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

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

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. 

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September 17, 2025 No Comments
Episode 50 Change the Culture NUMMI and the Power of Leading Through Influence, Not Authority with Isao Yoshino

Change the Culture: NUMMI and the Power of Leading Through Influence, Not Authority with Isao Yoshino

Episode 50 – Change the culture! That’s exactly what longtime Toyota leader Isao Yoshino was tasked with during one of the most famous business transformations in history—NUMMI—Toyota’s joint venture with General Motors in the 1980s. The challenge? Take GM’s worst-performing plant—plagued by absenteeism, low morale, and poor quality—and turn it aroun

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August 20, 2025 No Comments
Learn how to describe the purpose of the image

Make Leadership Meaningful: From Tools to Purposeful Impact with Josef Procházka

Episode 48 – You’re implementing the tools. Making the improvements. Delivering the project results. But the same problems keep resurfacing and you’re left wondering: What’s missing? In this episode of Chain of Learning, Josef Procházka, a lean consultant from the Czech Republic, shares his personal journey of transformation—from frustrated practitioner to heart-led coach—and the impact his shift in approach to consulting has had for his clients and for himself.

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July 23, 2025 No Comments
43 Cultivating Human-Centered Leadership Japanese Management Masterclass Part 2

Cultivating Human-Centered Leadership: Japanese Management Masterclass Part 2 with Tim Wolput

Episode 43 – What’s the real purpose behind the Japanese management practices fueling Lean and Agile—like kata, obeya, and A3 reports? These practices with a prescribed format or template without understanding the purpose and intention that make them successful. In this episode, we’re picking up on my conversation with Tim Wolput, Japanologist, Toyota Way management expert, and former World Aikido Champion, in Part 2 of this masterclass on Japanese culture and leadership.

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May 14, 2025 No Comments
42 Doing the Right Thing Japanese Management Masterclass Part 1

Do the Right Thing: Japanese Management Masterclass Part 1 with Tim Wolput

Episode 42 – YHow much of the Toyota Way is dependent on Japanese culture? And how much of it all comes down to… being human? There are questions I’ve explored with over 130 global leaders who’ve joined my Japan Leadership Experience programs. And to help you answer the question too, I’ve invited Tim Wolput – Japanologist and Toyota Way Management expert, to Chain of Learning.

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April 30, 2025 No Comments
38 What’s the Future of Lean with James Womack

What’s the Future of Lean? with James Womack

Episode 38 – What have we really learned after four decades of lean? Is lean thinking still relevant today? And importantly — what needs to change to ensure its future success? In the previous episode, I sat down with James Womack, founder of the Lean Enterprise Institute, to look back on 40 years of lean thinking and management since the publication of The Machine That Changed the World.

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March 5, 2025 No Comments
Episode 37 - Lean Has Failed (or Has It_) with James Womack

Lean Has Failed (or Has It?) with James Womack

Episode 37 – “Lean has failed.” That’s the bold statement James Womack—founder of the Lean Enterprise Institute and MIT researcher whose team introduced the term “lean” to the world—made at a conference where we both recently spoke.

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February 19, 2025 No Comments

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