Lean Blog Audio: Practical Lean Thinking, Psychological Safety, and Continuous Improvement
Mark Graban
Lean Blog Audio is a short-form podcast featuring audio versions of articles from LeanBlog.org, written, read, and expanded by Mark Graban.
Each episode explores practical Lean thinking, psychological safety, continuous improvement, and leadership—through real-world examples from healthcare, manufacturing, startups, and other complex work environments.
Topics include learning from mistakes, reducing fear and blame, improving systems, and using data thoughtfully through tools like Process Behavior Charts. Episodes often go beyond the original blog post, adding fresh context and reflections.
Each episode explores practical Lean thinking, psychological safety, continuous improvement, and leadership—through real-world examples from healthcare, manufacturing, startups, and other complex work environments.
Topics include learning from mistakes, reducing fear and blame, improving systems, and using data thoughtfully through tools like Process Behavior Charts. Episodes often go beyond the original blog post, adding fresh context and reflections.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Feb 11, 2015 • 5min
Why don't we do what we know we're supposed to do? Why don't I?
It's easy to point fingers at others who don't do what they know they're supposed to do. It's sometimes helpful to be reflective and introspective instead of just trying to figure others out...
Feb 6, 2015 • 6min
The "Productivity Paradox" of Healthcare IT and
What is the "productivity paradox" as coined by Erik Brynjolfsson of MIT and is there also a "Kaizen paradox?"
http://leanblog.org/audio17
Feb 5, 2015 • 4min
What Does ThedaCare CEO Dean Gruner, MD Say About Safety?
I recently re-watched parts of a DVD I helped produce a few years back for the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value -- Thinking Lean at ThedaCare DVD: Strategy Deployment, Alignment&Leadership.In the video, ThedaCare's CEO, Dr. Dean Gruner, is talking about their "True North" objectives. First and foremost in that list is safety. We can include patient safety and provider/employee safety in that discussion.
Feb 1, 2015 • 6min
The Patriots, Coach Belichick, Aspects of Lean Thinking,
http://leanblog.org/audio15
I have lived in Boston two different times, but I'm hardly a New England Patriots fan. I realize they have been accused of cheating (the previous "Spygate" controversy where they violated league rules by videotaping the hand signals of opposition defensive coaches and the recent "deflategate" controversy).For an organization to be truly admirable, integrity has to come first. Integrity is non-negotiable. There are many questions about the Patriots...
But, there were a few things that jumped out at me in a Saturday WSJ article on the Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick: "Deflategate Masks the Many Virtues of Belichick."
Jan 30, 2015 • 8min
Audio Parody - "Lean Serial"
My wife and I were late to the wildly popular podcast "Serial," but we listened to the first six episodes while traveling over the holidays. I ran hot and cold on the serialized non-fiction story about a murder... it was somewhat interesting, but a bit drawn out. The show requires a lot of patience (and at least eight hours of listening).I wonder how many of you were hooked on Serial, as many of my friends seemed to be?
Saturday Night Live did a Christmas/Santa-themed parody of the show. That, and some free time after the holidays, inspired me to create a short Lean parody (no, I'm not doing an entire series).
Jan 29, 2015 • 10min
"Lean Sigma" is Still Pretty Often Wrong on Lean
Here's look back at a post from 2011 that talks about some of the misunderstandings that are thrown around about Lean and Six Sigma, with some new content and an audio clip from a speaker who gets this very wrong.
Jan 27, 2015 • 7min
Looking back at the Toyota Tsutsumi plant tour, part 2
A look back at my visit to a Toyota plant in Japan, with a group of global healthcare leaders, in November 2014 (part 2 of episode 11 of this series). Topics include andon cords, proper breaks, and 5s (or is it 4s?).
Jan 20, 2015 • 7min
Looking back at the Toyota Tsutsumi plant tour, part 1
A look back at my visit to a Toyota plant in Japan, with a group of global healthcare leaders, in November 2014.
Jan 19, 2015 • 6min
Putting Up Signs and Shooting Down Ideas
It's sad and unfortunate when leaders SAY they want a culture of continuous improvement, but don't walk the walk.
Jan 18, 2015 • 11min
Parallels Between Personal Training and Lean Coaching
Working with a personal fitness trainer has helped me see parallels to what I do with Lean... how my clients maybe see the world and things that I can do better as a coach, trainer, mentor, and consultant.I don't often get to be on the "coachee" side of the coaching equation. When I work with other consultants, like Karen Martin, that gives me a chance to get coached -- receiving positive feedback and being challenged to improve. When I've used a speaking coach, Kathryn Partan, it's very helpful because I try to improve and I see how somebody else approaches coaching and client work.
