When I started down the path of Lean teaching in the late 1990s, I was confident that students would see it as a positive change in teaching pedagogy. This was informed by my prior work experience in industry where the correct application of Lean principles and practices consistently yielded favorable outcomes. These outcomes were not […]

This article in the New York Times (22 August 2013), like many others, suggests that Baumol’s Cost Disease [1, 2] is a big contributor to the rising cost of higher education. However, inflation-adjusted salaries for college and university faculty and staff (non-management personnel) have been flat or declining for 20 years. Salaries, therefore, do not account […]

My favorite quote is by Eiji Toyoda, former President and Chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation and cousin of the company’s founder, Kiichiro Toyoda. The quote is: “…employees are offering a very important part of their life to us. If we don’t use their time effectively, we are wasting their lives.” These words marvelously capture the […]

As teachers, I think we all hope that students remember most of what they learned in our course years later. But, is that realistic? Isn’t it more likely that they remember just a few things? Here is an example of things that you would not want a student to remember: I didn’t like the topic […]

Here’s a short video that I made that talks through the chapters and main points of my new book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. Transcript Mark Graban: We all make mistakes. What matters is learning from them as individuals, teams, and organizations. A culture of learning from mistakes […]

Have you ever heard of Kenneth Wantuck? If not, I’d like to introduce him to you. Ken, age 77, is the author of a wonderful, comprehensive book, Just-In-Time For America, describing how to implement Just-In-Time. The book was published in 1989. Ken was one of the very few early authors to cite the importance of respect […]

In a recent podcast episode, host Jamie Flinchbaugh sits down with Justin Max, founder of Spark DSG. Spark DSG is a standout digital design and development agency, and under Justin’s leadership, the team employs their unique IDEAS process to address and solve complex business challenges with clear results. During the conversation, Justin captures his journey […]

In my view, Toyota’s most amazing accomplishment is that its leaders were able to sustain the company’s management system over generations of managers. In particular, the nearly 50-year period between 1947, when Taiichi Ohno joined the company, to 1995, the year Toyota became sales and market-share driven under the former Toyota Motor Sales executive, Hiroshi […]

I first began teaching as an adjunct professor in 1998, followed by full-time employment in higher education in 1999. In those early years, I experienced different types of time-consuming errors many of which simply seemed to be part of the process of educating people. It soon became clear that errors did not have to be […]

Today, Labor Day, is an opportunity to reflect on the valuable contributions made by labor to the economy and in the production of goods and services that we consume. They do this while having to contend with stagnant or declining wages, demands for increased productivity and increased service levels, major changes in the labor markets […]

Spotify’s Agile transformation stands out for its unparalleled innovation and product development. The uniqueness lies in their careful evaluation of their culture and strategic implementation of Agile across their organization, leading to collaborative autonomous teams. This metamorphosis cultivated a culture of creativity, enabling rapid product iterations, continuous user experience improvement, and a sustained competitive edge […]

This is the back story to the recently re-discovered classic book, Principles of Mass and Flow Production. To most people, the history of progressive management begins and ends with Toyota. It seems as if Toyota developed everything of importance: the principles, the methods and tools, and so on. From a historical perspective, the Toyota-centered view […]

Empowerment. It’s a word often said, a goal, a value, a hallmark of modern leadership. Yet it may be one of those leadership principles that can be misunderstood and difficult to put into action. Especially, when we are talking about empowerment at work. Create an empowering environment by fostering trust and respect. An empowering leader […]

A while ago I had a spirited e-mail exchange with a well-known and highly accomplished Lean practitioner, someone I have been friends with for more than 15 years. The former executive, now a very successful Lean consultant, was responding to a Lean Leadership News article in which I criticized consultants for not making the “Respect […]

Hey audiobook fans! The audiobook version of my book is available now! It’s just over five hours long, professionally produced, and read by me. It’s available through: You can listen to a 5-minute sample now, the first part of Chapter 1: Audiobook 5-Minute Sample I hope you’ll check it out. The post Audiobook Now Available! […]

I hope you have been reading the 10-part series of articles “The Tuition is Too Damn High” about the cost of higher education in The Washington Post. The author, Dylan Matthews, dissects the prices and costs at the various types of higher education institutions. In the concluding comments section of Part III, the author says: “If tuition […]

The future of excellence is where proven continuous improvement methods and mindsets meet cutting-edge technology, propelling your organization to new heights of efficiency and innovation. Embracing the philosophy of continuous improvement means committing to an ongoing journey of refinement and innovation, empowering all people in our organizations to adapt, evolve, and excel amidst ever-changing market […]

Critics of higher education often cast doubt or label as unconvincing the role of tenure in protecting academic freedom. Firstly, tenure is often misinterpreted as “lifetime job security,” as I have previously noted. Secondly, advancing truth through academic freedom made possible by tenure runs parallel to the requirement in Lean for management to guarantee to employees that they will […]

People often complain about the name “Lean,” the generic version of Toyota’s management system. It has long had a bad connotation because most managers misunderstand Lean and have used it to lay people off. So, I propose the following new name: “Flaco.” Instead of “Lean management,” we will now say, “administración Flaco.” Here is the […]

Kaizen (改善), or continuous improvement, is a cornerstone of lean manufacturing. If you stop becoming better, you will fall behind. But not all improvement activities are equal. There are different ways to do kaizen projects suitable for different situations. Let me give you an overview: Just Do It Kaizen comes in different forms, mostly distinguished […]

I work in a university system beginning to undergo change in response to changes in its environment. I am a witness to this change in real-time. It is exciting to see, even if it is change borne of conventionally-minded leadership. The president of our Board of Regents for Higher Education has the following plan for […]

Again, l’ve been writing some blog posts on my new book’s website — mistakesbook.com/blog. I’m still blogging here, but you might find some of these posts interesting (or that’s my mistake for thinking so). And I’ll also share some recent interviews from podcasts that have had me as a guest. Blog Posts – MistakesBook.com/blog Recent Interviews […]

In Lean, we are taught to observe. Here is something that I observed in the years 1994-2007. For decades, people’s focus was on continuous improvement – what in 2009 I called “The Toyota Half-Way.” The focus was so strong that people, especially employees, often experienced very bad outcomes such as layoffs due to the prevalence […]

The Strategic Importance of Maintenance in Modern Manufacturing In today’s competitive manufacturing landscape, maintenance strategies play a pivotal role in ensuring operational efficiency, reliability, and sustainability. Aligning with the principles of World-Class Manufacturing (WCM), these strategies are not merely about fixing what’s broken but are integral to an organization’s overall performance and growth. They are […]

Question: I don’t think our students would like me to shift from the mid-term and final exam structure we have always used to a weekly graded assignment structure. What kind of resistance have you faced from students? Answer: I have faced virtually no resistance. Students prefer to have the work and graded assignments level-loaded, and […]

This is the back story to how the phrases “Real Lean” and “Fake Lean” came about. I was trained in Toyota’s production system by Shingijutsu consultants in the years 1994 through 1997. During that time it became apparent that most organizations were focused on Lean tools and ignored the people aspects of TPS – specifically, […]

Henry Gantt, 1916 I would like to share with you some important words of wisdom from Henry Gantt (1861-1919), an esteemed associate of Frederick Winslow Taylor, the father of Scientific Management and the predecessor to Lean management. The following excerpts about leadership and human resources are taken from Mr. Gantt’s book, Industrial Leadership, published in 1916. Page 3: “[The] […]

At the end of each semester, students are asked to evaluate the course and the professor using a feedback form. My book, Lean Teaching, describes how I use end-of-semester feedback, and also describes how I collected and used mid-term feedback as well. This feedback has been very helpful over the years in shaping and improving my […]

Henry Gantt, 1916 I would like to share with you some important words of wisdom from Henry Gantt (1861-1919), an esteemed associate of Frederick Winslow Taylor, the father of Scientific Management, the predecessor to Lean management. The following excerpts about financiers and accountants are taken from Mr. Gantt’s book, Industrial Leadership, published in 1916. Page […]

Image Source: Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/photos/GFrBMipOd_E) You need happy and satisfied employees to have a successful, long-lasting company. How your employees feel about work can affect how they operate, and if they aren’t satisfied or don’t have the proper tools, it can affect your customers. Ultimately, if your employees are fulfilled in their roles, your customers benefit […]

“The Real Truth About the Real World” is an interesting and informative essay that argues against faculty making comparisons between the academy (the “ivory tower”) and the “real world.” While the article makes many good points, I found it unconvincing, perhaps because I have spent equal number of years in the “real world” and in […]

First, a quick announcement. Please join me tomorrow as I host and moderate a webinar: Person-Centred Improvement – What Does it Look Like, and How Does it Fit with Lean? It’s being presented by a friend from Ireland, Seán Paul Teeling, Programme Director for the Professional Certificate and Graduate Certificate in Process Improvement in Health […]

The article ‘Required reading’: As textbook prices soar, highlights triple-digit inflation and many other problems associated with the college textbook business. Since becoming a professor in 1999, I have always sought to avoid textbooks for many of the reasons cited in the article. Most large publishers would gladly sell blank pages between a eye-catching cover if […]

This is the back story to the award-winning book, Better Thinking, Better Results. The Wiremold Company’s Lean transformation was featured the book Lean Thinking (published in 1996). It was one of five short chapters highlighting successful Lean efforts. At that time, Wiremold’s Lean transformation, led by the President and CEO, Art Byrne, was barely five years in the making. In […]