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

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.

Episode page Our guest for Episode #96 is Pascal Dennis of Lean Pathways, Inc. Pascal is a faculty member with the Lean Enterprise Institute and he's the author of the books: Lean Production Simplified, Andy & Me: Crisis And Transformation On The Lean Journey, and Getting the Right Things Done: A Leader's Guide to Planning and Execution. Here in this podcast, we talk about his new book, www.leanblog.org/96. 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.

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/95  Remastered audio June 2021 Episode #95 features Norman Bodek talking about some of the ideas in his most recent book, How to do Kaizen: A new path to innovation – Empowering everyone to be a problem solver. Late in the podcast, Norman asks and answers an interesting question: what if an employee suggests “we should blow up the factory”?? This was recorded in March 2010, with Norman appearing from his office in Portland, OR. You can read about or comment on this podcast at www.leanblog.org/95. You can also see Norman speak, as this was also published as Video Podcast #11 -- go to www.leanblog.org/v11 For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page at www.leanpodcast.ort, 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 Episode #94 of the LeanBlog Podcast is here and our guest is Robert Miller, Executive Director of the  Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence. Bob was previously a guest for Podcast #59, talking about changes to the Shingo Prize criteria. Here, we are talking as a follow up to my discussion with Dr. Stephen Covey in Podcast #91. Bob tells me some of the background and history about how Dr. Covey became involved with the Shingo Prize and how he became a professor at the John M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. Bob also talks about some of the future hopes and plans for Dr. Covey's involvement with the Shingo Prize.  

Episode Page Episode #93 is a discussion with Jim Hearn, the Head of Lean and Six Sigma at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust. This discussion was found earlier online as part of the SixSigmaIQ.com podcast series on BlogTalkRadio, so thanks to SixSigmaIQ for lining up the interview. Jim talks about his transition from manufacturing into healthcare and he describes some of his hospital's work and success improving patient care with Lean methods.

Epsiode #92 brings a returning guest, the always entertaining and thought-provoking Mike Micklewright. He is the author of a batch of two new books: Out of Another @#&*% Crisis! Motivation through Humiliation and Lean ISO 9001: Adding Spark to your ISO 9001 QMS and Sustainability to your Lean Efforts. In this podcast, we talk about his "Crisis" book and why it's important to revisit the teachings of W. Edwards Deming. How are companies and CEOs performing against the famous 14 Points? You can find Mike online at www.mikemick.com. You might remember Mike from Podcast #43, "What Would Deming Say?" - www.leanblog.org/43 You can read about or comment on this podcast at www.leanblog.org/92 For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page at www.leanpodcast.ort, 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 Remastered 2023 Episode #91 is a very special one-on-one conversation with Dr. Stephen Covey, recorded at the Shingo Prize Conference in Salt Lake City last week. My main question to Dr. Covey was to ask his thoughts on Toyota's “Respect for People” principle, sometimes called ‘Respect for Humanity.” You can listen to the audio or you can read a transcript below in this post. After the chat with Dr. Covey, I share a few thoughts at the end of the podcast about Dr. Covey's work and Lean, along with a little background about the interview and my personal reaction to speaking with him. A partial transcript of the conversation: Mark Graban: The one question I would ask for your thoughts on is Toyota's principle of “respect for people,” or often referred to as “respect for humanity.” Could you share some thoughts on the importance of respect in workplace, what does that really mean? Dr. Covey: I think that it's of profound importance because it means you are caring and you trust them to do the right thing. Mark: You were talking earlier about the industrial model and trust seems to not come with that. Dr. Covey: It doesn't come with that. And the industrial model is obsolete. You know, the supervision is command and control, it's top down. There's such co-dependency about it. Mark: So we have a situation maybe where we have to convince the industrial world that this industrial model is… Dr. Covey: … is obsolete. But it's hard to do that because they're so used to it… kissing up to the hierarchy. Mark: Have you been able to visit with Toyota? Dr. Covey: I have. I was with the President of Toyota in Japan. We were walking in the plant and he said, “Any person in this plant can close the line down if he can show to the others that would improve quality and lower cost.” Mark: And so there's a trust inherent in that? Dr. Covey: Definitely, and it tells you also about the culture. If he can show to the others… Mark: It's very exciting to have you participate in the Shingo Prize conference and to share your message with the Lean community. What are your hopes, with your professorship at Utah State, to try to help influence… Dr. Covey: Yes, and also I am very appreciative of that opportunity with Utah State. And I think that the Shingo Prize is one to be really sought after and to be won. It's very significant. But I think that in the next few years it will be knowledge-worker age companies that will win the Shingo Prize, because they are developing and empowering their people. ———————- Thank you to Bob Miller, the Executive Director of the Shingo Prize, to Steve von Niederhausern, the Director of Marketing and Communications, and to Michael Ockey, who works for Dr. Covey and FranklinCovey for their help in lining up the time with Dr. Covey and for helping me prepare. I'm going to have a separate podcast discussion with Bob on his thoughts about Lean and Dr. Covey's work. One of the conference attendees, an executive from a major corporation told me how they have given every manager the Covey training each year for the last 15 years. This leader thinks that leadership training has been the key to their success with Lean. What are your experiences with Dr. Covey and his teachings? Do you see it as a core component of Lean, a helpful add-on, or fairly irrelevant? What do you think of the partnership between Dr. Covey and the Shingo Prize? 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.

Episode page Podcast #90 features Tim Turner, a team leader at Toyota's factory in Georgetown Kentucky (aka TMMK or Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky). He is the author, along with a team of co-workers, of the new book called One Team on All Levels: Stories from Toyota Team Members, Second Edition. In the podcast, we discuss the book and the culture of teamwork at Toyota. Tim also comments on his reaction (and his colleagues') to Toyota's recent quality problems and the resulting bad publicity. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.