Take my new FREE Change Katalyst™ self-assessment now to fast-track your change leadership effectiveness!

Enter for your chance to win a copy of MELISA BUIE & KEELEY HURLEY’s new book FACEPLANT.
Let's Connect

Category: Lean

Search
EP65 - From Learning to Impact Turn Insight into Leadership Action

From Learning to Impact: Turn Insight into Leadership Action

Episode 65 – Learning is rarely the problem. Most change leaders and improvement practitioners I work with are deeply committed to learning. They’re curious. They invest in themselves. They read widely, listen carefully, and seek out experiences that stretch how they think and lead. But over time, something subtle can happen. Learning keeps accumulating—ideas, insights, frameworks—while the distance between what we know and how we actually show up at work slowly grows. Instead of creating momentum, learning can start to feel heavy.

Read More »
February 4, 2026 No Comments
EP 64 - Stop Doing Transformation—and Start Enabling It Redefine Your Role as a Change Leader

Stop Doing Transformation—and Start Enabling It: Redefine Your Role as a Change Leader with Jill Forrester

Episode 64 – What if the reason leading your organization’s transformation feels heavy isn’t the work itself—but how you’re showing up as a change leader? If you’re a change leader, continuous improvement professional, or internal consultant, this tension may feel all too familiar. You’re helping. You’re busy. You’re delivering results. And over time, you find yourself wearing every hat—facilitator, teacher, problem-solver, checker—often all at once.

Read More »
January 21, 2026 No Comments
EP 63 - Close the Sustainability Execution Gap How Leaders Turn Intent into Action

Close the Sustainability Execution Gap: How Leaders Turn Intent into Action with Rose Heathcote

Episode 63 – When organizations talk about sustainability, good intentions are rarely the problem. Execution is. For many leaders, sustainability still gets reduced to end-of-the-line solutions—like recycling—rather than addressed as a deeper leadership and systems challenge. …And that’s where so many efforts stall: in the gap between what organizations say matters and what actually shows up in daily work, decisions, and priorities. In this episode of Chain of Learning, I’m joined by Rose Heathcote, sustainability expert, Lean adviser, and author, for a conversation that reframes sustainability as a transformation challenge—one that looks strikingly similar to Lean transformations, strategy deployment, and culture change.

Read More »
January 7, 2026 No Comments
EP62 - Remove the Muda to Reveal the Buddha Turning Life’s Weight Into Wisdom

Remove the Muda to Reveal the Buddha: Turning Life’s Weight Into Wisdom

Episode 62 – What if the weight you’re carrying isn’t holding you back—but pointing you forward? So many of us move through our days carrying more than we realize: unfinished goals, unmet expectations, family pressures, and the constant mental noise of what still needs our attention. In this episode of Chain of Learning, I share a Zen teaching that has stayed with me long after hearing it from a priest in Japan following a Zazen meditation—and one that has deeply resonated with leaders who’ve joined me on the Japan Leadership Experience.

Read More »
December 23, 2025 No Comments
EP 61 - Reflections from the Japan Leadership Experience Live from Tokyo with Nick Kemp

Reflections from the Japan Leadership Experience: Live from Tokyo with Nick Kemp

Episode 61 – Have you ever stepped outside your daily routine and suddenly seen your work—or yourself—with new clarity? Often the most meaningful leadership breakthroughs don’t happen when we push harder… They happen when we pause, step away, and enter a space that invites reflection, curiosity, and genuine human connection. In this bonus episode—recorded live in Tokyo the morning after Cohort 8 of my Japan Leadership Experience wrapped up—I sit down with Ikigai expert and past Chain of Learning guest Nick Kemp.

Read More »
December 17, 2025 No Comments
EP 60-Bounce Back From a Faceplant How to Flip the Script on Failure with Melisa Buie and Keeley Hurley

Bounce Back From a Faceplant: How to Flip the Script on Failure with Melisa Buie and Keeley Hurley

Episode 60 – We’ve all had that moment when something falls apart. The project that slips away, the meeting that derails, the opportunity that doesn’t materialize. We tend to call these moments “failure,” yet the real obstacle is rarely the misstep itself. It’s the emotional aftermath—the worry, the disappointment, the doubt—that keeps us from moving forward.

Read More »
December 10, 2025 No Comments
Japan Leadership Experience November 2025 Highlight

Japan Leadership Experience Highlights: November 2025

What is an immersive lean leadership Japan tour all about? For the leaders who join my Japan Leadership Experience, it’s much more than learning the technical side of lean and operational excellence. It’s a journey of leadership and exploring the essence of respect for people: “holding precious what it means to be human.”

My Japan Leadership Experience is unlike any traditional study tour. It’s an immersive journey into the heart of lean, the essence of people-centered leadership, and the cultural practices that make Japan a living classroom for learning and transformation.

Read More »
December 1, 2025 No Comments
EP 59 - Get Better at Getting Better Leveraging AI to Elevate Human Learning

Get Better at Getting Better: Leveraging AI to Elevate Human Learning with Nathen Harvey

Episode 59 – AI is everywhere. And its use and capabilities are accelerating every day. But is AI actually helping us get better at getting better? Or is it just amplifying the friction, bottlenecks, and complexity that already exists in our workflows and processes? In this episode, Nathen Harvey, leader of the DORA Research team at Google, explores how AI is reshaping not just how we work, but how we can use it to elevate human work, collaborate as teams, and reach better outcomes.

Read More »
November 26, 2025 No Comments

Leading to Learn®: Become a Katalyst™ for Continuous Learning — Keynote on Intentional Leadership

Thriving in today’s world requires more than tools or tactics; it demands a culture of continuous learning, grounded in scientific thinking and deep respect for people. In my keynote, Leading to Learn®: Become a Katalyst™ for Continuous Learning,  I share how you can become a Katalyst™—a change leader who accelerates learning as the engine for improvement and transformation.

Read More »
November 24, 2025 No Comments
EP56 - Slow Down to Speed Up The Power of the Pause to Accelerate Continuous Learning

Slow Down to Speed Up: The Power of the Pause to Accelerate Continuous Learning

Episode 56 – Do you find yourself racing from meeting to meeting, rushing through tasks, or filling every silence with your own voice? In our doing-oriented culture, pausing feels uncomfortable—even counterproductive. Yet left unchecked, our instinct for action and answers can limit learning, development, and innovation. In this episode, I explore the power of the pause and why mastering it may be one of the most transformative leadership habits you can develop.

Read More »
October 29, 2025 No Comments

Take my FREE Change Katalyst™ self-assessment now!

Sign up today to get a free copy of the Take my FREE Change Katalyst™ self-assessment.

Get your own copy of the 4-Box Problem-Solving Tool

Sign up today to get a free copy of the 4-box problem-solving tool.

Download My Plan-Do-Check-Adjust Framework

Get the Create a Life Tapestry Art Project Instructions

Enter your email to get access to the life tapestry instructions.

How to Ask Effective Questions

All newsletter subscribers get a copy of Isao Yoshino’s tips on “How to Ask Effective Questions” from our joint session on asking effective questions. Sign up here!

Download a PDF of the article "If You Think Lean is Inherently Japanese, Think Again"

Sign up below and receive a PDF of the article I wrote for Planet Lean “If You Think Lean is Inherently Japanese, Think Again”!

Get Personal Improvement A3 Coaching Tips!

Develop your coaching skills to develop others. Download the Personal Improvement A3 Coaching guide!

Start living and leading with intention today!

Do you want improve yourself as a leader, coach or learner? Getting started with an intentional practice of daily reflection can accelerate your learning. Enter your email address below to download the Daily Reflection Template.

Isao Yoshino’s Leadership Credo

Sign up here and get your copy of Isao Yoshino’s leadership credo!

Learning to Lead Leading to Learn Book

Top 10 Toyota Leadership Lessons

Receive a PDF of the first top 10 leadership lessons and insights that I learned from Mr. Isao Yoshino, a leader at Toyota for over 40 years. These lessons and more inspired us to create the bestselling book “Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn.”

Learning to Lead Leading to Learn Book

Access the Book Bonus Resources

Get the downloadable bonus material and additional resources referenced throughout the book. By sharing your information, you will receive access to all the bonus resources — as well as new resources as they become available.