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Reimagining the Restaurant Industry in a Post-COVID-19 World

The impact of COVID-19 has proven how ill-prepared we are to deal with crises. It’s time for hospitality businesses like restaurants to rethink how we…

by Richard Vellante

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Short Stories and Quick Kaizens

Lean coach Danielle Blais continues to see opportunities for lean thinking just about everywhere she goes.

by Danielle McGuiness

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Developing PDSA Capabilities

Improvement kata and A3 management have become popular ways for developing and practicing plan-do-study (or check)-act capabilities. What’s the connection between them? When do you…

by Karen Martin

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Transforming Your Organization with Lean Thinking and Practices

This brief animation offers a guide to the five fundamental equations that help lean practitioners understand — and execute — a lean transformation.

by John Shook

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Why Social Entrepreneurship is Dead

Despite all the hype, entrepreneur Nathan Rothstein (of Project Repat) believes social entrepreneurship is dead. Read what he recommends for those of us looking to…

by Nathan Rothstein

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Do we need more research to understand what works and what doesn’t when implementing lean healthcare?

Dear Gemba Coach: There are controversies over whether lean/TPS works in healthcare or not. Authorities in lean practice suggest conducting research that compares outcomes with…

by Michael Ballé

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Toyota the Disrupter

Toyota may not be the first company you think of for disruptive product and process development, but perhaps they should be, argues Jim Morgan. The…

by James Morgan, PhD

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How Teaming Produces Execution-as-Learning

Amy C. Edmonson, Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, shares a concept she calls "teaming", a way of working that brings…

by Amy C. Edmondson

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Bridging Two Lean Communities

Two very different lean communities came together when Eric Ries and LEI's John Shook participated in the Lean Startup pre-conference webcast, "Putting the Lean in…

by Lex Schroeder

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Catchball Helps Us Get Past We Versus They

When employees dread going to work every day, your company loses. Read what Tracey Richardson has to say about boosting workplace morale.

by Tracey Richardson

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A Humble Conversation

For the past two years, John Shook and Edgar Schein have enjoyed the honor of engaging in an on-stage dialogue. The occasion? The Lean Healthcare…

by John Shook

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Is my new boss right that applying standardized work is the foundation of lean?

Dear Gemba Coach: My new boss is a lean fanatic crazy about standards. He’s created a new team to audit standards and is telling us…

by Michael Ballé

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Can lean management help with toxic managers?

Dear Gemba Coach: Can lean management help with toxic managers?

by Michael Ballé

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We meet daily to examine a new customer complaint. What do we do next?

Dear Gemba Coach: We’re a start-up and have taken your advice: we now have a customer wall and we meet daily to look into a…

by Michael Ballé

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What it Takes to Share One's Wisdom: A Q&A with Tracey Richardson

"When you make a decision to change the way you do business, it should hold you accountable for certain leadership actions – new [behaviors that…

by Lex Schroeder

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Creating New Value and a Lesson in Fundamentals

After a recent trip to Toyota's headquarters in Japan, Jim Morgan made an epiphany about the Toyota Production System and the fundamentals at its core.…

by James Morgan, PhD

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Step 1: Open Mouth, Step 2: Insert Foot

Joshua Rapoza, Customer Strategy Officer at LEI, reflects on whether working longer hours necessarily means more productivity and the power of our words in motivating…