Productivity Archives | Gemba Academy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GA 643 | Asking Better Questions with Kabrina Ashley

By Jessica Bush - July 30th, 2026

Most organizations say they want high performers, yet quietly punish them for being too valuable to lose. Kabrina Ashley, a coach and behavioral science practitioner based in Nashville, makes the case that the real barriers to change,

GA 642 | The Future of Work with Jonathan David Lewis

By Jessica Bush - July 23rd, 2026

Something fundamental has shifted in how people relate to work, and most leaders are still operating from a story that the workforce has already left behind. Jonathan David Lewis, president of brand strategy firm McKee Wallwork and aut

GA 639 | Putting the Customer First with Slaytor Baldwin

By Jessica Bush - July 2nd, 2026

A suppressor manufacturer in Utah started its lean transformation about a year ago. Twelve months later, inventory turns had doubled, changeover time dropped from 3.5 hours to 9 minutes, and a rollout planned for a year got compressed

Building the Staircase

By John Knotts - June 26th, 2026

John was a frustrated plant manager. His team was missing shipments, quality problems were increasing, overtime costs were climbing, and employee morale was slipping. Every morning seemed to bring another problem, another customer comp

GA 638 | Separating Risk from Being Reckless with George Barrios

By Jessica Bush - June 25th, 2026

Confidence and arrogance can look identical from the outside. George Barrios has spent a career in rooms where the difference mattered, from running a semiconductor division at 29 to co-leading a $20 billion merger between WWE a

GA 637 | Developing Organizational Maturity with Norman Wolfe

By Jessica Bush - June 18th, 2026

Most organizations have the systems. They have the processes, the KPIs, the structured meetings, the strategic plans. And they are still stuck. Norman Wolfe has spent decades helping leadership teams understand why, and the answer keep

GA 636 | Taking Control of Your Life with Joel Steele

By Jessica Bush - June 11th, 2026

Most people trying to improve their lives are doing it without a clear picture of what they are building toward. For Joel Steele, a near-miss with prison forced him to start making different choices. His book “Life Switch”

GA 634 | Doubling Profits in 90 Days with Ben Hansen

By Jessica Bush - May 28th, 2026

This week’s guest is Ben Hansen. Ron and Ben discussed how Ben helps companies improve their profit margins, dealing with “profititis,” shifting your focus from revenue to profitability, and more. An MP3 audio version

GA 633 | Be Curious and Seek Knowledge with Andy Olrich

By Jessica Bush - May 21st, 2026

This week’s guest is Andy Olrich. Ron and Andy discussed the roles of people and tools in continuous improvement, what NOT to do when building a lean culture, teaching younger generations, and more. An MP3 audio version of this e

GA 632 | Performance Unleashed with Chris Libutti

By Jessica Bush - May 14th, 2026

This week’s guest is Chris Libutti. Ron and Chris discussed Chris and his wife Yamila’s book, “Performance Unleashed,” his time in the military, the importance of self-discipline, and more. An MP3 audio version

GA 631 | What We Can Learn from Tetris with Michael Parent

By Jessica Bush - May 7th, 2026

This week’s guest is Michael Parent. Ron and Michael discussed an interesting AI conundrum, the impact that systems and design have on performance, Michael’s Tetris experiment, and more. An MP3 audio version of this episode

GA 630 | Why Tone Matters with Shahab Shah

By Jessica Bush - April 30th, 2026

This week’s guest is Shahab Shah. Ron and Shahab discussed the importance of balancing human empathy with the demands of reality, why tone matters, first steps for making improvements, and more. An MP3 audio version of this episo

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