Episode page with video, transcript and more

Joining us for Episode #470 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Gary Michel.

He was Chairman and CEO of JELD-WEN, Inc. until August 2022 and, just after that, I saw him give an outstanding keynote talk at the AME annual conference in Dallas.

Gary was previously President and CEO of Honeywell Home and Building Technologies (HBT) and President and CEO of ClubCar. He also led the Trane HVAC business, among other executive roles.

He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.

His book, Decomplify: How Simplicity Drives Stability, Innovation, and Transformation, will be available later this year.

In this episode, Gary discusses his Lean origin story and how he views and drives Lean as a CEO. He reflects on the importance of strategy deployment and Lean as an enterprise approach, and shares his approach to Lean problem solving as a CEO. Gary emphasizes the impact of taking a “fresh eyes” approach to Gemba walks, and talks about the importance of being inquisitive and taking responsibility for simplifying processes (or “decomplifying” them).

• What's your Lean origin story?

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in its 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.