Leadership Archives | Gemba Academy

GA 658 | Quiet Lies That Tell You You’re Not Enough with Stan Lewis

By Greg Nickell - November 12th, 2026

Doubt rarely announces itself. It shows up as a reason to wait, a reason to stay put, a reason to let someone else pull the cord. Stan Lewis spent decades as a federal investigator and mediator watching what happens when people and org

GA 657 | Par Is Your Friend with Kyle Kumpf

By Jessica Bush - November 5th, 2026

Ben Hogan, one of the greatest ball strikers in the history of golf, admitted he only hit about three shots per round exactly in the way he intended. Kyle Kumpf heard that, and what followed was nearly 30 years of thinking about what i

There is No Day 29

By Ron Pereira - November 4th, 2026

I’ve noticed a key pattern in people who struggle with continuous improvement, or really any new skill, habit, or activity. They simply give up too soon. Ten or so attempts at a new habit, a stubborn problem, or a new way of work

GA 656 | The Octopus Organization with Jana Werner

By Jessica Bush - October 29th, 2026

Most organizations are not failing because of bad strategy or lazy people. They are failing because they were designed for a world that no longer exists. Jana Werner, author of The Octopus Organization and executive in residence at Ama

How to Choose Lean Six Sigma Certification in 2026

By Jessica Bush - October 22nd, 2026

If you’ve ever stood in front of a whiteboard listing certification options and felt the weight of the decision, you’re not alone. Choosing a Lean Six Sigma certification path is a lot like solving a problem without a clear

GA 655 | Behavior Is the Audit with Adam Lawrence

By Jessica Bush - October 22nd, 2026

Most kaizen practitioners know the moment when a skeptic turns. It can take a day, a week, or nine months, but something clicks and the person who crossed their arms at the start is now telling the VP what their line accomplished. Adam

GA 654 | Escaping Time Poverty with Peggy Sullivan

By Jessica Bush - October 15th, 2026

Most people who feel overwhelmed blame their schedule. Peggy Sullivan argues the diagnosis itself is wrong. Time poverty has nothing to do with time management and everything to do with capacity, and until you start subtracting, no amo

GA 653 | LifeStream Mapping with Christian Wolcott

By Jessica Bush - October 8th, 2026

Value stream mapping is one of the most familiar tools in lean practice. Christian Wolcott has spent 25 years using it with clients from Toyota suppliers to NASA, and he arrived at a question that most practitioners never think to ask:

GA 652 | Culture Before Technology with Hessam Vali

By Jessica Bush - October 1st, 2026

Most lean practitioners know the theory of constraints. Fewer apply it before they start fixing things. Hessam Vali, a manufacturing consultant and MES software founder based in Wichita, argues that most improvement efforts fail becaus

Think, Act, Improve: Lessons from As a Man Thinketh

By Ron Pereira - September 30th, 2026

Every few years, I like to work my way through James Allen’s short book, As a Man Thinketh. This time, I listened to it as an audiobook. Each time I work through this classic, I come away with lots of thoughts and feelings. Our T

GA 651 | The Soup Stage of Transformation with Ben Morley

By Jessica Bush - September 24th, 2026

Most resistance to lean is blamed on the wrong thing. Ben Morley, an Air Force pilot turned Lean Six Sigma consultant, argues the tools are never really the problem. The breakdown almost always lives somewhere between leadership buy-in

The Sound of Breaking Glass

By Ron Pereira - September 23rd, 2026

I recently read a story I can’t stop thinking about. In 1903 a young boy in central Illinois was serving as an altar server at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria, Illinois. And this wasn’t any ordinary service. The local

GA 650 | Train It Before You Trust It with David Osagie-Igiehon

By Jessica Bush - September 17th, 2026

Most continuous improvement practitioners are using AI the same way they use Google, and getting roughly the same quality of results. David Osagie-Igiehon has taken a different approach. He builds custom agents trained on lean principl

Nobody Washes a Rental Car

By Ron Pereira - September 16th, 2026

Quick question…have you ever washed a rental car before returning it? If you’re anything like me, the answer is almost certainly “of course not.” Most people wouldn’t bother washing a rental car for one si

The Kudos Conundrum – A Leadership Learning

By Ricky Banks - September 15th, 2026

Defining the PROBLEM I recently came across an article that confirmed what I’ve learned from my past experiences. Throughout my career reporting to leaders at various levels, criticism seemed to come far more often than praise. I

You Are Not Standing Still

By Ron Pereira - September 9th, 2026

If you’re in a safe space and physically able…I’d like you to try something. Stand up, tilt your head back, and stand on your non-dominant foot (with your other foot off the ground). Easy enough, right? Most people ca

GA 648 | Discovering Lean in High School with Ted Pendergrass

By Jessica Bush - September 3rd, 2026

Most lean practitioners spend their careers trying to change the minds of adults who have been doing things the same way for decades. Ted Pendergrass decided to start earlier. Over 20 years coordinating a career technical education pro

GA 647 | Making Sleep a Priority with Tim Thomas

By Jessica Bush - August 27th, 2026

Most organizations measure productivity, absenteeism, and safety incidents without ever asking what all three have in common. Tim Thomas, a former Australian Special Forces soldier turned sleep specialist, argues the answer is sitting

The Space Between Trigger and Response

By Ron Pereira - August 26th, 2026

The Multiple Perspective Advantage helps us step back, observe our emotional reactions, and respond with greater intention. This simple practice can improve leadership, problem solving, and psychological safety.

GA 646 | Connect Before You Correct with Royden Johnson and Luc van Merrienboer

By Jessica Bush - August 20th, 2026

Culture shapes how people receive change, and nowhere is that clearer than on a shop floor where history, language, and moral authority all sit alongside the 5S board. Royden Johnson and Luc van Merrienboer bring two distinct lenses to

Kindness at Work: A Different Kind of Continuous Improvement

By Ron Pereira - August 19th, 2026

Could you ever imagine voluntarily giving one of your kidneys to a complete stranger? As it turns out, there are people who do exactly that. These extraordinary altruists go through surgery, willingly accept the pain and risk that come

GA 645 | Why Leadership Is Failing with Keith Wyche

By Jessica Bush - August 13th, 2026

Trust in leadership has been declining for decades, and Keith Wyche has the research to prove it. A 40-year veteran of AT&T, IBM, and Walmart, Keith opened up to us about a few mistakes he’s made in his career. The real conve

Stop Worrying and Start Problem Solving

By Ron Pereira - August 12th, 2026

Worry is one of the least productive uses we can make of our minds. It’s also one of the least pleasant. I know this because I’ve struggled with worry throughout my life. Of course, this doesn’t imply we never have good reaso

GA 644 | Defining Propaganda with Owen Fitzpatrick

By Jessica Bush - August 6th, 2026

Most leaders assume that the right argument, delivered clearly, will change minds. Owen Fitzpatrick has spent 30 years studying why that assumption is wrong. A psychologist who has worked inside some of the world’s most extreme p

Will We Remember How To Think?

By Ron Pereira - August 5th, 2026

AI tools can help us write, think, cook, work, and even parent better. But as we become increasingly dependent on them, are we slowly losing our ability to think for ourselves?

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