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
Mar 15, 2016 • 24min
Dr. Tom Evans, Improving Healthcare Quality in Iowa
See http://www.leanblog.org/245 Today is the first of two episodes that I'll post here during Patient Safety Awareness Week. I agree with the National Patient Safety Foundation that every day should be patient safety day. I'm sure my guest for episode #245 would agree with that. He is Tom Evans, MD, FAAFP, the President and CEO of the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. I've know Dr. Evans for many years, but was prompted to do the podcast by this editorial he wrote in the Des Moines Register: "Iowa hospitals succeed at keeping patients safe." In this episode, we talk about the progress being made in Iowa hospitals, what they are doing, and the lessons learned.
Mar 9, 2016 • 41min
Dan Markovitz, "Building the Fit Organization," Part 2
See http://www.leanblog.org/244 Joining me again for Episode #244 is Dan Markovitz (@DanMarkovitz on Twitter). Today's episode is part 2 of our discussion about his most recent book Building the Fit Organization: Six Core Principles for Making Your Company Stronger, Faster, and More Competitive, a recipient of the Shingo Research Award. You can hear Part 1 in Episode #241.
Feb 29, 2016 • 33min
Michael Bungay Stanier, ”The Coaching Habit” *
Episode page with transcript, links, and more
My guest for Episode #243, Michael Bungay Stanier, takes us a bit outside of the Lean realm... but that's good. Our topic today, which ties in very nicely to Lean and Kaizen (as you'll hear in our conversation) is coaching. His most recent book is titled The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever and it's available today. It's a very practical book that's full of tips and seven key questions that you can use as a coach. Michael is "founder and Senior Partner of Box of Crayons, a company that helps organizations do less Good Work and more Great Work."
Remastered audio, Feb 2023
Feb 25, 2016 • 23min
Hospital Staff & Leaders Talk About the Culture of Kaizen
Episode #242 is unique in that it's a collection of audio clips from videos that Joe Swartz and I shot in late 2014 at his health system, Franciscan St. Francis Health in Indianapolis. In the videos, a number of nurses and leaders talk about continuous improvement in a way that's fun, wise, and inspirational. As we did last year, Joe and I are hosting a learning event at his system called "Kaizen Live!" where you have a chance to see and hear what a culture of continuous improvement is really like. We hope you'll join us April 5 & 6 for the main experience (where we'll be out visiting departments instead of spending all of our time in a conference center) and we have some optional classes on April 4. We hope you enjoy the stories and reflections here in the podcast.
Feb 10, 2016 • 35min
Dan Markovitz, "Building the Fit Organization," Part 1
Joining me for Episode #241 is a returning guest and friend of mine, Dan Markovitz (@DanMarkovitz on Twitter). He was a guest on Episodes #135 (talking about A Factory of One) and #52 (talking more generally about office Lean). He has also written a number of guest posts here. Oh, and he has his own blog. Today we're talking about his most recent book Building the Fit Organization: Six Core Principles for Making Your Company Stronger, Faster, and More Competitive, which, like his first book, is a recipient of the Shingo Research and Publication Award. Congrats!
Jan 26, 2016 • 42min
Leah Binder of Leapfrog Group on Patient Safety
My guest for episode #240 is somebody I've wanted to interview for a long time, Leah Binder, the president and CEO of Leapfrog Group, "a voluntary program aimed at mobilizing employer purchasing power to alert America's health industry that big leaps in health care safety, quality and customer value will be recognized and rewarded." In this episode, Leah talks about the story behind Leapfrog Group, the scale of the patient safety problem in America, some efforts of Leapfrog Group to grade hospitals, the connections between Lean and patient safety, and other topics. Please check out Leapfrog Group and their Hospital Safety Score website. How does your hospital measure up? How do the hospitals in your community compare? What can hospitals be doing to close their gaps so they get an "A"? How can large businesses who pay for healthcare and have their employees' interest in mind, like manufacturers, help put positive pressure on healthcare to improve?
Jan 18, 2016 • 41min
Pascal Dennis, "Lean Production Simplified, 3rd Edition
Joining me for Episode #239 is Pascal Dennis, somebody I really respect and have learned a lot from over the years... I'd call him "sensei" gladly (although he and I agree that's not a term one should bestow upon themselves... see his blog post). I'm very happy to have him as a guest again for what is just his second time (I thought it had been more frequent). In Episode 96, we talked about his book The Remedy. Today, we are talking about the new third edition of his book Lean Production Simplified.
Jan 11, 2016 • 44min
Kevin Cahill, on his Grandfather, W. Edwards Deming
Episode #238 is a conversation with somebody I've wanted to talk with for a long time, Kevin Cahill. He is the executive director of the W. Edwards Deming Institute. He's also a grandson of Dr. Deming! Kevin played an instrumental role in getting NBC to publicly release the 1980 documentary, "If Japan Can, Why Can't We?" that featured Dr. Deming (see my blog posts about it). We talk about that in the podcast, along with his other recollections of Dr. Deming and how he watched the original NBC airing with him. We also discuss his reflections on learning the Deming philosophy and his attempts to utilize the ideas in his career (and how challenging that can be when it flies in the face of the prevailing business culture). It was a really fun discussion and I hope you enjoy it. If you have follow up questions for Kevin, please post a comment, as I'm sure we can do another podcast in the near future.
Jan 4, 2016 • 44min
Paul Akers, "Lean Health"
Episode #237 is, like the last episode, a bit different... but in a different way. My guest is my friend Paul Akers, author of the new book Lean Health. Paul was previously a guest for Episode 133, where he talked about his book 2 Second Lean and also for Episode 122. Today, we're talking about his new book, just released. What's different about this podcast is that I attempted to broadcast it live via YouTube. We eventually got there, but not until after some errors I made (and reflected upon here). What appears here is an edited audio-only version of our conversation, which includes some questions from live viewers. Paul has put a lot of time and money into this book. You can buy it on Amazon or download a FREE version as a PDF or audiobook via his webpage.
Dec 16, 2015 • 45min
Ted Stiles & Dr. John Toussaint Discussing #Lean
For episode #236, things are a little different than usual. Today, I wanted to share a video discussion between my friends Ted Stiles and John Toussaint, MD. Ted is a partner with the recruiting firm Stiles & Associates. John, of course, is the president of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value and has been a frequent guest in my podcast series. John's most recent book is Management on the Mend. For a link to this episode, refer people to www.leanblog.org/236.
