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

John Kim, Lean and Executive Healthcare Leadership

Episode #114 is a conversation with John Kim, of the firm John Kim & Associates. John is a recognized leader in the Design, Development, Implementation and Deployment of Enterprise Wide Lean Transformations.  As an executive at The HON Company and Danaher Corporation, John learned the keys to implementing Lean while running multiple operations across the US. With over 20 years of Lean Transformation experience, John has spent the last 12+ years in executive consulting, implementing Lean in various sectors, including healthcare, which we are talking about today. His website is www.johnkimconsulting.com. To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/114. You can leave comments there, as well. For earlier episodes of the Lean Blog Podcast, 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.

Special - Charlie Sheen Calls the Lean Line

Now actor Charlie Sheen has been all over the news lately, giving interviews to practically anyone with a microphone. This is the type of "news" I normally try to tune out, yet alone blog about.
Somehow, he stumbled across my "Lean Line" phone number to talk about Lean Healthcare, although I suspect he may have been looking for the street drug called "lean."
He claimed to have spent his hiatus from TV working to teach and implement the "Lean" methodology at hospitals around Los Angeles. Listen to the audio and judge for yourself - is he pulling our legs? Is this just another Hollywood publicity stunt? Is he the type of Lean consultant you would want around?
Ok, it's an early April Fool's Joke.... that was audio taken from an interview he gave to ABC's Good Morning America show.

Aubrey Daniels PhD, "Safe by Accident?"

Episode #113 is a discussion with Aubrey Daniels, PhD, the founder and chairman of his firm Aubrey Daniels International. Today, we are talking about his most recent book titled Safe By Accident?, a book I really enjoyed, so I was happy to speak with him about creating an effective safety culture culture in an organization - what doesn't work and what does work? To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/113. Visit Aubrey's website at www.aubreydaniels.com. 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.

Naida Grunden, A Discussion About Lean, Aviation Safety, Captain Sullenberger, and Checklists *

Episode #112 is a chat with Naida Grunden, the author of the outstanding book The Pittsburgh Way to Efficient Healthcare: Improving Patient Care Using Toyota Based Methods.
Remastered Oct 2022 - the audio quality isn't great, but you can read the transcript here:
https://leanblog.org/112
Here we talk about her experiences in Pittsburgh and her “small world” connection to Captain Chesley Sullenberger (a.k.a. “Sully”) and the connections between Lean, aviation safety, and checklists.
To point others to this episode, use this URL: www.leanblog.org/112.
In the podcast, Naida talks about three key components, via Capt. Sullenberger, of aviation safety that we would need in healthcare:
A non-punitive national reporting system (the ASRS)
Crew Resource Management (standardized work, checklists… in a less hierarchical environment)
Culture change
For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.

Jeffrey Liker on Toyota’s Crisis and the Toyota Way

Episode #111 brings us some time with Professor Jeffrey Liker from the University of Michigan, the well-known author of many books in the The Toyota Way series. You can see Dr. Liker talk at the upcoming Shingo Prize Conference (hope to see you there!). Today, we are talking about his TWO upcoming books: The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement: Linking Strategy and Operational Excellence to Achieve Superior Performance and Toyota Under Fire: Lessons for Turning Crisis into Opportunity. The second book was clearly written in response to Toyota's recent challenges and Dr. Liker has some very strong perspectives to share here in this podcast. What was his take on  Toyota's recalls and quality problems? Why does he think that Toyota was singled out as a "scapegoat" to be "taken down"? Does he think Toyota really will emerge stronger from these challenges? To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/111. You can leave comments there, as well. For earlier episodes of the Lean Blog Podcast, 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.

Dr. Jack Billi, University of Michigan Professor, on Applications of Lean in Medicine

Episode page
Episode #110 is a chat with Dr. Jack Billi from the University of Michigan Health System and Medical School.
Here, we talk about their lean work and how Dr. Billi works with physicians to engage them in lean, tying lean problem solving methods, including the A3 approach, to the scientific method and medical thinking. Dr. Billi talks about the right approach to the lean concept of “standardized work” in a way that works for medicine and complex patient situations.
More about Dr. Billi,  Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, Medical School and Associate Vice President, Medical Affairs:
Dr. Billi is Professor of Internal Medicine and Medical Education. He leads the Michigan Quality System, the University of Michigan Health System's unified approach to improve quality, safety, efficiency, appropriateness and service using lean tools and philosophy. Dr. Billi's research and leadership interests are in health services delivery and the use of community consortia for quality improvement. He is active on statewide and regional groups affecting quality of care, pay-for-performance and public reporting. He chairs the Michigan State Medical Society's Committee on Quality, Efficiency and Economics and the Essential Benefit Design Work Group and is a member of MSMS's Board of Directors. Dr. Billi co-chairs the Medical Director Committee for the Michigan Quality Improvement Consortium which develops and disseminates evidence-based practice guidelines used by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and 15 other health plans representing over six million members.
To point others to this episode, use the simple URL:  www.leanblog.org/110.
For earlier episodes, visit the  main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.

James Morgan, Lean Product Development at Ford

Episode #109 is a discussion with Jim Morgan, Director, Global Body Exterior and Stamping Business Unit Engineering, Ford Motor Company. We will be talking about Lean product development methods in this show. James will be a plenary speaker at the upcoming Lean Transformation Summit, presented by the Lean Enterprise Institute, in Dallas this March 9th and 10th. Hope to see you there! Visit www.lean.org for more info. To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/109. 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.

Gwendolyn Galsworth, "Work That Makes Sense"

Episode #108 is a discussion with Dr. Gwendolyn Galsworth, recorded in person at the 2010 Shingo Prize Conference in Salt Lake City. Gwendolyn was previously a guest on episodes #26, 45, and 49. Here, we chat about lean and the "respect for people" principle, following up my talk with Dr. Stephen Covey (episode # 91) and we also touch briefly on her new book "Work That Makes Sense." You can find Gwendolyn's website at www.visualworkplaceinc.com. To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/108. 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.

Best-Selling Author Daniel H. Pink on the Connections Between Lean and ’Drive’ *

Show notes and more: https://www.leanblog.org/107 
Remastered January 2022
Episode #107 is something I've been looking forward to for some time now – an interview with Dan Pink, the author of some  outstanding books including Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us and Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself, among others.
Today, we're talking about Drive and a number of issues that will be familiar and relevant, yet thought provoking to Lean thinkers and students of Dr. W. Edwards Deming, ideas such as the dysfunctions of incentives and rewards, intrinsic motivation, and finding the balance between autonomy and following “standardized work” in a modern workplace.
You can find Dan on Twitter as @DanielPink and his website is www.danpink.com, which has his blog, and more. Dan has a paperback version of Drive coming out in the spring of 2011 and, if you've read Drive, you can send him ideas and feedback via this blog post of his.
In the podcast, I reference back to:
an earlier interview with Alfie Kohn, on education
a recent WSJ article on the decline of creativity in kids, thanks to our school system
To point others to this episode, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/107.
For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.
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) 993-0630 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.

Jim Baran, "Career Kaizen"

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.