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

BONUS: John Shook, Revisited from 2009 - Managing to Learn and A3 Problem Solving

We've been on hiatus over the summer here, so I've taken a look back at some of the older episodes from the podcast archives, while being on a bit of a hiatus from recording new episodes. New episodes will be coming again in September
Today we're looking back at the episode that I did with John Shook.
It was Episode #56, released in January 2009.
I hope you enjoy our discussion -- I think it's just as relevant today as it was then even though his book Managing to Learn has been available for more than a decade (it was new when we did this episode).
I had a chance to talk with John a few months back and I'm hoping to do a new episode with him sometime soon.
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 
 

BONUS: David Meier's "Favorite Mistakes" at Toyota and His Distillery

I don't always share new episodes of the "My Favorite Mistake" podcast with you here, but when I do... it's a Lean practitioner.
Today, that guest is David Meier, a former Toyota team member and leader, author of two https://amzn.to/3xPHcre with Jeffrey Liker, and a TPS/Lean consultant. Oh, and he has a great distillery in Kentucky now called Glenn's Creek Distillery.
Toyota / Lean topics include:
More background about what you learned at Toyota
Hard for people to talk about mistakes, admitting they're human
Blame vs. responsibility? 
Toyota teaches that leaders have responsibility 
Blame with punishment = "accountability"?
Punishment replaced with learning and improvement?
Hard on the process, not on the people
Mr. Yoshino's mix up with the paint area (Episode #30)
My episode about the nearly lost episodes (Episode #16)
Mistakes made in the distillery
Mistakes about mistakes?

BONUS: Jamie Flinchbaugh, Revisited from 2006

Author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean
We've been on hiatus over the summer here, so I've taken a look back at some of the older episodes from the podcast archives, while being on a bit of a hiatus from recording new episodes.
Today we're looking back at my first episodes with my good friend, Jamie Flinchbaugh.
Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/2021/08/podcast-bonus-episode-jamie-flinchbaugh-revisited-from-2006/
My voice has gone on hiatus this week… since he can’t talk, he asked me to record this intro for a podcast where we look back at some episodes I’ve been involved in.
Jamie was my guest for Episodes 5 and 6 back in 2006, then again for Episode 10 that year. In 2008, he turned the tables and interviewed me in Episode 50. Then, I interviewed Jamie in Episodes 64 and 261, and Jamie turned the tables once again to interview me, in Episode 316, about my book “Measures of Success.”
In April 2019, Jamie and I started the “Lean Whiskey” podcast and we plan on recording episode #29 of that series on Sunday… if my voice is back to normal.
Today, we’re sharing Episodes 5 and 6 together. The episodes were shorter back then, so combined it’s just under 30 minutes of audio, talking about Waste and the Role of Leadership.
I hope you enjoy our discussion from 2006, lmost exactly 15 years ago. As always, thanks for listening, and please do check out “Lean Whiskey.”
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 
 

Ryan McCormack on His “Operational Excellence Mixtapes” & More

Links and show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/421
We've been on hiatus over the summer here, but I did a live streaming video the other day with my friend Ryan McCormack, who regular readers of this blog will recognize as the creator of the bi-weekly "Operational Excellence Mixtape" emails that he allows me to publish here on the Lean Blog.
He was also my guest for Episode 12 of the "Lean Whiskey" podcast.
In this 30-minute discussion, Ryan and I chat about:
Why did you start the "mixtapes"?
What are some favorite books and podcasts that you have highlighted recently?
What have been the transferrable Lean lessons going into healthcare and now back out into other settings?
Best Thing / Worst Thing -- What's the best thing about doing OpEx work? The worst thing?
I hope you enjoy the conversation.
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
 
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 
 

BONUS: In Memoriam -- Podcast Guests Who Have Passed Away

During our summer hiatus from releasing new podcast episodes, we're looking back at previous episodes of the podcast.
Today, sadly, we're taking a look back at guests from the past 15 years who have since passed away. May their wisdom and legacy live on through these episodes, as we think about them today.
Links to the episodes and more can be found at https://www.leanblog.org/inmemoriam

Katie Anderson: One Year of "Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn" and the New Audiobook

Author, speaker, coach, publisher, and more
Show notes and links: https://www.leanblog.org/420 
My guest for Episode #420 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Katie Anderson, appearing for the sixth time and the first time as a live-streaming guest! Katie is a leadership & learning coach, consultant, speaker, author | Japan Study Trip Leader. She's the founder and principal consultant at her own firm. You can find previous episodes here.
She's the author of the book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: Lessons from Toyota Leader Isao Yoshino on a Lifetime of Continuous Learning. Tomorrow is the first anniversary (or birthday) of the book! To celebrate, there's a short-term Kindle book sale (99 cents or 99 pence in the UK) from Wednesday to Friday this week July 14, 15, 16.
We're also celebrating that tomorrow is the official release date for the audiobook! It's available through Amazon or Audible.
Topics, questions, and links related to today's episode include:
You asked yesterday, in your email newsletter, “What does leadership mean to you?” — how do you answer that question?
How has your answer changed thanks to the influence of Mr. Yoshino?
What have you learned in the past year since the publication of your book? Or I should ask, what stands out most in terms of what you have learned?
Did the audiobook process yield any further content to the print edition?
What was the process for creating and recording the audio book?
Is there something new, work related or otherwise, that you've started learning recently? Has helped you think about learning, coaching, and practicing differently?
You and Mr. Yoshino were guests together on “My Favorite Mistake” — if I had a podcast called “My Most Recent Mistake” — what is one that comes to mind?
Best Thing / Worst Thing — What's the best thing and the worst thing about…
Writing and publishing a book?
Working in healthcare improvement?
Being active on LinkedIn?
Living in Japan full time as an American?
The gelato post that Katie wrote
Tell us about some of the coaching you've been doing, including the K2C2 Coaching Communities…
Leading to Learn Accelerator
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Revisiting Paul O’Neill on Habitual Excellence, Safety & Healthcare Leadership

Former CEO of Alcoa, U.S. Treasury Secretary
Originally released as Episode #124 in July, 2011
Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/124
Today’s episode is a special encore presentation of my 2011 conversation with the late Paul O’Neill Sr. At the time, he was serving as the non-executive chair of Value Capture, but his impact reached far beyond that title. Paul was best known as the former CEO of Alcoa and the 72nd U.S. Secretary of the Treasury—but also as a passionate advocate for safety, transparency, and leadership in healthcare.
This interview remains one of the most meaningful I've ever conducted. Paul challenged the status quo and spoke with clarity and conviction about the role of leaders in driving toward “theoretical limits” of zero harm—both in industry and in healthcare.
In this conversation, Mr. O’Neill discusses:
Leadership mindsets that enable dramatic safety improvements
How Allegheny General Hospital nearly eliminated hospital-acquired infections
Why we’ve made so little national progress since To Err Is Human
His powerful argument: “The real skill shortage is leadership”
A vision for transparency, accountability, and learning from every mistake
Why Washington should have looked to ThedaCare, not Wall Street, for healthcare transformation
This timeless message is especially relevant today as leaders seek to balance safety, cost, and culture in complex systems.
🎙 This episode is sponsored by Stiles Associates – celebrating 30 years as the go-to Lean executive search firm for manufacturing, healthcare, and private equity.
🧭 Part of the #LeanCommunicators network

Lean Six Sigma and Continuous Improvement from Railroads to Pageants: Allison Greco

Founder of Continuous Improvement International
Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/419 
My guest for Episode #419 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Allison Greco, an industrial engineer, a Six Sigma Black Belt, and the founder of Continuous Improvement International, a professional society that you can join today.
In this episode, we'll hear about her Lean Six Sigma origin story (which was in the railroad industry). We'll also hear, at the end, how she applied continuous improvement thinking to her participation in pageants (winning Mrs. Oklahoma).
Topics, questions, and links related to today's episode include:
How to navigate C.I. in this hybrid work world
Why start Continuous Improvement International (CII)
What's the best thing / worst thing about continuous improvement and entrepreneurship?
Her upcoming conferences in Tulsa and Omaha
Her articles about C.I. and pageants
Continuous Improvement & Beauty Pageants: Making it Stick
Continuous Improvement & Beauty Pageants: Finding the Why
CI & Beauty Pageants: Post-Mortem – Don’t Steal the Crown
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 
 

The Lean Journey (and Mass Vaccination Sites) at Munson Healthcare: Kaleb Foss and Butch Bowlby

C.I. manager and pharmacy system director, Munson Healthcare
Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/418
My guests for Episode #418 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast both work for Munson Healthcare in northern Michigan. They are Kaleb Foss, Continuous Improvement department manager, and Butch Bowlby, the system director of Pharmacy.
In this episode, we'll hear about their “Lean origin stories” and we'll hear about the approach to Lean and continuous improvement at Munson. We'll also take a fairly deep dive into the setup of their mass vaccination site (which they set up for employees with just six days' notice!).
Topics, questions, and links related to today's episode include:
Tell us a little about Munson Healthcare
What are your Lean origin stories? How did you get exposed to Lean and why is it important to you?
How would describe the approach to Lean or CI at Munson?
What does that idea of transformation and a management / operating system mean to you, Butch?
How would you describe some of the benefits or results that you've seen at Munson Healthcare?
Cultural indicators & language, root cause
Patient safety
Staff safety, psychological safety
Tell us about the challenge of setting up mass vaccination clinics
Looking at Zero Waste vs. Zero Harm goals
Why was standard work and evolving that SW so important?
Why and how has that focus shifted away from mass sites? What have you done to design a process for that?
Why and how has the focus shifted away from mass sites? What have you done to design a process for that?
What comes next for you and Munson??
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Dr. John Kenagy on Adaptive Design Kata: An Improvement and a Leadership Kata (Lean Healthcare)

MD, author, Kenagy & Associates
This file has cleaned up audio compared to the initial release.
Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/417
My guest for Episode #417 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is John W. Kenagy, MD, MPA, ScD, FACS, of his firm Kenagy & Associates based in Washington state.
John is the author of the book Designed to Adapt: Leading Healthcare in Challenging Times.
 
Dr. John Kenagy knows healthcare as a physician, executive, academic researcher and advisor.  In addition to his clinical experience as a vascular surgeon, he has been Chief of Surgery, Chief of Staff and Regional Vice President for Business Development in a not-for-profit healthcare system.  But, his most meaningful experience was becoming a patient, as we'll hear about today.
Searching for new answers, he became a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School.  His research included developing disruptive innovation healthcare strategy with Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen and translating to healthcare the drivers of success in resilient, highly adaptive companies like Toyota, Intel and Apple.
Dr. Kenagy is hosting a webinar in the KaiNexus Continuous Improvement webinar series on June 15th. Please join us for that by registering here.
Topics, questions, and links related to today's episode include:
What's your Lean / Toyota Production System “origin story”?
What he learned after falling out of a tree in 1982
What he learned from Clayton Christensen, Kent Bowen & Steve Spear at HBS
“Toyota enables people to succeed & makes learning part of that success”
4 Rules in Use – the essence of TPS
Spear: Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System
The rules applied in HC? What did you learn?
Learned also from Amy Edmondson at HBS
Learned from Toyota's Mr. Oba
“Education can get in the way of learning”
Learned at a smaller TMMK supplier, not at Georgetown, only 120 employees
What is “adaptive design”? Origins of that phrase?
Why avoid the word “Lean”?
Being adaptive in dealing with pandemic challenges — what are the characteristics of their success? 
Leadership Kata — 5 principles
1) Clear, meaningful objective (hearts & minds)
2) always start small, simple, safe, and fast
3) use relevant (timely, role specific, actionable) info and simple rules, rapid feedback on effects on your action
4) improvements made by teams involving people doing the work
5) replicate and scale, success trust and optimism … never stop 
What do you mean by “virtuoso leadership”?
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.