GA 196 | How to Name Lean with Tracey and Ernie Richardson

By Jessica Bush - January 4th, 2018

This week’s guests are Tracey and Ernie Richardson. Tracey and Ernie explained a question they asked on LinkedIn recently regarding the “lean” label and what other words might suit this incredible movement. An MP3 ver

GA 183 | How to Approach Lean with Michael Ballé

By Jessica Bush - October 5th, 2017

This week’s guest is Michael Ballé. Michael recently co-authored a new book, The Lean Strategy. Ron and Michael discussed the contents of the book and why the idea of lean as a strategy is so controversial. An MP3 version of th

GA 177 | How to Think Like Toyota with Tracey and Ernie Richardson

By Jessica Bush - August 24th, 2017

This week’s guests are Tracey and Ernie Richardson. Tracey and Ernie talked about their new book The Toyota Engagement Equation and about their personal lean journeys. An MP3 version of this episode is available for download her

GA 176 | How to Be a Transformative Leader with Amir Ghannad

By Jessica Bush - August 17th, 2017

This week’s guest is Amir Ghannad, author and leadership specialist. Amir talked about his book, The Transformative Leader, and explained the differences between change and transformation. An MP3 version of this episode is availa

GA 175 | How to Be Resilient with Ria Story

By Jessica Bush - August 10th, 2017

This week’s guest is Ria Story, author, speaker, coach, and wife of last week’s guest Mack Story. Ria shared her incredibly inspirational background with us, and explained how to be resilient. This episode does mention some

GA 174 | How to Foster Leadership in the Blue-Collar Workforce with Mack Story

By Jessica Bush - August 3rd, 2017

This week’s guest is consultant and speaker Mack Story. Mack talked about his experiences sharing leadership development skills with the blue-collar workforce. This is a powerful episode that really sheds light on what it means t

GA 170 | How to See Past the Numbers with Bill Waddell

By Jessica Bush - July 6th, 2017

This week we’re sharing an inspiring keynote by Bill Waddell from the 2015 Lean Leadership Week. Bill explains how the concepts of fuzzy logic, globalization, and basic morality intersect, and why lean is ultimately all about peo

GA 159 | Lean and Profitability with Jim Lancaster

By Jessica Bush - April 20th, 2017

Today’s guest is Jim Lancaster, CEO of Lantech. Ron and Jim discussed Lantech’s fascinating history and lean journey, including the obstacles they’ve faced over the years. An MP3 version of this episode is available f

GA 156 | The Current State of Lean in Healthcare with Mark Graban and Joe Swartz

By Jessica Bush - March 30th, 2017

This week’s guests are Mark Graban and Joe Swartz, both leaders in lean healthcare. They discussed the past and current states of lean in healthcare, as well as their upcoming workshop, Kaizen Live. An MP3 version of this episod

GA 154 | The Real Meaning of Lean with Art Byrne

By Jessica Bush - March 16th, 2017

This week’s guest is Art Byrne, author and highly respected lean leader. Ron and Art discussed Art’s lean journey, including his days as CEO of Wiremold. You won’t want to miss this one! An MP3 version of this episod

GA 151 | The Obstacle Is the Way with Ron Pereira

By Jessica Bush - February 23rd, 2017

This week Ron discusses The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday. It’s a fantastic book based on stoicism, with a particular focus on Marcus Aurelius. All lean thinkers can benefit

GA 147 | How to Succeed at Value Stream Mapping with Beau Keyte

By Jessica Bush - January 26th, 2017

This week’s guest is Beau Keyte, an author and performance improvement coach with an impressive background. Ron and Beau discussed both editions of The Complete Lean Enterprise, the evolution of Value Stream Mapping, and more. An

A Time to Read and Reflect

By Kevin Meyer - January 13th, 2017

It’s that time of the year when we reflect on the past and plan for the future.  An arbitrary time, which has always bothered me.  We should really be doing this in a continual fashion.  I try, with daily, monthly, and quarter

GA 136 | How to Create Value with Michael Mindes

By Jessica Bush - November 10th, 2016

This week’s guest is Michael Mindes, Founder and CEO of Tasty Minstrel Games. Michael shared his experiences with lean thus far, and how he applies what he learns to his business. An MP3 version of this episode is available for

GA 133 | How to Create a Visual Workplace with Dr. Gwendolyn Galsworth

By Jessica Bush - October 20th, 2016

Today’s guest is Dr. Gwendolyn Galsworth, an author and consultant who specializes in the visual workplace. Gwendolyn shared her fascinating background with us and explained the importance of visuality. This in-depth conversati

GA 128 | How to Implement Lean Efforts That Last with Amanda Culver

By Jessica Bush - September 15th, 2016

Today’s guest is Amanda Culver. Amanda has over 10 years of experience with Lean and Six Sigma, especially as it applies to Pharmaceuticals. She shared a lot of valuable insight with us, including her take on why organizations

GA 126 | Scaling Lean with Ash Maurya

By Jessica Bush - September 1st, 2016

Today’s guest is Ash Maurya, an entrepreneur and author in the Lean Startup realm. Ash explained how lean applies to entrepreneurship and discussed his books, Running Lean and Scaling Lean. An MP3 version of this episode is

GA 118 | How to Use Lean and Zen to Become a Better Leader with Kevin Meyer

By Jessica Bush - July 7th, 2016

Today’s guest is our own Kevin Meyer, Co-Founder of Gemba Academy. Kevin and Ron discussed Kevin’s new book, The Simple Leader, in which Kevin describes his career thus far and shares a lot of valuable insight related to

GA 115 | Mastering Puppets with Filipe Marques

By Jessica Bush - June 16th, 2016

Today’s guest is Filipe Marques. Filipe has a very unique perspective on continuous improvement, and he shared some great examples of what he and his team do to stay on track. He even connected Metallica and lean. Don’t miss this o

GA 114 | How to Apply Lean to Healthcare with Mark Graban

By Jessica Bush - June 9th, 2016

Today’s episode features Mark Graban, a recurring podcast guest and good friend of Gemba Academy. Ron and Mark discussed lean healthcare, the third revision of Mark’s book Lean Hospitals, and some of the main misconceptio

GA 113 | How to Utilize the Power Score with Jonathan Sands

By Jessica Bush - June 2nd, 2016

GA 112 | How to Pursue Greatness with Ron Pereira

By Jessica Bush - May 26th, 2016

Today’s episode features a keynote speech, “In Pursuit of Greatness,” delivered by our own Ron Pereira at the TWI Summit in San Antonio, Texas. As you’ll hear, he thoroughly enjoyed the conference and learned a

GA 109 | How to Leverage Toyota Kata with Brandon Brown

By Jessica Bush - May 5th, 2016

Today’s guest is Brandon Brown, the owner of Continuous Coaching Commitment LLC and an associate with the W3 Group LLC. Brandon shared his knowledge of Toyota Kata with us, and explained how it complements TWI. An MP3 version o

GA 105 | How to Improve Your Business with Change Management with Paul Brand

By Jessica Bush - April 7th, 2016

Today’s guest is Paul Brand, a change management consultant from the Netherlands. Paul wrote a book called Change Your Mind, Change Your Business, and he shared with us why he wrote it, what it’s about, and how change man

GA 103 | Our Favorite Episodes

By Jessica Bush - March 24th, 2016

Today’s episode is a little different. We asked the Gemba Academy team to tell us their favorite episodes to date, and compiled some powerful excerpts to share with all of you. This is truly a diverse set of stories, advice, an