Enter for your chance to win a copy of BARRY O’REILLY’s new book ARTIFICIAL ORGANIZATIONS.

Tag: Katie Anderson

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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »

The ROI of Elevating Strategic Positioning & Messaging for Lean Consultants

Episode 54 – Recently I joined my friend and business coach Betsy Jordyn for not just one, but two conversations, about positioning for impact as a consultant, coach, or lean practitioner. Betsy and I met at a retreat hosted by Carol Cox in 2022 and she has been working with me behind the scenes of my business since then to help me continue to uplevel my own clarity of positioning and branding.

Read More »

Rediscover Ikigai: What it Really Means for Your Leadership and Your Life Purpose with Nicolas Kemp

Episode 53 – Ikigai is one of the hottest buzzwords in leadership and personal development. When you think of ikigai, what do you envision? Is it the popular Venn diagram that claims to help you find your purpose by identifying “the sweet spot” where what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for overlap? The problem? That’s not ikigai at all. 

Read More »
What We Love About Lean and Operational Excellence — And Our #1 Frustration

What You Love About Lean and Operational Excellence — And Your #1 Frustration: How to Get Executive Buy-in

Episode 52 – What’s the #1 frustration most lean and continuous improvement practitioners face? It’s something that I bet you’ve felt too, no matter how passionate you are about the work, no matter what you call it: lean, agile, continuous improvement, operational excellence, or DevOps. Too often, we struggle to clearly explain what we actually do as CI change leaders and why it matters. 

Read More »
Ep49 - Shift Your Mindset, Shift Your Impact 3 Reframes for Positive Leadership

Shift Your Mindset, Shift Your Impact: 3 Reframes for Positive Leadership

Episode 49 – When you encounter challenges or setbacks, and it feels like things just aren’t going your way, it’s easy to get caught into a downward negative spiral. But could simple mindset shifts change not just how you feel, but how you move forward and influence those around you with positive momentum? In this episode, I’m sharing three powerful reframes that have helped me reset, regain perspective, and move through challenges with intention and empowerment.

Read More »

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.