Lean Blog

The 8 Wastes of Lean: A Practical Guide (With Healthcare Examples)

Mark Graban — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 08:34:00 +0000

TL;DR: The eight wastes give you a lens for seeing problems — but Lean isn't a scavenger hunt for waste. The real work is understanding why waste exists and building systems where people feel safe enough to point it out. My friend and mentor Pascal Dennis, who worked at Toyota in Canada and has been a deeply thoughtful teacher of Lean principles, once said something that has stuck with me: Lean is not a “scavenger […]

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What Can a CI Director Do When Executives Undermine Psychological Safety?

Mark Graban — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:36:00 +0000

I get this question a lot. Some version of it comes up at nearly every conference Q&A, in coaching calls, and in emails from CI practitioners. Sometimes it's about an executive who blames people whenever something goes wrong. Sometimes it's about one who shuts down dissent, overreacts to bad news, or publicly criticizes people who surface problems. The specifics vary, but the core question is the same: “How do I influence a senior leader whose […]

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The “Safety Myth” That Almost Destroyed Half of Japan — And What It Has to Do With Your Organization

Mark Graban — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 21:03:54 +0000

I watched the HBO documentary “Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare” the other day. It's chilling. The film gives a detailed account of the nine days after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, focusing on the workers who risked their lives to prevent a total catastrophe at the Daiichi nuclear plant. The footage and firsthand testimonies are gripping. But what stayed with me wasn't the disaster itself. It was what came at the end. The trailer: The […]

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Lean Leadership: Why Asking Questions Is Harder Than Having All the Answers

Mark Graban — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 08:44:00 +0000

There's a moment every experienced leader knows. Someone brings you a problem, and you can see the answer before they finish the sentence. You've been in this situation before. You know what to do. And so you tell them. It feels great. Quick. Decisive. Helpful, even. You solved the problem. Everybody can move on. This is the opposite of what lean leadership asks you to do. Your brain agrees. When you provide an answer — […]

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Even Ohno’s Classic “5 Whys” Example Deserves Another Why

Mark Graban — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 08:20:00 +0000

Here's the most famous example of root cause analysis in the Lean world, from Taiichi Ohno's book on the Toyota Production System. You've seen it in training decks, conference talks, blog posts. I've shared it myself plenty of times. See if anything jumps out. Five whys. Clean, linear, satisfying. The strainer was missing, metal got in, the shaft wore out, the pump failed, the bearing seized, the fuse blew, the machine stopped. Case closed. Except […]

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Don’t Use AI to Automate a Bad Process — Including Performance Reviews

Mark Graban — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 08:52:00 +0000

Follow this workflow with me for a second: An employee uses AI to write a summary of their accomplishments. Their manager uses AI to evaluate that summary and generate an annual review. The employee reads the AI-generated review, nods thoughtfully, and creates their response using… AI. And then they both approve it, it gets logged into a system, and the file doesn't get opened until the employee gets fired, at which point a lawyer reads […]

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Remembering Kim Barnas: Lean Leader, Author, and Someone Who Did the Work

Mark Graban — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:36:27 +0000

I was saddened to learn that Kim Barnas passed away on January 3, 2026. She was 69. My deepest condolences go out to her family and the many colleagues and friends she influenced over the course of a remarkable career. I first met Kim when she was a senior vice president at ThedaCare, leading Appleton Medical Center and Theda Clark Hospital. She was one of those leaders who didn't just talk about Lean — she […]

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New Book: “Psychological Safety for Lean Leaders” — Now Available (In Progress) on Leanpub

Mark Graban — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 18:09:58 +0000

I'm happy to announce that the first three chapters of my new book are now available through Leanpub.com. The book is called Psychological Safety for Lean Leaders: Make It Safe to Speak Up, So Improvement Can Actually Happen. It's the first in a planned series of short, practical guides I'm calling “Lean Practice Guide.” If you've read my Shingo Award-winning book The Mistakes That Make Us, you might be wondering why I'm writing another book […]

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