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

For episode #106, we have a returning guest, Jim Baran of the firm Value Stream Leaders. Jim was previously a guest on episodes #16, 27, and 88 talking about careers in Lean. Today, Jim talks about a new offering called "Career Kaizen™," a service that combines coaching and personalized career management. With him today is Rick Pederson, one of the early people to go through this process with Jim. Jim's website is http://www.valuestreamleaders.com To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/106. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page at www.leanpodcast.org, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple iTunes. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

Podcast #105 is a conversation with the co-authors of the new book Simple Excellence: Organizing and Aligning the Management Team in a Lean Transformation from Productivity Press. They are Adam Zak, a regular guest blogger here on Leanblog.org and Lean-focused executive recruiter and Bill Waddell, a Lean consultant and frequent blogger over at EvolvingExcellence.com. Here, we talk about their book and their thoughts on Lean leadership, talent development, and other topics. To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/105. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page at www.leanpodcast.org, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple iTunes. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

Podcast #104 is a discussion with Dr. Peter Patterson (@IDrPete), a friend of mine and the Lean Blog the past few years. He wrote a guest post for me back in 2009 (A Breakthrough in Training — Call it "Near-TWI") and I blogged about our presentation at the 2010 Society for Health Systems conference about Lean and TWI in healthcare. Here, we chat about his background with Lean in multiple settings, including histopathology.  To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/104. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page at www.leanpodcast.org, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple iTunes. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

In my latest Video Podcast (here as audio podcast #103), my guest is Matthew E. May, returning to talk about his latest book, a business fable called The Shibumi Strategy: A Powerful Way to Create Meaningful Change. I’ve been reading the book and have found it be a thought-provoking about your own personal effectiveness in a complex world. You can read more about the book at Matt’s website: www.ShibumiStrategy.com. Some of the topics we discuss include: ▪ What is “Shibumi” and where does the term come from? ▪ What’s the context for lean practitioners or students of Lean and TPS? ▪ Did you reach a point of Shibumi while writing this book or in your other work? ▪ Any particular reason you chose a car dealership as the job and the setting? Is it because it’s stereotypically a very numbers-driven “get it done” setting? To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/103. You can also watch video of our discussion at www.leanblog.org/v12 . For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page at www.leanpodcast.org, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple iTunes. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

My guest for Episode #102 is Ron Wince, the President/CEO of Guidon Performance Solutions. We talk here about his views on lean healthcare and the impact of healthcare reform on the healthcare landscape. Prior to founding Guidon, Ron held senior leadership positions within world-class organizations, including J.P. Morgan Chase, Freudenberg-NOK, and Lear Corporation. You may have seen Ron as a guest commentator on Fox Business Network. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Ron holds a degree in engineering and is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm.  He currently resides in the Phoenix area with his wife and two children. To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/102. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page at www.leanpodcast.org, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple iTunes. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

Episode #101 of the Podcast is a discussion with Keith Syberg, former Chairman of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (see here for more about their 2010 annual AME conference in Baltimore, November). Today, we talk about consortia (I word I really struggled with) and collaboration efforts among manufacturing companies and the possibility of sharing across industries. To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/101. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page at www.leanpodcast.org, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple iTunes. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

Episode Page Wow, 100 episodes of my podcast since 2006! For this episode, I'm thankful to have the author of one of my favorite books in the last two years – Dave Crenshaw, author of The Myth of Multitasking: How “Doing It All” Gets Nothing Done, a book I blogged about back in 2009. Dave's new book is called Invaluable: The Secret to Becoming Irreplaceable, a book I'm hoping to read soon. In this podcast, Dave and I talk about so-called multitasking – why are we so tempted to do it, what are the costs of this switching back and forth between tasks, and what are some alternatives for individuals and for organizations? Dave received his B.S. in business management-entrepreneurship from Brigham Young University, one of the nation's top entrepreneur programs, and began his coaching career in 1998. Dave is the President of the National Association of Productivity Coaches. He is also the founder of Invaluable Inc., a coaching and training corporation dedicated to helping companies, their leaders, and their employees become truly invaluable. You can read Dave's full bio here. To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/100. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.

For episode #99 of the podcast, I'm talking with the authors of the book The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development: A cheat sheet to The Four Steps to the Epiphany. My guests are Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits, both are experienced entrepreneurs from California. We had a great discussion and I'm happy to bring a topic that will stretch the minds of Lean thinkers in many industries... so be sure to listen in even if you're not an entrepreneur... In this podcast, we discuss their book and the "Customer Development" methodology that was first published in Steve Blank's book The Four Steps to the Epiphany. This methodology is often used as part of the "Lean Startups" methodology and can be contrasted to a traditional "product development" approach. To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/99. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page at www.leanpodcast.org, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple iTunes. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

Episode Page Podcast #98 brings us Pat Bergin, President of Aerofil Technology, a manufacturer based in Missouri with 400 employees. Aerofil has been on its Lean journey since 2007 under Pat's leadership – first as a consultant and now as President. With more than 30 years of operations, finance, sales and marketing experience, Pat has brought both a broad and deep understanding of continuous improvement to Aerofil as President. His mission is the relentless pursuit of excellence through the total elimination of waste. Pat was previously at Esselte, under the direction of Art Byrne (formerly of Wiremold), that Pat learned and developed his Lean (kaizen) management skills under the coaching of Shingijutsu Co LTD (Chihiro Nakao) of Japan, an original architect of the Toyota Production System. In this podcast, we talk about how he drives Lean as the company President, how Lean fits into their overall strategy, and what challenges they have worked through. Here is a recent news story about their Lean achievements and business results. To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/98. Pat Bergin Bio Pat first began working with Aerofil in 2007 as a consultant and taught Lean Manufacturing to the Senior Leadership Team.  Lean Manufacturing encompasses the continuous improvement philosophies and real world applications of the Toyota Production System.  Through his natural teaching abilities and results-driven leadership, Pat quickly earned the trust and respect of both Aerofil's ownership and management staff, and joined the company full-time as the Vice President of Operations / COO in early 2009. With more than 30 years of operations, finance, sales and marketing experience, Pat has brought both a broad and deep understanding of continuous improvement to Aerofil as President. His mission is the relentless pursuit of excellence through the total elimination of waste.  Prior to joining Aerofil, Pat was a Senior Lean Management Consultant with Simpler North America where he worked with several multibillion-dollar corporations such as Owens Corning, Novelis and MTD, successfully guiding their senior leadership and plant management teams in the Lean transformation process. It was here that he both personally met and benefitted from the many learnings of George Koenigsaeker (formerly Danaher, Hon), who sits on Simpler's Board of Directors. Earlier in Pat's career, he led and participated in hundreds of enterprise-wide Lean conversion events across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe at Esselte Corporation, a billion-dollar global office products manufacturer. It was at Esselte, under the direction of Art Byrne (formerly Wiremold), that Pat learned and developed his Lean (kaizen) management skills under the coaching of Shingijutsu Co LTD (Chihiro Nakao) of Japan, an original architect of the Toyota Production System. He was later certified as an internal sensei by Shingijutsu where he conducted multiple kaizen blast events in the area's shop floor manufacturing, distribution, finance, office administration and corporate policy deployment. He also helped introduce Lean throughout Esselte's global supply chain by leading multiple kaizen events for several key vendors within their preferred supplier program. Pat has a Bachelor's of Science in Business Management from the University of Phoenix and enjoys spending time with his family, walleye fishing, swimming and the St. Louis Cardinals. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.  

Episode Page Episode #97 is a discussion with Bob Sutton, a Stanford University Professor of Management Science and Engineering and the best-selling author of The No A-hole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't. Other books by Bob include The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action and Weird Ideas That Work: How to Build a Creative Company. Here, we talk about his new book, due out in September, called Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best… and Learn from the Worst. In this podcast, the conversation weaves through Toyota, HP, Intel, Southwest, and other companies as we'll find parallels and complements between different management approaches, including Lean. Stay to the end to find out what company Bob thinks is surprisingly good and weeding out “A-holes” from their organization. To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/97. You can find Bob and his blog at www.BobSutton.net. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.