Toyota Maintain Quality? Mr. Oba's Hair Dryer Offers a Clue"   In today's episode, Steve talks about meeting Mr. Oba and how he learned from him as a PhD student. One story that Steve shares was about sitting at his desk, thinking about a problem, and Mr. Oba told him:   "Don't think -- do!"  Hajime Oba   You'll hear more from Steve talking about the need to learn by doing and to test changes in an experimental fashion. It's not just "do" --- it's Plan Do Check Act (or Plan Do Study Adjust or even Plan Test Study Adjust).    
undefined
Sep 21, 2020 • 56min

Emily Elrod on What it Means to Work "WISE"

Coach and entrepreneur http://www.leanblog.org/385 My guest for Episode #385 of the podcast is Emily Elrod, the president of the firm Workzbe, based in Georgia. We have shared interests in Lean, ergonomics, healthcare and creating better workplaces. We met earlier this year and she was kind enough to interview me for her YouTube channel. As she describes in the episode, her career has evolved from designing equipment, to wellness and Lean in a health system, to her own firm. Her WISE framework means to work Well, Intelligent, Safe, and Empowered. We'll talk about the need to be “HOT” (Humble, Open, and Transparent), the psychology of change, and more. “I think the biggest threat to health promotion is doing things to people instead of with them.”  Emily Elrod I hope you enjoy the conversation like I did. 
undefined
Sep 10, 2020 • 60min

Craig Gygi on the "Truth About Data"

http://www.leanblog.org/384 Joining me today for Episode #384 of the podcast is Craig Gygi, co-author of the book Six Sigma for Dummies. He also managing principal and owner of the firm Strategic Productivity. You can read his full bio there. He also has an online course called “Truth About Data” which covers statistical process control for business metrics, as I have written about. So, we have that shared interest in data, statistical methods, and problem solving even if he comes at it from a Six Sigma perspective (starting from his days at Motorola) and me from a Lean perspective. Craig's previous leadership roles include: COO, Purple Executive VP of Operations, MasterControl Director Operational Excellence, Fiji Water I hope you enjoy the conversation like I did. You can listen to the audio or watch the video, below.  
undefined
Aug 31, 2020 • 1h 6min

Patrick Anderson on Deming, Lean, and Shifting From Command and Control

http://www.leanblog.org/383 Joining me today for Episode #383 of the podcast is Patrick Anderson, the CEO of the Rural Alaska Community Action Program, Inc. (or "RurAL CAP"). Patrick was previously a guest way back in Episodes #53 and #71. Today, we'll talk how ideas from Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Lean have influenced him as he has led different organizations. He shares thoughts about shifting an organization away from a "command and control" approach, what "respect for people" means to him, and he'll also talk about their "performance management system." I hope you enjoy the conversation.  
undefined
Aug 28, 2020 • 8min

Announcing a New Podcast Series: “My Favorite Mistake: Reflections From Business Leaders”

Learn more: http://leanblog.org/audio309 Subscribe: http://myfavoritemistakepodcast.com/ 
undefined
Aug 23, 2020 • 1h 8min

Tom Peters on Managing During the Madness of Covid Times and Beyond

https://www.leanblog.org/382 for show notes and more I'm really excited to be speaking to my guest for Episode #382 of the podcast… he is the legendary Tom Peters — author, speaker, and consultant. His response to me calling him “legendary” at the start of the episode gives you a glimpse into the fun conversation we had on some very important topics. Today, we'll be talking about his “Excellence Manifesto 2020” and a theme he has tweeted about a lot, leading amongst the “madness of Covid-19.” He is the author of 18 books, including: In Search of Excellence (1982) — Dan Pink (my guest in Episode #107) said (here) that it launched the modern biz book genre Thriving on Chaos (1987) Liberation Management  The Pursuit of WOW! I've been a huge fan of Tom's since I first saw him give a speech around 1997 or so. The story about Motorola's “six sigma chocolate chip cookies” (read about it here) stuck with me and my recall of that story leads to Tom talking about the risk of any good program becoming codified and bureaucratic, as we discuss early in the podcast. Highlights of Tom's background and early career include: Civil Engineering, Cornell US Navy MBA and PhD at Stanford White House / OMB (Nixon) McKinsey Virtually all Tom's written and speech material covering the last 15+ years is available — free to download — at tompeters.com and excellencenow.com. Much of what Tom says will resonate with Lean practitioners — his focus on people, the need for leaders to really love leading people, and Management by Wandering Around (an approach that might be more like Lean “gemba visits” than you might think). As with his writing, Tom often speaks in ALL CAPS (which I love). With that does come some mild cursing — like a PG-13 movie, but I still need to give it the Apple Podcasts “explicit” rating I do warn you if you are listening in an open workplace with others (and if you are, wear a mask!). I hope you enjoy the conversation, whether you listen or watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7KEqp7vJl9w
undefined
Aug 16, 2020 • 38min

John Toussaint, MD on Managing During Covid-19 Times & Beyond

http://www.leanblog.org/381 Joining me for the ninth time on the podcast, for Episode #381, is Dr. John Toussaint, chairman of Catalysis. John is author or co-author of three books -- well actually it's four books, as a new one is available for pre-order now with an expected September 1st release: Becoming the Change: Leadership Behavior Strategies for Continuous Improvement in Healthcare. Today, we'll talk about the new book a bit (but we'll save most of that conversation for an upcoming episode with both John and his co-author Kim Barnas). I ask John about healthcare organizations that have been doing really good work during the Covid-19 pandemic. One of those is UMass Memorial Health Care (check out my "Habitual Excellence" podcast with their CEO Dr. Eric Dickson). Another related podcast I've done on that topic is a conversation with Paul Pejsa, also with Catalysis. We also talk about the need to adapt with conferences, as the annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit is now a one-day online virtual event this year. We'll also hear some of John's thoughts on the future of healthcare. I also want to mention a free webinar that John and Kim will be presenting on Wednesday, as part of the KaiNexus webinar series. Click here to register. I hope you enjoy the conversation, whether you listen or watch.  

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
 Get the app