Lean Blog Interviews - Healthcare, Manufacturing, Business, and Leadership
Mark Graban
Since 2006, the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast has featured thoughtful, in-depth conversations with leaders, authors, executives, and practitioners who are applying Lean thinking and continuous improvement in the real world.
Hosted by Mark Graban—author of Lean Hospitals, Measures of Success, and The Mistakes That Make Us—the podcast explores Lean as a management system, a leadership philosophy, and a people-centered approach to improvement. Episodes span industries including healthcare, manufacturing, startups, technology, and professional services.
This isn’t a podcast about chasing tools, jargon, or “Lean theater.” Instead, guests share candid stories about what actually works—and what doesn’t—when organizations try to improve. You’ll hear honest reflections on leadership, culture, learning from mistakes, and building systems that help people do their best work.
Whether you’re a Lean practitioner, healthcare leader, executive, coach, or someone new to continuous improvement, each episode offers practical insights you can apply immediately.
Common topics include:
Lean as a management system and cultural transformation—not just a toolbox
Continuous improvement, Kaizen, and problem-solving at every level
Leadership behaviors that enable trust, learning, and sustained change
Psychological safety as a foundation for improvement and innovation
Lessons from the Toyota Production System, Lean Startup, and Deming’s thinking
Real-world stories about mistakes, learning, and resilience
You won’t hear much about “Lean Six Sigma” here. But if you believe improvement starts with respect for people—and that better systems beat blaming individuals—this podcast is for you.
Many episodes feature a special focus on Lean in healthcare, reflecting Mark’s long-standing work with hospitals and health systems to improve patient safety, quality, flow, and staff engagement.
Find all episodes and show notes at www.LeanCast.org.Learn more about Mark and his work at www.LeanBlog.org.Questions or feedback? Email mark@leanblog.org
Hosted by Mark Graban—author of Lean Hospitals, Measures of Success, and The Mistakes That Make Us—the podcast explores Lean as a management system, a leadership philosophy, and a people-centered approach to improvement. Episodes span industries including healthcare, manufacturing, startups, technology, and professional services.
This isn’t a podcast about chasing tools, jargon, or “Lean theater.” Instead, guests share candid stories about what actually works—and what doesn’t—when organizations try to improve. You’ll hear honest reflections on leadership, culture, learning from mistakes, and building systems that help people do their best work.
Whether you’re a Lean practitioner, healthcare leader, executive, coach, or someone new to continuous improvement, each episode offers practical insights you can apply immediately.
Common topics include:
Lean as a management system and cultural transformation—not just a toolbox
Continuous improvement, Kaizen, and problem-solving at every level
Leadership behaviors that enable trust, learning, and sustained change
Psychological safety as a foundation for improvement and innovation
Lessons from the Toyota Production System, Lean Startup, and Deming’s thinking
Real-world stories about mistakes, learning, and resilience
You won’t hear much about “Lean Six Sigma” here. But if you believe improvement starts with respect for people—and that better systems beat blaming individuals—this podcast is for you.
Many episodes feature a special focus on Lean in healthcare, reflecting Mark’s long-standing work with hospitals and health systems to improve patient safety, quality, flow, and staff engagement.
Find all episodes and show notes at www.LeanCast.org.Learn more about Mark and his work at www.LeanBlog.org.Questions or feedback? Email mark@leanblog.org
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 28, 2020 • 1h 5min
Keith Ingels on "Adopting and Adapting" TPS to the Raymond Lean Management System
Manager at Raymond Corporation (part of Toyota)
Show notes, with transcript and more: https://www.leanblog.org/390
My guest for Episode #390 is Keith Ingels, the TPS (Toyota Production System) Manager for Raymond Corporation -- Raymond is part of Toyota Material Handling North America, which is part of Toyota Industries.
Wait, so a Toyota company needs a "TPS Manager?" Yes, when that company was acquired by Toyota, which creates a need to "become more like Toyota" instead of just "being Toyota." What are the differences between TPS and the Raymond Lean Management System, if any, and why does that terminology matter? What is the "adopt and adapt" strategy and why is that so important?
I want to thank Raymond Corp. for making Keith available and for sharing the videos and resources that I've linked to below. Also, here is an article that Keith had published recently on shifting to a culture of continuous improvement.
Oct 21, 2020 • 53min
Elisabeth Swan on the Problems With Brainstorming and Why "Structure Sets You Free"
Author, podcaster, and consultant
https://www.leanblog.org/389
My guest for Episode #389 is Elisabeth Swan. She is the co-author of The Problem-Solver's Toolkit and co-host of the Just-in-Time Cafe Podcast. As her bio says, she's "been helping people successfully build their problem-solving muscles for over 30 years, and she loves what she does every single day."
In the episode, we discuss brainstorming, using an article she wrote for GoLeanSixSigma.com as the starting point: "Green Belts: Group Brainstorming Is a Waste of Time." Why has classic brainstorming proven to be ineffective, especially in the context of Lean, Six Sigma, or process improvement? And how can it be better given the reality of remote teams?
The conversation also veers into talking about Elisabeth's history in improv comedy and how lessons from the improv approach influence her to this day. Why does "structure set you free" in improv or Lean Six Sigma? We'll talk about that and more.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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/
