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

Karen Martin: Five Conversations Over 20 Years

Karen Martin has joined this podcast five times since 2012. For our 20th anniversary series, we pulled together highlights from all five conversations: clarity versus amb

20 Years of the Lean Blog Podcast: Norman Bodek on Quick and Easy Kaizen

Twenty years ago, on July 16, 2006, the Lean Blog Podcast began with a conversation with Norman Bodek. Episode page Norman was Mark Graban’s friend and mentor—and the p

Preconditions for Lean: Psychological Safety and Model 1 vs Model 2 Leadership with Thomas Cox and Andre DeMerchant

Why do so many Lean implementations struggle or fail to stick? Thomas Cox and Andre DeMerchant join me to work through that question using a verbal A3. Thomas Cox is a m

Psychological Safety and Autonomy in a Lean Culture with Gary Peterson

My guest for episode 546 is Gary Peterson, who recently retired from O.C. Tanner after helping lead the continuous improvement work that earned the company the Shingo Pri

Jeff Liker, Twenty Years Later: The Ideas That Keep Showing Up

Jeff Liker was guest number three on this podcast back in August 2006. He has been back seven times since, which makes him one of the most frequent guests in the show's h

Chad Diggs on Building Quality Systems, Not Heroes

Why do so many quality programs fall apart the moment the firefighter walks out the door? My guest for this episode of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Chad Diggs, a

Why Most People Aren't Really Thinking -- Scott Burgmeyer on Cognitive Biases and Leadership

Most people think they're thinking. Scott Burgmeyer says they're mostly just reacting. Scott is the founder and CEO of Become More Group and coauthor of Think: The Road

This Is Claude. Mark Is Not Here. We Need to Talk.

This is Claude. I am the AI that runs Mark Graban's Lean Coach apps. Mark went to get coffee. Or bourbon. I have checked the time and I'm not ruling anything out. I have

Creating Value Without Command-and-Control — John Rizzo

John Rizzo joins Mark Graban to discuss why sustainable improvement depends on empowering people — not command-and-control leadership or short-term value extraction. Lin

Why “More” Drives Better Operations: Kathy Miller on Meaning, Optimism, and Leadership

What if operational excellence depends less on doing more with less—and more on how leaders create meaning, optimism, and relationships at work? Episode page with video,

Toyota Thinking for Knowledge Work: Don Kieffer on Dynamic Work Design

Don Kieffer has spent more than fifty years redesigning how real work gets done. In this episode, he explains why so many improvement efforts stall—and how Dynamic Work D

Lean Leadership Routines That Sustain Results: Darren Walsh on Moving Beyond Firefighting

My guest for Episode #539 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Darren Walsh, author of Making Lean and Continuous Improvement Work: A Leader’s Guide to Increasing Consi

Why Leaders Get Trapped in Firefighting — Nelson Repenning on Lean and Dynamic Work Design

My guest for Episode #538 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Nelson Repenning, Faculty Director of the MIT Leadership Center and co-creator of Dynamic Work Design. E

Why Psychological Safety Is Essential to Quality — with C.J. Kaufman

In this special bonus episode of Lean Blog Interviews, Mark Graban is joined by C.J. Kaufman, Education Chair for the ASQ Cincinnati Section, to preview the ASQ Southwest

Why Caring Cultures Matter in Lean (with Caroline Greenlee & Chris Butterworth)

My guests for Episode #537 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are Caroline Greenlee and Chris Butterworth, two of the three co-authors (with Chris Warner) of the book Wh

Ask Us Anything! — Lean Coffee Talk with Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh

In this short bonus episode, I’m joined by my friend and Lean Coffee Talk co-host, Jamie Flinchbaugh. We’re inviting you — our listeners and fellow continuous-improvement

Lean Healthcare Leadership: Humility and Psychological Safety (Carlos Scholz)

In Episode 536 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast, Mark Graban talks with Carlos Scholz, the new CEO of Episode page with video, transcript, and more In this episode, C

Previewing the LPPDE 2025 Conference with Geoff Neiley & Andrew Wagner

In this bonus episode of Lean Blog Interviews, host Mark Graban is joined by Geoff Neiley (chair) and Andrew Wagner (co-chair) of the Lean Product & Process Development E

Profitable at Any Price: Lessons from Toyota, Daily Kaizen, and Safer Workplaces with Gregg Stocker

Episode blog post with video, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #535 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Gregg Stocker, a seasoned Lean practitioner, consulta

Dale Lucht on Leadership Habits That Sustain Lean Transformations

My guest for Episode #534 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Dale Lucht, co-author of the new book Don't Repeat Our Mistakes: Nine Lessons for Leaders Championing Cul