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Hosted by Mark Graban · 🇺🇸 US · EN-US · 468 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
Lean Blog Audio is a short-form podcast featuring audio versions of articles from LeanBlog.org, written, read, and expanded by Mark Graban.Each episode explores practical Lean thinking, psychological safety, continuous improvement, and leadership—through real-world examples from healthcare, manufacturing, startups, and other complex work environments.Topics include learning from mistakes, reducing fear and blame, improving systems, and using data thoughtfully through tools like Process Behavior Charts. Episodes often go beyond the original blog post, adding fresh context and reflections.
Mark Graban hosts Lean Blog Audio: Practical Lean Thinking, Psychological Safety, and Continuous Improvement, a business show with 468 episodes published.
What does it really mean when a problem “comes back” after a team thought it had been solved? In this episode, Mark Graban reads his article, “We Thought We Solved That: The Art and Judgment Calls in the PDSA Cycle.” He
A construction worker named Sean Dow was working on the 22nd floor of Pfizer’s former Manhattan headquarters, a massive office building now being converted into residential apartments with additional floors being added.
A title change is not a culture change. In this episode, Mark Graban draws on his early experience at GM in the mid-1990s — where "foreman" became "team coordinator" overnight without anything else changing — to explore
Blog post with links Three years ago, The Mistakes That Make Us came out. Around the same time, Elisabeth Swan published Picture Yourself a Leader . Both books' third birthdays felt like a decent reason to get together a
Most AI tools answer your question with a 500-word essay full of numbered steps. You nod, close the tab, and carry on doing what you were already doing. The Lean Hospitals Coach is built around the opposite instinct -- a
Read the blog post TL;DR: A sound check, live song requests, and a naming regret — what watching Brandi Carlile perform taught me about specific problem-solving, vulnerability, and continuous improvement. My wife and I g
The blog post TL;DR: Deming and Toyota's Fujio Cho asked the same uncomfortable question: why do management systems destroy motivation in people who started out wanting to do good work? The answer points to practices lea
Read the blog post TL;DR: In a 1993 speech, Toyota leader Fujio Cho said organizations can create their own Lean systems, but success depends on three principles: leaders going to the gemba, asking “why” to learn from pr
The blog post What if a book could become an interactive coach instead of a static reference? In this episode, Mark Graban shares a behind-the-scenes look at his experiment turning the award-winning book Lean Hospitals i
The blog post In this episode, I explore the 1987 NUMMI Management Practices Executive Summary — a confidential General Motors report that documented why the joint venture between GM and Toyota was succeeding so dramatic
The blog post In this audio version of the post, Mark Graban reflects on a rare kind of CEO message—one that treats safety not as a compliance checkbox or slogan, but as a core leadership responsibility and a living exam
In this episode, Mark Graban reads and reflects on his LeanBlog.org post, “When a CEO Talks About the Work: Larry Culp, GE Aerospace, and Real Lean Leadership.” The post examines a rare example of a Fortune 50 CEO—Larry
The blog post Many improvement efforts stall not because of poor strategy or missing Lean tools, but because people don’t feel safe speaking up. In this Lean Blog Audio episode, Mark Graban explains why psychological saf
The blog post When Ford and UAW leaders traveled to Japan in 1981, they expected to find better machines, tighter processes, and technical secrets. What they found instead was something far more powerful: a management sy
The Blog Post Twenty years after Toyota Culture was published, Jeffrey Liker’s lessons still expose why so many Lean efforts stall — and why Toyota’s thinking continues to matter in 2026. In this episode, Mark revisits a
The blog post How should organizations think about using AI in Kaizen and continuous improvement? In this AudioBlog, Mark Graban argues that there are no clear answers yet—and that uncertainty is exactly why AI should be
the blog post Why do Lean practices like pull systems and heijunka fail to take hold in so many organizations? In this AudioBlog, Mark Graban argues that the problem isn’t the tools—it’s how Lean is applied. Too often, o
The blog post In this Lean Blog Audio episode, Mark Graban reflects on an unexpected leadership lesson learned on the pickleball court. As a beginner unlearning decades-old tennis habits, Mark experiences firsthand how e
The blog post In this episode, Mark reflects on a visit he made twenty years ago to the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California — the Toyota-GM joint venture that became legendary in Lean circles. What stayed with him wasn’t
The blog post Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson once joked that his incredible physical transformation came from one simple routine: working out six hours a day, every day, for twenty years. In this episode, Mark explores why th
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Lean Blog Audio: Practical Lean Thinking, Psychological Safety, and Continuous Improvement is hosted by Mark Graban. The show is categorised under business and has published 468 episodes.
Lean Blog Audio: Practical Lean Thinking, Psychological Safety, and Continuous Improvement has published 468 episodes.
Lean Blog Audio: Practical Lean Thinking, Psychological Safety, and Continuous Improvement regularly covers business. It sits in the business category.
Lean Blog Audio: Practical Lean Thinking, Psychological Safety, and Continuous Improvement is accessible for guests with genuine business expertise. A personalised, episode-aware pitch will still outperform a generic one every time.
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Episodes of Lean Blog Audio: Practical Lean Thinking, Psychological Safety, and Continuous Improvement average 11 minutes. a focused format where a clear narrative arc and tight preparation matter most.
Our data rates Lean Blog Audio: Practical Lean Thinking, Psychological Safety, and Continuous Improvement's guest bar at 80/100 (Premium tier). Established thought leaders with verified media credentials. Sign in to PitchCentric to see how your own Pod Score compares against this show.
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