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GA 092 | How to Restart Your Lean Transformation with Zane Ferry

Avatar photo By Jessica Bush Updated on July 31st, 2021

Today’s guest is Zane Ferry, a great lean thinker and longtime friend of GA Co-Founder Jon Miller. Zane and I discuss the process of restarting a lean transformation, including why it happens and what to do to get back on track. An MP3 version of this episode is available for download here.

In this episode you’ll learn:

  • Zane’s background and how he first learned about continuous improvement (3:36)
  • The quote that inspires Zane (7:50)
  • What it’s like to practice lean in Japan (9:52)
  • Why lean transformations stall and need to be restarted (12:26)
  • How communication plays a role (15:17)
  • The challenges and opportunities involved (16:53)
  • How to manage a partially successful implementation (19:55)
  • What MIO means (24:01)
  • A story about Ron’s daughter (26:00)
  • Best practices for restarting your transformation (30:43)
  • Why face-to-face communication is better (34:24)
  • Why learning is fundamentally important (36:58)
  • The most overlooked component in the restarting process (39:26)
  • How this is all relevant to Zane’s background (41:28)
  • What “Respect for People” means to Zane (43:12)
  • The best advice Zane has ever received (45:20)
  • Zane’s personal productivity habit (46:25)
  • What surprised Zane in the last year of practicing lean (48:07)
  • What Zane does to recharge and refocus (50:37)
  • The skill or knowledge area Zane feels he needs to improve (52:59)

Podcast Resources

What Do You Think?

Have you ever experienced a stall or delay in your lean transformation? How did you handle it?


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