Gemba Academy

Five Helpful Favorite Phrases for Continuous Improvement Beginners

By Jon Miller - February 15th, 2021

The topic of continuous improvement is broad and deep. It’s easy for beginners to get overwhelmed by the variety of methods, tools and practices available. Even after grasping the technical jargon and settling on a particular app

Humble Questions Before Setting Direction

By Kevin Meyer - February 12th, 2021

I’ve long been a fan of Ed Schein, and his book Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling is one of my favorite leadership books. I wrote about Schein several years ago and a colleague recently pointed me to

How Not to Fool Ourselves

By Jon Miller - February 8th, 2021

There’s a saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” The deceiver is at fault the first time. But the second time, the person being tricked is also accountable for being fooled. We should learn from our mis

Lean Thinking: A Flashlight, Mirror, and Sandpaper

By Ron Pereira - February 5th, 2021

I’ve been following “The Bible in a Year” podcast that’s hosted by Fr. Mike Schmitz. It’s wonderfully done for anyone interested in covering the entire bible in a year. During one of the recent episodes

The Continuous Improvement Apple Tree

By Jon Miller - February 1st, 2021

Apples are one of the most popular fruit. They are bright, sweet and the subject of children’s books, religious symbolism and business metaphors. Most people have an idea where apples come from. Grocery stores. They are readily a

Toyota Kata Crossword Puzzle

By Jon Miller - January 25th, 2021

One of my weekly responsibilities is to contribute a blog post. The hardest part of this is coming up with something to write about. I’ve managed to keep it up for quite a few years, but finding topics is starting to get challeng

What are Lagging & Leading Indicators? How are they related? Why are they important?

By Steve Kane - January 22nd, 2021

David Barber is CFO of Omni Industries in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. David and the rest of the senior executive team at Omni are leading a lean transformation. He wrote this article for Omni’s company newsletter to help people at

How to Vaccinate 100 Million People in 100 Days

By Jon Miller - January 18th, 2021

This week the incoming U.S. President Biden announced his intentions use FEMA and the National Guard to establish COVID vaccination sites across the country. The goal is to vaccinate 100 million people his first 100 days in office. At

How to Have a Happy New Year

By Jon Miller - January 11th, 2021

The end of one year and the start of the next one is a time to reflect on a question; how can we make this year better than the last? What have we learned? What do we still need to learn to have a happy new year? Especially this past

Better Living through Algorithms

By Jon Miller - December 14th, 2020

I’ve been reflecting on an article from June of this year. It’s about Daniel Kahneman’s efforts to help organizations to become better at decision-making. He is a Nobel Prize winning psychologist and behavioral econo

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