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

Ash Maurya, "Scaling #Lean" and Lean Startup

Joining me for Episode #253 is Ash Maurya, author of the book Running Lean:Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works and his latest, being released this week, called Scaling Lean: Mastering the Key Metrics for Startup Growth. Ash is an entrepreneur and a big part of the "Lean Startup" community. Visit his website at www.LeanStack.com.

Jordan Peck, from MIT to the VA to Maine Health

My guest for episode #252 is Jordan Peck, a Senior Director in the Center for Performance Improvement at MaineHealth and Maine Medical Center. Jordan and I first met when he was a graduate student at MIT and was involved with the Lean Advancement Initiative (and I was working basically across the street at the Lean Enterprise Institute). At MIT, he earned a PhD in Engineering Systems and Health Care Systems. Jordan and I have continued to cross paths every year at the Society for Health Systems annual conference. His career has taken him to the Veterans Health Administration and now into the private sector at Maine Health, as we discuss in the podcast.

Jim Huntzinger & Russ Scaffede on Lean Leadership

Episode #251 is a bit different in that it's audio shared by the good folks at Lean Frontiers. They recently hosted a webinar where Jim Huntzinger, founder and president of Lean Frontiers asked questions that answered by Russ Scaffede about Lean leadership. See their other webinars here. Russ has a lot of great wisdom and experience to share, so I asked Jim if I could share it here. Russ is a big part of the upcoming event - The Summit on Lean Leadership, which is being produced by Lean Frontiers. It's being held June 21-22 in Charlotte. You can save 25% off that event by using the discount code leanblog. I should also mention that I'm going to be a keynote speaker at their upcoming Lean Accounting Summit in San Antonio this August. In this discussion, Russ shares a lot of gems not just about how Toyota does things (as he learned in his time there), but also some key insights about transforming an organization that is NOT Toyota (as he learned from his experience at Tiara Yachts and other companies).

Dr. Jack Billi & Mark Graban on Lean in Healthcare

Episode #250... a big round number. 250 podcasts in just under 10 years. Thanks again to Norman Bodek (my first guest and frequent guest) for the idea back in 2006. My goal with the podcasts has always been to showcase my guests. Occasionally, I take the stage or share the stage with audio of me. Today is one of those episodes. Earlier in May, I had the chance to co-present a webinar with Dr. Jack Billi from the University of Michigan (archived here). The webinar was hosted by the Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement, which is being spun off by the American Medical Association. Before the formal webinar, Jack and I recorded some informal Q&A with the host, Stephen Davidow. This audio, shared with the permission of the PCPI also includes the Q&A that was done after the webinar presentation. I hope you enjoy our discussion about how we each got started with Lean in healthcare and more.

Steve Leuschel on "Lean Culture Change"

My guest for episode #249 of the podcast is Steve Leuschel, author of the book Lean Culture Change: Using a Daily Management System. You might remember a post from January that included an excerpt from his book on "huddles." In this episode, we discuss topics including his greatest influences, the lessons he learned from Rodger Lewis (a former Toyota general manager), "mutual trust," PDCA cycles, daily huddles, and more. What's the potential of a Lean management system and why is it difficult to get organizations and leaders to embrace a holistic system like that?

Drew Locher, Lean Office to Lean Enterprise

Joining me for episode #248 of the podcast is Drew Locher, an author, consultant, speaker, and, also like me, a faculty member for the Lean Enterprise Institute and the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value. You can read his bio via his consulting website, Change Management Associates. Drew's books include Value Stream Mapping for Lean Development: A How-To Guide for Streamlining Time to Market, Lean Office and Service Simplified: The Definitive How-To Guide, and Unleashing the Power of 3P: The Key to Breakthrough Improvement. He also, most recently, released a second edition of The Complete Lean Enterprise: Value Stream Mapping for Office and Services, a recipient of the Shingo Research Award. You can also read his two guest posts that I've published on this blog. In this episode, we talk about his books, how Lean is about more than just tools, and the need to focus on "the critical few things" instead of falling victim to a "scattershot" approach to reducing waste. "We learn more by doing than talking about it," says Drew about Lean.

James Chisholm, ExperiencePoint and Leading Change

My guest for episode #247 is James Chisholm, a principal and co-founder of the Toronto-based ExperiencePoint. James is a pioneer in the design of online game-based learning, and has authored numerous leadership simulations in use by over 100,000 executives and managers worldwide. I fell in love with their "Lakeview" hospital change management simulation a few years back when I first got to try it and I've been very happy to learn from James and to partner with ExperiencePoint. James speaks and writes widely on the subject of games, learning and change. He co-authored chapters in the "Handbook of Experiential Learning" and in the Center for Creative Leadership's Fieldbook, "Experience-Driven Leader Development: Strategies, Tools, and Practices" (both published by Pfieffer). Read his full bio: (PDF). In this episode, we discuss topics including why change management is such an important issue for him and organizations, the role of simulations and experience-based learning, how "leadership is a process," and how "change is synonymous with leadership."

Steve Montague, Lean, Checklists & Patient Safety

Episode #246 is my second episode in recognition of Patient Safety Awareness Week. My guest is Steve Montague, who talked about Lean and Crew Resource Management with me in episode #195 in 2014. He's a retired Navy fighter pilot, a commercial pilot, and a consultant for hospitals and health systems... and a fellow Texan and a near-neighbor of mine. See his full bio here. Today, we're talking about a number of topics, including patient safety and checklists... what's the difference between good checklist systems and bad (and what are the parallels to Lean done well and Lean done badly). We talk about a number of articles and recent events about how NHS employees are afraid to speak up, an Iowa hospital that had four wrong site surgeries in 40 days, and the recent NEJM brouhaha.

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.

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.