Leadership

908 Articles
lean monument

Monuments to the Lean Journey

By Kevin Meyer - September 1st, 2017

Nearly two decades ago I had left the medical device industry to jump into telecom photonics equipment.  My team was responsible for the operations side of a facility that was a recently-acquired startup in the space, with a product t

Questions from a Gemba Academy Subscriber

By Steve Kane - August 25th, 2017

When customers start a subscription with Gemba Academy we like to start with discussion about how we can help them meet their Lean goals. A recent new customer was very well prepared for our conversation and had four prepared question

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

Why I Mow My Own Lawn

By Steve Kane - July 28th, 2017

There are things you should do yourself and other things you should pay someone else to do It seems that, for many people, there is no uncertainty about which category lawn maintenance falls into.  This is why lawn maintenance compani

GA 173 | How to Use A3 Thinking with Katie Anderson

By Jessica Bush - July 27th, 2017

This week’s guest is Katie Anderson, a continuous improvement consultant and coach. Katie and Ron discussed Japanese culture and the versatility of A3 thinking. Katie also shared a “State of the Union” address on lean

GA 172 | How to Apply Lean Through Virtual Coaching with Karyn Ross and EKemp

By Jessica Bush - July 20th, 2017

This week we have three guests: Karyn Ross, Elaine Camm, and Oliver Thompson. Karyn, a past podcast guest, provides virtual coaching to Elaine and Oliver, who are UK-based. The group discussed their lean journeys and the nature of virt

Combating Shallow Information with Page-Turning Statistics

By Kevin Meyer - July 14th, 2017

Over the past decade or two I’ve become very aware of the importance of depth of knowledge, and how technology has changed our ability to obtain that depth.  Reading books and newspaper articles has been replaced with news sound

GA 171 | How to Combat Fear with Ron Pereira

By Jessica Bush - July 13th, 2017

In this week’s episode, Ron talks all about fear and why it’s so problematic. He also shares his own three strategies for driving fear out of your organization. An MP3 version of this episode is available for download here.

Drive Out Fear

By Ron Pereira - July 7th, 2017

Drive out fear.  Dr. Deming told us this many years ago when he published his famous 14 Principles. Most of us have heard these words. Most of us probably think we understand these words. And, I bet, most “actively practicing

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 169 | How to Develop Lean Leaders into Coaches with Elizabeth Fingado

By Jessica Bush - June 29th, 2017

This week’s guest is Elizabeth Fingado, the Director of Strategic Support Services at Denver Health. Ron and Beth discussed what it takes to turn lean leaders into coaches, including specific strategies and obstacles you might en

“I Didn’t Teach the Dog Anything”

By Steve Kane - June 23rd, 2017

The Dog is a Handful I have a Jack Russell Terrier named Kirby.  Kirby has some–how should I put it–less than desirable behavioral traits.  He’s a great dog most of the time.  Other times, he can be a handful.  Fo

GA 168 | How to Leverage Change Intelligence with Barbara Trautlein

By Jessica Bush - June 22nd, 2017

This week’s guest is Barbara Trautlein, the founder of Change Catalysts. Barbara and Ron discussed change management, specifically why change fails and how people define failure. Barbara also explained the concept of Change Intel

GA 167 | How to Be Vulnerable with Debbie McAllister

By Jessica Bush - June 15th, 2017

This week’s guest is Debbie McAllister, a lean consultant in the healthcare industry. Debbie and Ron discussed vulnerability, and why it’s so important for leaders to be vulnerable from time to time. An MP3 version of this

GA 166 | How to “Win” at Lean with Paul Critchley

By Jessica Bush - June 8th, 2017

This week’s guest is Paul Critchley, a lean consultant with a diverse background. Paul and Ron discussed some of the roadblocks organizations typically experience on their lean journeys, as well as what it means to be “win

GA 165 | Lean in the Auto Collision Industry with Chris Norris

By Jessica Bush - June 1st, 2017

This week’s guest is Chris Norris, a lean practitioner in the auto collision industry. Chris explained how he’s applied lean at several different companies, and what he’s learned over the years. An MP3 version of thi

Lean Outside of Manufacturing

By Steve Kane - May 26th, 2017

There are so many examples of lean in manufacturing that it can be easy to understand how well-suited the methodology is for that industry.  Folks in other types of organizations and roles often comment that it is difficult to transla

GA 164 | The Lean Pilot with Todd Abshire

By Jessica Bush - May 25th, 2017

This week’s guest is Todd Abshire, an Instructor Pilot and Continuous Improvement Manager in the U.S. Air Force. Ron and Todd discussed how continuous improvement applies to aviation, and to the U.S. Air Force overall. An MP3

GA 163 | Addressing the Human Side of Lean with Rick Timlick

By Jessica Bush - May 18th, 2017

This week’s guest is lean consultant Rick Timlick. Rick shared how he helps organizations with their lean journeys, with a specific emphasis on the human component. An MP3 version of this episode is available for download here.

GA 162 | Continuous Improvement in the U.S. Air Force with Damien Hocquard

By Jessica Bush - May 11th, 2017

Today’s guest is Damien Hocquard, a member of the Canadian Armed Forces who is stationed at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Ron and Damien discussed Damien’s lean journey working within the U.S. Air Force CPI (Continuou

GA 161 | Succeeding at Job Relations with Ron Pereira

By Jessica Bush - May 4th, 2017

In today’s episode, Ron discusses one of the three components of TWI, Job Relations (JR). He reviews the different steps, explains how to be successful at it, and shares an example from his personal life. An MP3 version of this e

Following Their Moral Compass

By Steve Kane - April 28th, 2017

By Steve Kane As an aviation enthusiast and airplane pilot, I take an interest in pretty much all kinds of flying.  YouTube provides seemingly endless entertainment for people like me.  I recently started watching lots of videos on p

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