Lean Blog Interviews: Real-World Lean Leadership Conversations in Healthcare and Beyond

Our guest for episode #135 is Dan Markovitz, author of the new book A Factory of One: Applying Lean Principles to Banish Waste and Improve Your Personal Performance. If your New Year's resolutions include improving your own personal productivity, Dan is a great person to talk to about the application of Lean principles to your own professional work – whether you work in an aspiring Lean organization or not. Dan was previously a guest on episode #52, so please check that out too. For a link to this episode, refer people to  www.leanblog.org/135. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.

Episode #134 is a different topic than usual. Instead of strictly talking Lean, today's discussion is about broader issues of healthcare quality and our United States military. Joining me are Daniel Sullivan, President and General Manager of the The Sergeant Thomas Joseph Sullivan Center (SSC), a non-profit organization that  is dedicated to improving health outcomes for current and former military personnel, especially those who are suffering from emerging, complicated, or currently unexplained post deployment  health concerns.  Named in honor of a fallen marine,  the Sgt. Sullivan Center promotes the health security of America's troops and the principle that none should be left behind. Also joining us is Gregory Jacobson, MD, a college friend of Daniel's and the co-founder and CEO of KaiNexus, also a board member of the Center. The Sergeant Sullivan Center is named for Daniel's brother,  Sergeant Thomas Joseph  Sullivan, a veteran of the Iraq war, who died suddenly in his northern Virginia home at age 30, four years after returning from deployment. With his medical problems originating during his deployment in Iraq and continuing in the years following his return home, Sgt. Sullivan suffered a progression of unexplained health complications that included chronic pain, swelling, cardiovascular disease, and severe inflammation. His autopsy revealed life threatening problems that medical tests had not detected. Today would have been St. Sullivan's 32nd birthday, so I am sharing his story here. For a link to this episode, refer people to  www.leanblog.org/134. More About the  Sergeant Sullivan Center: Their website Sgt. Sullivan's story and a video Speech on healthcare quality by Gregory Jacobson, MD For earlier episodes, visit the  main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.

Episode #133 is hosted by Ron Pereira, from Gemba Academy, as he leads me through additional Q&A as a follow up to our recent webinar on my upcoming book Healthcare Kaizen  and some of the concepts from the book on the theme of “Putting the Continuous Back in Continuous Improvement.” You can view the recording via this link. Two of the main themes were that “kaizen” is not always about weeklong events and that suggestion boxes are not the same as the kaizen approach. Kaizen ideally involves everyone in continuous improvement, facilitated in ways that are better than the slow, batchy, non-collaborative suggestion box approach that many have tried and struggled with before. For a link to this episode, refer people to  www.leanblog.org/133. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts

A returning guest for episode #132, we are joined by author and professor Bob Emiliani. Today, we are chatting about some videos he recently posted to his website… 10-year-old videos that document executives from Virginia Mason Medical Center, now considered a leader in Lean healthcare, visiting a Lean manufacturing company, Wiremold. You can view the videos on Bob's site or read some summaries via this blog post of mine. In the podcast, Bob reflects on those videos and we talk about some of the lessons learned – what healthcare executives can learn about Lean leadership from manufacturing leaders. For a link to this episode, refer people to  www.leanblog.org/132. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.

My guest for episode #131 is Paul Borawski, the CEO of ASQ, the American Society for Quality. Today, we are talking about ASQ, their recent World Quality Month events (November), and other topics including: Their “YouQ” video contest (vote on the submissions now via Facebook) The ending of federal funding for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (as I blogged about) Paul's blog post on the passing of Bob Galvin and Steve Jobs I'm also happy to be presenting (about Healthcare Kaizen) at the 2012 ASQ Lean & Six Sigma Conference, to be held in Phoenix, February 27-28. Hope to see you there! For a link to this episode, refer people to www.leanblog.org/131. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.

My guest for episode #130 is Greg Howell, co-founder and managing director of the Lean Construction Institute (LCI), a non-profit organization devoted to production management research in design and construction. Howell brings 35 years of construction industry project management, consulting and university-level teaching experience to LCI. In this episode, we'll be talking about lean design and construction methods, parallels to general lean thinking, and lessons learned. For a link to this episode, refer people to  www.leanblog.org/130. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.

My guest for episode #129 is Chris Cooper, a vice president with Simpler Consulting. We're talking about his new book The Little Book of Lean. We discuss his career in Lean and the background of his book, which is intended to be a simple introductory primer for those who are new to the methodology. Chris has worked in aerospace, as well as military and non-profit applications of Lean. For a link to this episode, refer people to  www.leanblog.org/129. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts. About Chris Cooper: Joining Simpler in 2002, Chris Cooper has over 20 years of leadership experience in the delivery of successful large-scale Lean transformations across a broad range of industries, companies and countries. His industry segment experience includes aerospace, defense, military, finance, marketing, health care, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO). Chris's Lean journey began in 1989 as a student of the Kawasaki Production System (KPS) while working for Europe's largest defense company, BAE Systems. During this time he became part of the leadership team that drove the company's Lean transformation of the defense division all the way to a value stream organized company winning a Queen's Award for Export. As a result, Chris was promoted to be the company's first Integrated Product Development Team Leader (IPT) position to introduce set-based- concurrent-engineering methods to Europe. During this period Chris was trained in six sigma and design six sigma by Motorola, Inc. As the IPT leader he won a Chairman's Award for Innovation and a McDonnell Douglas Supplier award for introducing Lean techniques beyond the shop floor. Directly before joining Simpler, Chris was the Lean Advisor to the Eurofighter Program, then the world's largest non-U.S. based military program, where he worked as a member of the Chief Engineer's staff team. Chris's professional career in Lean and six sigma consulting began in 2002 when he joined Simpler in the early days of European expansion. As a member of the European leadership team, he has helped grow the business ten-fold since. Chris has been at the forefront of the Lean revolution speaking at conferences, working with executive teams, and as an assessor for the Shingo Prize. He has been the sensei for many significant and pioneering Lean transformations and has often introduced Lean concepts to new sectors and organizations in the commercial business and non-profit fields. As Vice President, Chris leads a multi-cultural team of consultants working in more than ten languages throughout Europe and Asia. Chris has authored The Simpler Little Book of Lean and co-authored Lucky by Design with Rob Westrick. Chris is an Aeronautical Engineer through his formal apprenticeship program with BAE Systems, and has a Business and Technology (BTEC) Higher National Diploma (HND) from the University of Humberside. He lives in the North West of England with his wife and two children.

Episode Page Podcast #128 turns the tables a bit, as your host Mark Graban is, this time, interviewed by Dirk Dusharme and Ryan Day from the online video show “Quality Digest Live.” Thanks to Quality Digest, I'm able to share the audio from my segment on the show with you in this format. You can view the episode here, if you like. In this episode, we talk about lean healthcare and quality. We'll be back to the regular show next week. For a link to this episode, refer people to  www.leanblog.org/128. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/127 Remastered audio June 2021 Podcast #127 is a very special conversation with a leader and a hero of mine in the world of patient safety, Richard P. Shannon, MD. Dr. Shannon is a cardiologist and is Chair, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania as well as the Senior Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs, Department of Medicine. We'll be talking about his work in using Lean methods to reduce patient infections and other clinical outcomes. According to data published by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the improvements at Allegheny indicated that “the VAP rate dropped by 83 percent and the CLI rate fell by 87 percent.” Savings lives and reducing cost go hand in hand, as his work shows. This work is now being repeated successfully at UPenn. Leaders at Allegheny General estimate that patients diagnosed with VAP average a 34-day stay, with a net loss to the hospital of $24,435 after reimbursement; patients diagnosed with CLI average a 28-day stay, at an operating loss of $26,839. For an investment of about $35,000 in improvement work, Shannon estimates that the hospital experienced a $2 million improvement Dr. Shannon was an early pioneer in the use of Lean and Toyota methods to improve outcomes and patient safety, namely the reduction of hospital-acquired central line bloodstream infections when he was at Allegheny General Hospital, near Pittsburgh, as documented in Naida Grunden's book The Pittsburgh Way to Efficient Healthcare: Improving Patient Care Using Toyota Based Methods. You can see inside the book and some of the mentions of Dr. Shannon via Google Books. In Pittsburgh, as part of the PRHI effort, Dr. Shannon learned from Paul O'Neill, read or hear my interview with O'Neill. This podcast was produced in conjunction with the Healthcare Value Network as a continuation of their previous podcast series. For a link to this episode, refer people to  www.leanblog.org/127. Scroll down this page for a transcript of this episode. Related Posts: Toyota video about Lean at Allegheny Interview with Dr. Shannon Some Data on Patient Safety and Quality Improvement, including PRHI and Allegheny Podcast with Paul O'Neill For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.

Episode Page My guest for Podcast #126 is Bob Lutz, author of the book Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of American Business. Retiring in late 2010 as vice chairman of General Motors, he currently runs Bob Lutz Communications. During his 47-year career in the auto industry, he worked for GM, Ford, BMW, and Chrysler and he's a legend in Detroit, where I grew up. In this podcast, we discuss his new book, his thoughts on designing products that create value and excitement for customers, as well as some of his thoughts on leadership. Bob's a “car guy” and a designer through and through, so what he says isn't always classic “lean thinking,” but it's interesting and thought provoking. What's a “blanderizer”? You'll have to listen (or read) to find out. I hope you'll take a listen and/or read the transcript below. Be sure to share your thoughts and reactions by posting a comment on this post. I have my own thoughts and reactions, which I've added as comments to the transcript – notated by [MG1]. As I wrote about in my preview post, Lutz says he is a fan of “autocratic” leadership, saying that the pendulum had swung too far during the “total quality” era toward too much slow consensus building and too much employee participation. In talking with him, much of what he's complaining about isn't what we'd recognize as Lean or Toyota thinking, but it's perhaps a reaction to the way the “Detroit Three” were using these TQM ideas in dysfunctional or extreme ways. He says we need more autocratic leadership, yet he doesn't think he's an autocratic leader, nor would he want to work for one. Interesting stuff. For a link to this episode, refer people to  www.leanblog.org/126.