Lean Blog Interviews

This is an excerpt from Episode #380 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast. Host Mark Graban interviews Dr. Randal Pinkett and Dr. Jeffrey Robinson and, in this clip, they reflect on Randal winning "The Apprentice" (the only person of color to do so) and how Donald Trump asked him if he would share the prize with the runner up, a white woman (Rebecca Jarvis). For a transcript and the entire episode, visit http://leanblog.org/380.

https://www.leanblog.org/380Today's episode, #380, is very special to me for a number of reasons. For one, it's part of the #RootCauseRacism series that Deondra Wardelle has organized on my blog this week. Secondly, I'm joined by Dr. Randal Pinkett and Dr. Jeffrey Robinson to talk about important issues of race, diversity, and equity in organizations. Together, they are co-authors of the book Black Faces in White Places: 10 Game-Changing Strategies to Achieve Success and Find Greatness and the upcoming book (2021) Black Faces in High Places.Randal Pinkett, Ph.D. is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, and community servant. Randal is the co-founder, Chairman and CEO of his fifth venture, BCT Partners, a multimillion dollar management, technology and policy consulting firm in Newark, NJ, a partner in Blackwell-BCT, a joint venture with Blackwell Consulting Services, and spokesperson for the Minority Information Technology Consortium. He is a Rhodes Scholar and former college athlete who holds five academic degree

https://www.leanblog.org/379 My guest for Episode #379, joining me for the fifth time, is Katie Anderson, author of the newly-released book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: Lessons from Toyota Leader Isao Yoshino on a Lifetime of Continuous Learning. In today's episode, we talk about how the book came to be and we, of course, talk about the process — the process of writing and publishing. You might also be interested in the webinar that Katie presented about some themes in the book, along with the separate extended Q&A session that we did.I hope you enjoy the conversation, whether you listen or watch.

This is a portion of a much longer interview (Lean Blog Interviews Episode #378):  I'm joined by Christopher D. Chapman, Senior Lean Transformation Coach at Chapman Lean Enterprise and Dr. Valeria Sinclair-Chapman,  a social scientist, Associate Professor, and Director of the Center for Research on Diversity and Inclusion at Purdue University. I was first introduced to Chris through his article that was published on the Lean Enterprise Institute's “The Lean Post” section titled “Lean in Lean Thinkers to Root Out Racial Inequity.” He also has a follow up article called “Our Burning Platform and Using the 5 Whys to Think More Deeply about Corrective Action” with more to come.

https://www.leanblog.org/378  Joining me for Episode #378 are Christopher D. Chapman, Senior Lean Transformation Coach at Chapman Lean Enterprise and Dr. Valeria Sinclair-Chapman,  a social scientist, Associate Professor, and Director of the Center for Research on Diversity and Inclusion at Purdue University. I was first introduced to Chris through his article that was published on the Lean Enterprise Institute's "The Lean Post" section titled "Lean in Lean Thinkers to Root Out Racial Inequity." He also has a follow up article called "Our Burning Platform and Using the 5 Whys to Think More Deeply about Corrective Action" with more to come. As he wrote:"Lean leaders have a crucial role to play. We have long practiced and taught clients Respect for People as the moral core of lean thinking. As LEI states, leading respectfully not only improves business results but also the lives of workers, their families, their community, and, ultimately, society." I reached out to Chris to see if he'd want to discuss his arti

http://www.leanblog.org/377 My guest for Episode #377 is Ritu Ward, an experienced healthcare executive who has had success delivering quality, growth, and strategy while leading high performing teams.We have known each other for a while through Lean healthcare circles and she presented a webinar in our KaiNexus series titled, “Leadership Behaviors to Guide Effective Change.”She was, until recently, the Regional Vice President for Mercy Labs in the West Region. Ritu also worked previously for Carolinas Healthcare, in a Performance Excellence role. She's currently looking for her next opportunity.Today, we'll talk about the leadership styles that help create a Lean culture. She also shares thoughts on how her leadership style had to change during the Covid-19 crisis, thoughts on leading change, and more.

http://www.leanblog.org/376 Joining me for Episode #376 of the podcast is Lauren Hisey, a continuous improvement coach and consultant at her firm, Lauren Hisey Consulting. Before becoming a consultant, Lauren worked for AT&T and Nielsen in various technical and Lean Six Sigma roles. She has a BA in Political Science and Government and an MBA. Read more about Lauren via her bio.Today, we talk about the interface and overlap between concepts like Lean, Six Sigma, and Artificial Intelligence. Why do companies need to avoid jumping to solutions, including technology solutions like Robotic Process Automation? Why does the "respect for people" principle of Lean, from Toyota, mean that we shouldn't focus on replacing people with technology?I hope you enjoy the conversation, whether you listen or watch. 

http://www.leanblog.org/375 My guest for Episode #375 of the podcast is Mohamed Saleh, Ph.D.  Dr. Saleh has been a practitioner in Lean & Six Sigma transformations, in both manufacturing and service sectors. Mohamed was directly mentored by one of the country’s foremost experts on enterprise-wide Lean transformation and the Toyota Production System (TPS). He has extensive experience in hands-on healthcare, manufacturing, supply chain, network optimization and enterprise information systems. Mohamed’s academic credentials include a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt from Kaplan University, a Masters in Technology Management & Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from Central Connecticut State University and a PhD in Business Administration from Northcentral University.  Mohamed is: Founder of Vizibility llc, a Lean consulting and training company An M Plus Group Managing Partner, an advisory-coaching firm devoted to knowledge sharing, event planning and helping clients achieve organizational transformation.

http://www.leanblog.org/374 Joining me today for Episode #374 of the podcast are two colleagues, Brittany Wilson and Mark Valenti. The topic, as Mark and I discussed in Episode #306, is "Motivational Interviewing." We will all be exploring this topic in the context of talking to people about wearing masks during the pandemic. But, there are many applications to workplace situations, as well. Mark and Brittany do a series of very engaging webinars, which you can find on their YouTube channel. I hope you enjoy the conversation! 

http://www.leanblog.org/373Joining me today for Episode #373 of the podcast is Professor Peter Hines, author of many books including Staying Lean: Thriving, Not Just Surviving. Peter founded S A Partners in 1994 as a spin-out from his activities in running the Lean Enterprise Research Centre at Cardiff University. Before this, he worked in supply chain and distribution and manufacturing industries. Peter has a degree from Cambridge University and an MBA and PhD from Cardiff University. He is also an accredited Senior Shingo Facilitator and is a Visiting Professor at Waterford Institute of Technology. He is also founder of the Enterprise Excellence Network, which invited me to do a webinar recently. In the episode, we talk about the challenges involved in creating and sustaining a culture of continuous improvement. Who should be the "Lean Champion" for an organization? Are there different success factors in the UK vs other countries? Is humility an innate trait or can it be developed? We talk about that and mo

http://www.leanblog.org/372My guest for Episode #372 is Karen Gaudet, author of the excellent book Steady Work, which was published by the Lean Enterprise Institute. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a former employee of LEI and they provided a review copy of the book. In today's episode, we discuss her experience with Lean at Starbucks. It's a fascinating story that includes a transition from the old way (the Seattle HQ figuring out "best practices") to a new way (where store managers and baristas were taught how to design "playbooks" and to continuously improve the way the work is done in a particular store).

http://www.leanblog.org/371For Episode #371, we bring the discussion back to Lean Manufacturing applications, as our guest is Marc Lushington-Murray. He currently lives in the Fort Worth, Texas area but, as you'll discover from his accent, he was originally born and raised in England.Marc is currently searching for a new opportunity, but he brings a great deal of experience from his time working for Nissan and then Parker Hannifan. He was originally self-taught but then had the opportunity to learn from the famed Shigijitsu consulting group and others.He has worked in internal Lean roles, but has always been pulled into plant management or other direct line management roles. I hope you'll enjoy the conversation as Marc shares his reflections on his career to date and his hopes for what is still yet to come.

http://www.leanblog.org/370Joining me for Episode #370 is Edward Blackman, the founder and managing partner of Kelda Consulting. He has previously had Lean and process improvement-focused roles at organizations as varied as Whirlpool, Amway, and Spectrum Health. Today, we are discussing behavioral science and the need to combine practices and lessons from that field with Lean and continuous improvement. Edward earned a Masters degree in Behavioral Science, along with undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Mathematics. He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt by the American Society for Quality; is certified in Labor Standards by HB Maynard; is a Lean (Toyota Production System) Instructor/Coach; a Kata Coach; a certified Scrum Master; and an Agile Coach. Read his full bio.

http://www.leanblog.org/369Joining me again for Episode #369 of the podcast is Dr. Rachel Mandel, a self-described "healthcare whisperer" and Washington D.C.-based consultant for healthcare organizations. She has her own practice and also works as a Senior Healthcare Advisor for Operational Performance Solutions, Inc. She was a guest recently for Episode #367, but we had recorded that before the pandemic. So, we decided to do another episode, this time as a live YouTube stream, to talk about issues of the moment, and the future, related to Lean and Covid-19 -- leadership, respect, and safety among other themes. Again, she is a physician (OB-GYN) and previously served as the Vice President of Medical Affairs for a health system in Maryland. Read her full bio here.

http://leanblog.org/368 My guest for Episode #368 is somebody I've met fairly recently through his excellent posts on LinkedIn, Steve Feltovich. He is the president of SJF Consulting, Inc. and he previously had a long career in the automotive industry, in particular collision and repair. Steve learned about Dr. Deming's approach and also learned the Toyota Production System from Toyota and Toyota University, so he has an interesting perspective that I really appreciate. I hope you enjoy the discussion! 

http://www.leanblog.org/367 Joining me for Episode #367 of the podcast is Dr. Rachel Mandel, a self-described "healthcare whisperer" and Washington D.C.-based consultant for healthcare organizations. She has her own practice and also works as a Senior Healthcare Advisor for Operational Performance Solutions, Inc. She is, of course, a physician (OB-GYN) and previously served as the Vice President of Medical Affairs for a health system in Maryland. Read her full bio here. We recorded this podcast in late February 2020, so much has changed since then. We'll be doing a follow up podcast next week where we'll discuss some of the leadership (and organizational) challenges that health systems face now during the Covid-19 pandemic. Today, we'll talk about her experiences with Lean and how she is an advocate for this methodology, especially around the important issues of safety and quality. 

http://www.leanblog.org/366 My guest for Episode #366 is Harry Moser, founder of the Reshoring Initiative. We talk about “reshoring,” in general, and why that's such an important issue in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.Harry definitely falls into the category of guests where I wonder, “Why haven't I had this person on the show before?” Harry and his work have been on my radar for a long time. I appreciate the mission and I wish more companies would consider the “Total Cost” (and old Dr. Deming concept) when making manufacturing site location and sourcing decisions instead of focusing only on “unit cost” or “landed cost” (which includes freight and taxes).“The mission of the Reshoring Initiative® is to bring good, well-paying manufacturing jobs back to the United States by assisting companies to more accurately assess their total cost of offshoring, and shift collective thinking from offshoring is cheaper to local reduces the total cost of ownership. “Harry was inducted into the Industry Week

Mark Graban interviews Dan Markovitz about his new book. http://www.leanblog.org/365 Joining me again for Episode #365 is Dan Markovitz, now a five-time guest (but he doesn't get a special jacket like SNL).The reason for getting together was to chat about his latest book, "The Conclusion Trap: Four Steps to Better Decisions," now available from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle formats.Why do people jump to conclusions (or solutions), often looking to “shiny new technology, reorganizations, or spending more money” as Dan asks? Why is it better to spend more time on a good problem statement? What's the difference between data and facts? When should we ask questions and when is it OK to make suggestions? When is it OK to “just do it” and when do we need to be more rigorous in setting up our experiments?Dan and I are good friends, so the conversation veers into a breakdown of the show “Bar Rescue” and the problem-solving and leadership methods illustrated there. This is almost an episode of “Lean Whiskey” but

 Joining me for Episode #364 is a returning guest, Mitch Cahn, the president of Unionwear, a Newark-based company. Back in Episode #234, we talked about how Lean manufacturing has helped them be competitive in the labor-intensive apparel industry, sewing goods in a union shop. Today (in an episode that is also a video podcast), Mitch tells us how, a month ago, orders for political campaign hats and items evaporated as the Democratic presidential field consolidated. So, Unionwear needed to pivot and they started calling hospitals to find out how they might be able to help by making personal protective equipment (PPE) to help in the Covid-19 crisis. In the episode, you'll hear about the creation (and continued refinement) of face shields and gowns. These items were made using materials that they normally used for hats, backpacks, and plastic binders. Mitch also talks about how they've had to adapt their factory for social distancing and how some employees are sewing at home (and what they need to do to support

http://www.leanblog.org/363For Episode #363, I'm joined by Crystal Davis as we discuss:What are you seeing in terms of how Covid-19 is disrupting businesses?How do we move from crisis mode, to survival mode, to recovery mode?Why do we need courageous leadership during these challenging times?This is also the first video podcast that I've done in a while. See the show notes page for the video: HTTP://www.leanblog.org/363We share a background as industrial engineers who started our Lean careers at General Motors, and we both moved on to do work with other types of businesses.Crystal has many roles today: The Lean Coach, Inc. - Founder, CEO, Principal Lean Practitioner; DisruptHER Coach; Managing Partner at MPlus Her website is http://theleancoachinc.com/. I hope you enjoy the conversation!