[respond to this post to LinkedIn] You may remember that a little over six years ago I published Towards the wholehearted organisation, outside in, a blog post inspired by this quote: I won’t retell all of the history of what followed, but wholehearted went on to become a key piece in both Agendashift and Leading […]

This post draws upon and summarizes content in my book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. Overview Senior leaders must prioritize psychological safety and continuous improvement to foster an environment conducive to learning and innovation. Psychological safety is crucial for enabling employees to speak up about mistakes and ideas […]

Jim Womack, along with his co-authors, did a decent job as academics in the early-to-mid 1990s describing Toyota’s production system under the moniker “Lean.” The strength of their work may not have been in the details of TPS, and certainly not in the Toyota Way (especially “Respect for People“), but it was in describing the […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) Great to be practicing Aikido again. After a class, I’m exhausted and often aching, but full of energy. The Japanese call it Ki, which very roughly means life force, spirit, energy, motivation, and ‘spirit of movement’. “When your body makes good movements, you feel good!” Kawahara-sensei used to say. KI is […]

Dr. W. Edwards Deming is considered by many to be the father of modern quality improvement. Among other important insights into how businesses could become more efficient, reduce costs, and increase customer value, he popularized the PDSA quality improvement method. It is a four-step cycle used to achieve continuous improvement, consistent results, and resource maximization […]

While there is much to learn from Toyota’s production system and Toyota Way, it often feels to me like people’s deep affection for these are more for entertainment value and spiritual connection to the promised land of “Respect for People,” personal growth, teamwork, long-term employment, etc., than putting the large constellation of learnings into practice. […]

https://www.arcar.org/video-10it6hpcloo No this is not what you’re thinking if you’ve seen the show Moonshiners or tried some moonshine before. During prohibition in the United States, individuals illegally produced liquor mostly at night under the light of the moon. Raw materials used to make the liquor (called Moonshine) were varied, some poisonous, and the equipment was […]

A fan and lifelong learner of TPS was very kind to share with me two important photos of wisdom from Yoshiki Iwata (d. 2001) in the early 1990s. Mr. Iwata, mentored by Taiichi Ohno (one of Ohno-san’s best students), was a co-founder (with Chihiro Nakao) in 1987 of the world-famous Shingijutsu kaizen consultants. It is […]

Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #510 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Karen Martin, Founder and CEO of TKMG and TKMG Academy, appearing for the fifth time. She is the author of books including The Outstanding Organization, Clarity First, and Value Stream Mapping. In this episode, […]

 The Power of a Chain of Learning® Today’s guest has influenced tens of thousands of leaders worldwide, and he’s the subject and inspiration for my book, Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn. Now, he’s here to share his insights on learning to lead and Leading to Learn® and what it means to be part […]

In the early 1990s, I was thrust into my first leadership position. Although I had participated in some team training programs, I was totally unprepared for the leadership aspect of the role. As often happens, the boss three levels above put me in the position because I had great technical skills. I suppose he assumed […]

The third and last Mercedes-Benz (also known as Daimler) is its newest and comparatively smallest plant, in Rastatt. I have been to Rastatt many times, but this blog post is based on public information and on information from the guided tour. It is in my view the best-performing plant of Mercedes-Benz, and among the top […]

I recently had the opportunity to present a webinar hosted by my friends at the Shingo Institute, where I presented on the topic of using mistakes as a catalyst for continuous improvement. I’d like to share some of the key points and insights from that session. The Recording: The Importance of Psychological Safety I began […]

In May 2024 A Lean Journey Blog turned 15 and as I look back on how I got started and who influenced my journey I wanted to revisit a previous series I started in 2012 called the Meet-up. One of the things I am so fond of in the Lean community is the general wiliness […]

Thank you for your continued support of LeanBlog.org in 2024! As we reach the midpoint of the year, it’s time to look back at the most popular content. From insightful articles to engaging podcasts, here’s a roundup of what resonated most with my readers. First, I released 15 “Lean Blog Interviews” podcasts in the last […]

Henjin (変人) – pronounced “hēn-jeen” – is the Japanese word for “eccentric,” “crank,” or “oddball.” A Toyota kaizen man said: “People who generally follow and promote TPS are ‘eccentrics’ [‘henjin’ in original]… Generally speaking, those who adopt and promote TPS are unconventional people.” Indeed, TPS people, bothered by abnormalities, are henjin. He went on to […]

On 18 December 2023, my AI Chatbot went live. I was the first in Lean world to use this new technology on a web site. Since then the AI Chatbot has been asked hundreds of questions that range from interesting to funny to odd. Sometimes, people just make a statement or observation. And in some […]

Unfortunately, since its inception in 1988, Lean has existed far more in the fake form than in the real form. In addition to ignoring “Respect for People,” widespread poor understanding and use of Lean tools, unholy conglomerations like Lean Six Sigma, and the lack of understanding and practice of kaizen, Lean is almost always bureaucratized, […]

You can’t win by learning from Toyota. Learn this instead.

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on […]

In Chapter 2, “Development of Toyota Production System,” of Taiichi Ohno’s 1978 book Toyota Seisan Hoshiki (Toyota Production Method), Mr. Ohno describes the uniqueness of Japanese management as “Ninjutsu management” (the English edition, Toyota Production System, was published in 1988). What does “nin” mean? It means to conceal, move stealthily, or invisibility, while “jutsu” means […]

As we mark Independence Day today, the 248th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence from England, I’m sharing a “throwback” post that I published on July 4th some years ago. The Declaration of Independence was a bold step toward a new way of governance, emphasizing the values of liberty, equality, and the pursuit of happiness. […]

In the latest episode of the People Solve Problems podcast, host Jamie Flinchbaugh sits down with Art Byrne, the retired CEO of The Wiremold Company. Art’s profound influence on the lean community is well-known, having introduced lean principles to over 30 companies from his positions as CEO and author of seminal works such as The […]

Today, we celebrate Independence Day in the US. The 4th of July is an extremely patriotic holiday where we celebrate the independence of our country. People celebrate with family and friend gatherings, barbecues, parties, games, food, fun, festivals, parades, musical events and fireworks. Freedom is not just the natural right of every human. It is […]

Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #509 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Ankit Patel, the founder of My Business Care Team, a BPO company providing services for optometrists, and co-founder with his wife Classic Vision Care, an optometry group in Atlanta. With a strong background in […]

There are dozens of tools and techniques used by organizations to support their continuous improvement efforts. The most successful companies pick a few methodologies that work well for them and execute them consistently. If improvement work slows down or a new challenge arises, they experiment with another technique. Whether you are just getting started with […]

The second plant of Mercedes-Benz (also known as Daimler) in my Grand Tour of German Automotive was their plant in Bremen. This was also their second final assembly plant. It produces a few cars more than Sindelfingen, and hence claims to be the largest Mercedes-Benz plant by the number of cars. It was also a […]

There’s a common misconception about Toyota’s “Andon” system, often expressed as: “When a team member pulls the cord, the line stops.” But that’s not entirely accurate, as this enlightening Toyota video demonstrates: In some plants, the Andon system is activated by pressing a button rather than pulling an overhead cord. I wrote about that a […]

Two data points are not a trend. Two-data-point comparisons can be mathematically correct but practically meaningless. This is true in workplaces and news articles like this one. Multiple two-data-point comparisons (comparing last month to the previous month AND comparing it to the year before) don’t paint the full picture the way a simple run chart […]

As you’ve seen I have been revisiting a previous series I started in 2012 called the Meet-up. One of the things I am so found of in the Lean community is the general wiliness to share with each other.  I have learned some much from my very experienced colleagues since I have been an active […]

If you are old enough, you may remember the lever-release aluminum ice cube tray. It was invented by Edward H. Roberts, a design engineer at General Electric, in the mid-1940s. The trays were great in their day and remained in use into the 1970s (for those who had old refrigerators). The lever-release ice cube trays […]

Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace better. Operational Excellence, Improvement, and Innovation Skunk Works Truly the most satisfying experiences of my […]

In this edition: Organising Conversations; Leading in a Transforming Organisation and TTT/F; Conferences; Olivier’s phylogenetic study; Top posts Organizing Conversations Organizing Conversations, my fourth book, has been out for four weeks now. If you missed the original announcement, it includes a short video interview I did with series editor Gervase Bushe: “Organizing Conversations” is now out […]

Operational excellence is a management philosophy that focuses on continuously improving an organization’s processes, systems, and workflows to optimize performance and deliver value to customers. Operational excellence happens when an organization consistently and reliably outperforms the competition through constant improvement and a dedication to customer value. When two companies have the same strategy, the operationally […]