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

David Veech, His New Book "Leadersights"

Joining me for Episode #273 of the podcast is David Veech, author of the new book Leadersights: Creating Great Leaders Who Create Great Workplaces. David is a senior lecturer in the Department of Management Sciences at Ohio State University and their Fisher College of Business, teaching in the MBOE program (see his full bio). Veech was previously a lecturer in the College of Engineering at the University of Kentucky. He joined the University of Kentucky after retiring from the US Army in 2001. He taught in the Defense Acquisition University from 1998 to 2001 and was assistant professor of military science at Stetson University from 1988 to 1991. In today's episode, we talk about his book, how his background and career in the Army influenced his views on Lean and leadership, "self-efficacy," and more.

Steve Thompson, Lean Supply Chain Lessons from Automotive

My guest for Episode #272 is Steve Thompson, Director of Patient Driven Supply Network initiatives for Cardinal Health, a global, integrated healthcare services and products company. He is also a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, dating back to his time spent working in the automotive industry. In today's episode, we talk about his lessons learned from General Motors and Lear Corporation and how he's helping healthcare leaders apply these lessons to improve their supply chain operations. In the past year, I've had a marketing partnership with Cardinal Health, which has led to content like this webinar and article, but after meeting Scott last year and having a great chat, I'm doing this podcast outside of that formal partnership. I'm pleased to have him on the podcast.

Isaac Mitchell, Lean Design in Healthcare

Joining me for Episode #271 is Isaac Mitchell (@IssacMitchell), talking about Lean Design for healthcare, the Society for Health Systems, and more. Isaac is a full-time lean practitioner at East Tennessee Children's Hospital, a lecturer at the University of Tennessee's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and an instructor for the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers. You can read his bio (PDF) and learn more about Isaac via his personal website. Scroll down to the show notes for links to a special Lean Hospitals book excerpt and more free downloads about Lean Design and Isaac's work at ETCH.

Dr. Paul DeChant & Dr. Diane Shannon on Burnout

My guests for Episode #270 of the podcast are two physicians: Paul DeChant, MD and Diane Shannon, MD. They are co-authors of the recently-released book Preventing Physician Burnout: Curing the Chaos and Returning Joy to the Practice of Medicine. Paul was previously a guest for Episode #230. In this episode, we talk about the symptoms and causes of burnout for physicians and other healthcare professionals. We also talk about how Lean, in particular "Lean done right," can help prevent or even reverse burnout by eliminating some of the systemic causes, such as the never-ending chaos that exists in far too many organizations.

Brian MacNeice & James Bowen, "Powerhouse" Book

Joining me for Episode #269 are Brian MacNeice & James Bowen, co-authors of the recently released book Powerhouse: Insider Accounts into the World's Top High-performance Organizations. They are founders of the international Kotinos Partners consultancy. In this episode, we talk about the book and take a deeper dive into two of the organizations they profiled: Toyota and Mayo Clinic. I think it's always interesting to see what people outside of our "Lean community" see when they study Toyota. They describe how "continuous improvement is at the heart of Toyota's high-performance model." And, as somebody committed to healthcare improvement, I'm always curious to learn lessons from organizations like Mayo Clinic. The authors write about a key driver of the Mayo Clinic's success being its "commitment to collaborative medicine."

Tom Ehrenfeld, #Lean Books & Lean Startup

My guest for Episode #268 is a long-time friend of mine in the Lean community and Lean Enterprise Institute circles, Tom Ehrenfeld (@tomehrenfeld). Tom is a writer and editor living in Cambridge, MA. A former writer/editor with Inc. Magazine and Harvard Business Review, he is the author of The Startup Garden: How Growing A Business Grows You. He works as a consulting editor for LEI and with many other Lean authors. He's a regular contributor to LEI's "The Lean Post." Eight of his edited books have won the Shingo Research Award. Today, we talk about some of the books he's played a role with, we'll talk about the evolution of the understanding of Lean, and his thoughts on shifting from his experience covering startups to thinking about "The Lean Startup" methodology in more recent years.

Steve Shortell on #Lean Healthcare Research

Joining me for Episode #267 is Stephen M. Shortell PhD, MPH, MBA. He is Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professorship, HPM and is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health. He is the director of the Center for Healthcare Organizational and Innovation Research (CHOIR). Today, we are talking about Lean healthcare and a new initiative that's part of CHOIR called CLEAR: the Center for Lean Engagement & Research in Healthcare. You can read a release about CLEAR, which highlights funding coming from the Lean Enterprise Institute, the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, and Rona Consulting Group. In this episode, we talk about the Center, their planned research, and some reasons why there is variation in what organizations would describe as "Lean" - variation in methods and approach as well as variation in results.

Karyn Ross on Lean for Service Excellence

My guest for Episode #266 of the podcast is Karyn Ross (KRCLean4Service on Twitter), co-author of the new book (with Jeff Liker): The Toyota Way to Service Excellence: Lean Transformation in Service Organizations. Karen first learned about and applied Lean in companies like Paychex, Zurich Insurance, and Liberty Mutual Insurance and has worked with other service sector companies as a consultant. In this episode, we'll discuss her book and the important applications of Lean in service settings. Karyn says delighting customers requires something different than a "mechanistic Lean implementation" approach - and I agree, completely. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

Bernita Biekmann on Lean Design for Hospitals

Joining me for Episode #265 of the podcast is Bernita Beikmann, AIA, EDAC, LSSBB, a Principal and Director of Lean Strategy at HKS, an international architecture firm. Bernita is originally from Kansas and has a Bachelor of Architecture from Kansas State University and a Certificate in Regional and Community Planning. She moved to Dallas in 1996 and has been employed by HKS, Inc in Dallas since that time. We first crossed paths when we had the opportunity to work together on a project for Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis to work with staff and leaders on designing parts of a new patient tower. You can read a bit about that work here. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Tyrone Butler on Lean, Six Sigma & More

My guest for Episode #264 is a friend from here in the Dallas / Fort Worth area, Tyrone Butler. He is LSS Managing Partner at his company, Butler Active Business Solutions LLC. He has a background in the Air Force, he pre-dated me at Dell Computer in the 1990s, and he's being doing a lot of work all over the world with Lean, Six Sigma, and other methodologies for improving software and project delivery, like ITIL. Tyrone is one of the first to hold the "Certified Executive Master Black Belt (CEMBB)" certification through Mikel J. Harry, PhD. We first met probably back in 2010 when we were both part of a Lean group that went to visit the Toyota plant in San Antonio (which I blogged about here and here). In this episode, he'll share some of his experiences, including a presentation to Michael Dell, his thoughts on the combination of Lean and Six Sigma, and methods that he has seen work in software development and other settings.