Lean Blog by Mark Graban

When “I Have a Pulse” Gets Dismissed: A Toddler Found Alive in a Hospital Morgue

Mark Graban — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000

On Super Bowl Sunday in February, an 18-month-old boy was pulled from his family's pool in Gilbert, Arizona, and rushed to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center. He was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m. At 11:52 p.m., staff from the medical examiner's office arrived to transport him. They found him breathing in the hospital morgue. He was flown to Phoenix Children's Hospital. According to the ABC15 Investigators, who obtained the police report and body camera video, an […]

The post When “I Have a Pulse” Gets Dismissed: A Toddler Found Alive in a Hospital Morgue by Mark Graban appeared first at Lean Blog by Mark Graban.

Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: October 23, 2026

Ryan McCormack — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 18:30:41 +0000

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. Today's Mixtape is about slowing down long enough to see the problem clearly before jumping to a fix. Highlights include Steve DeWitt's five-question check before approving any solution, Dave Snowden on why Frederick Taylor […]

The post Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: October 23, 2026 by Ryan McCormack appeared first at Lean Blog by Mark Graban.

Signals & Levers: Elisabeth Hendrickson and Joel Tosi on Change Theater, Open Loops, and Systems Thinking for Software Teams

Mark Graban — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 12:16:21 +0000

Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guests for Episode #550 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are Elisabeth Hendrickson and Joel Tosi, co-authors of the new book Signals & Levers: Systems Thinking Tools to Unblock Software Delivery (IT Revolution, 2026). The book is aimed at software organizations, but its sources are Deming, Shewhart, Chris Argyris, and Donella Meadows, and most of what we discuss applies to any leader trying to improve […]

The post Signals & Levers: Elisabeth Hendrickson and Joel Tosi on Change Theater, Open Loops, and Systems Thinking for Software Teams by Mark Graban appeared first at Lean Blog by Mark Graban.

Why People Stay Silent at Work: My New Psychological Safety Course

Mark Graban — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:06:28 +0000

Someone in a meeting sees a problem coming. Maybe it's a risk in the plan, an assumption that doesn't hold up, or a direction that doesn't feel right. They don't say anything. The meeting moves on, and the moment passes. Most leaders have seen this happen, and many of us have been the person who stayed quiet. That silence is the subject of my new course, Leading with Psychological Safety, which is now available from […]

The post Why People Stay Silent at Work: My New Psychological Safety Course by Mark Graban appeared first at Lean Blog by Mark Graban.

Creating a Continuous Improvement System in Accounting: Nick Katko on PDCA, Culture, and Psychological Safety

Mark Graban — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 09:13:00 +0000

Accounting teams see problems every day. As Nick Katko puts it, they fix them, but they don't necessarily solve them. We talk about what a continuous improvement system looks like inside an accounting department, the three parts of that system, and why culture and psychological safety have to come before improvement events. Nick shares an accounts payable team that cut invoice defects from about 43% to 15% by starting with data, and a harder story […]

The post Creating a Continuous Improvement System in Accounting: Nick Katko on PDCA, Culture, and Psychological Safety by Mark Graban appeared first at Lean Blog by Mark Graban.

Peter Pronovost on Leading with Love: What the Checklist Needed All Along

Mark Graban — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 08:19:00 +0000

I recently recorded an upcoming episode of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast with Dr. Peter Pronovost, the Chief Quality and Clinical Transformation Officer at University Hospitals (UH) in Cleveland. Most people know him because of the ICU checklist that cut central line infections at Johns Hopkins and then across Michigan. While we were preparing, he pointed me to an article he wrote for Innovations, an MIT Press journal: “Living and Leading with Love: Transforming Healthcare […]

The post Peter Pronovost on Leading with Love: What the Checklist Needed All Along by Mark Graban appeared first at Lean Blog by Mark Graban.

Fear-Based Leadership Worked at Volkswagen. Until It Didn’t.

Mark Graban — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 23:03:00 +0000

In July 2013, on a test drive in the United States, Martin Winterkorn, the CEO of Volkswagen, noticed a paint imperfection on a Beetle. The paint was slightly thicker than the company standard. Less than a millimeter too thick, according to a VW source who spoke to Reuters. A difference you would not be able to see without a gauge. He stopped and lectured his engineers about the waste. This was 2013. Winterkorn was one […]

The post Fear-Based Leadership Worked at Volkswagen. Until It Didn’t. by Mark Graban appeared first at Lean Blog by Mark Graban.

A Lean Management System That Doesn’t Depend on the Lean Team — Emily Swaney, OhioHealth

Mark Graban — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:43:00 +0000

Emily Swaney, VP of Operational Excellence at OhioHealth, explains how a Lean Promotion Office of 11 people supports a Lean management system for 35,000 associates. The approach relies on developing leaders as problem-solving coaches and on connecting daily huddles and frontline KPIs to what the organization measures. Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #548 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Emily Swaney, Vice President of Operational Excellence […]

The post A Lean Management System That Doesn’t Depend on the Lean Team — Emily Swaney, OhioHealth by Mark Graban appeared first at Lean Blog by Mark Graban.