Most companies chasing a big growth target are solving the wrong problem. And the real constraint is usually hiding in plain sight.

In this episode of KPI Fireside, host Keith Norris sits down with John Hetherington, founder of We Deliver Your Vision and a process optimization consultant with more than 25 years of experience helping CFOs and COOs turn ambitious boardroom targets into measurable operational results. John started his career at Deloitte and Ernst and Young, leading large-scale finance transformation programs before building his own firm around one simple idea: find the single constraint holding your operation back, remove it, and prove the business result actually improved.

🔻 Why the first thing a company thinks is broken almost never is the real constraint

🔻 Why automating a bad process with AI just helps you fail faster at larger scale

🔻 How to use three metrics instead of ten to actually hit your growth target

🔻 How to apply the three R's to decide whether a process is actually ready for AI

🔻 Why asking "how are you feeling about this?" is one of the most powerful questions in operations

🔻 How to manage AI like a new hire instead of handing it the keys to everything at once

💬 Comment "flow" on this episode to receive John's free five-step production flow framework for assessing your constraint and growth targets.

🔗 Connect with John Hetherington on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhetherington1/

🌐 Learn more at We Deliver Your Vision: https://www.wedeliveryourvision.com/

🎥 Watch John on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JohnHetherington.channel

🔗 Learn more about KPI Fire: https://www.kpifire.com/

🎙 Hosted by Keith Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithnorris/

What can a steel shipping container teach us about artificial intelligence? More than you would think.

In this episode of KPI Fireside, host Keith Norris sits down with Marc Levinson, historian, economist, and author of The Box, the definitive history of the shipping container. Marc formerly served as finance and economics editor at The Economist, an economist at JP Morgan Chase, and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

🔻 Why standardization is the hardest problem in any major innovation and how the container finally solved it

🔻 How a single change in how goods move can hollow out entire cities and create entirely new industries in places nobody expected

🔻 What Malcolm McLean's biggest wins and biggest losses teach us about betting on new technology

🔻 How to think about the jobs AI will displace before assuming everyone will simply adjust

🔻 Why the countries that handled the shift best had one thing in common that the US largely did not

🔻 What individuals working in disrupted industries can do right now to stay ahead of the wave

🔗 Learn more about Marc Levinson and his books: https://www.marclevinson.net/

🔗 Learn more about KPI Fire: https://www.kpifire.com/

🎙 Hosted by Keith Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithnorris/

The fires showing up in your business every week are not bad luck. They are a signal that something in your operations is broken underneath the surface.

In this episode of KPI Fireside, host Keith Norris sits down with Jhana Li, founder of Spyglass Ops, a firm that has pioneered the operator placement model, embedding a fractional COO directly into a business while the search for a permanent hire is underway. Jhana has been a COO for two startups, an operations coach for hundreds of founders, and has built one of the most practical and no-nonsense frameworks for how growing companies should think about the operations function, from the first ops hire all the way through to a fully scaled team.

🔻 Why every recurring fire in your business is data, not a crisis, and what it is actually telling you

🔻 How to know whether an operations problem is a systems issue or a people issue

🔻 Why managing to outcomes instead of inputs is what unlocks real team autonomy and AI adoption

🔻 How to build a job scorecard that works for hiring, onboarding, and performance all at once

🔻 Why really good operations looks like nothing and how to advocate for it anyway

🔻 How to tell the difference between an ops manager, a director of ops, and a COO so you hire the right level

🔻 Why AI layered onto broken systems just helps you sprint faster in the wrong direction

🔻 How to democratize SOP ownership so documentation never falls behind again

🔗 Connect with Jhana Li on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhana-li/

🎥 Follow Jhana on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theJhanaLi

📱 Follow Jhana on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejhanali/

🔗 Learn more about Spyglass Ops: https://bit.ly/4ftmOFR

🔗 Learn more about KPI Fire: https://www.kpifire.com/

🎙 Hosted by Keith Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithnorris/

Most leaders blame the person. The real problem is almost always the system.

In this episode of KPI Fireside, host Keith Norris sits down with Matt Yearsley, founder of Operational Excellence Advisors and a manufacturing and operations leader with more than 25 years of experience. Matt helps growing companies move beyond firefighting by building the systems, standards, and people development practices that let good employees actually succeed.

🔻 Why "hold them accountable" is meaningless without a documented standard to point to

🔻 How to know in three questions whether a failure belongs to the employee or to you as a leader

🔻 How to use a one-on-one to keep standards alive instead of letting them collect dust on a shelf

🔻 How to turn a chronic complainer or a troublemaker into your best problem solver

🔻 Why busy is not the same as productive, and how to tell the difference

🔻 How to define what winning looks like for jobs where success is hard to measure

🔗 Connect with Matt Yearsley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-yearsley-0317b0/

🔗 Learn more about Operational Excellence Advisors: https://www.opex-advisors.com/

🔗 Learn more about KPI Fire: https://www.kpifire.com/

🎙 Hosted by Keith Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithnorris/

What does it actually look like inside Toyota, and why do so many companies get lean so wrong when they try to follow it?

In this episode of KPI Fireside, host Keith Norris sits down with Darril Wilburn, senior partner at Honsha and a respected teacher, coach, and thought leader in lean leadership and the Toyota Way. He is co-author of the upcoming book Courage, Humility, Kaizen: The Leadership DNA of The Toyota Way.

🔻 Why 5S without connecting it to the work almost always fades within a year

🔻 What Western leaders get wrong when they try to adopt the Toyota Way

🔻 How Nemawashi is about preparing the soil, not just getting buy-in

🔻 How to tell the story of your CI function

🔻 Why great organizations put work to people instead of people to work

🔗 Connect with Darril Wilburn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrilwilburn/

🔗 Learn more at Darril's website: https://www.darrilwilburn.com/

🔗 Learn more about Honcha: https://honsha.org/

🔗 Learn more about KPI Fire: https://www.kpifire.com/

🎙 Hosted by Keith Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithnorris/

What if the biggest obstacle to fixing your business isn't the problem itself, but the way you're talking about it?

In this episode of KPI Fireside, host Keith Norris sits down with Lee Campe, Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, consultant, educator, and U.S. Army Ranger School graduate. With over 10,000 people trained across industries, Lee makes the case that Lean Six Sigma is not a quality program or a variation reduction tool. It is structured problem solving, and everyone from machine operators to senior executives can use it.

🔻 Why Lean Six Sigma is problem solving first and process improvement second

🔻 Why executives jump to solutions and root causes before they even define the problem

🔻 The difference between hard and soft savings and why it matters for project credibility

🔻 How to tell if your X's actually predict your Y's before spending millions on the wrong fix

🔻 Why the art of storytelling is the most underrated skill in continuous improvement

🔻 How to use the define, measure, analyze, improve, and control phases to build a narrative that moves leadership to act

🔗 Connect with Lee Campe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leecampe/

📘 Buy Lee's Book: 'Lean Six Sigma: Defined correctly': https://a.co/d/0fuTv7cB

🔗 Visit Lee's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@leecampe1407

🔗 Visit Lee's Website: www.leecampe.com

🔗 Learn more about KPI Fire: https://www.kpifire.com/

🎙 Hosted by Keith Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithnorris/

What if most of your communication breakdowns and personality conflicts aren't people problems at all?

In this episode of KPI Fireside, host Keith Norris sits down with Tom Foster, author, speaker, and longtime business coach to CEOs and senior leaders. Drawing on more than two decades of work with executive peer groups and 800+ deliveries of his organizational structure workshop, Tom makes the case that accountability starts with structure.

🔻 Why communication breakdowns and personality conflicts are almost always structural problems in disguise

🔻 The five organizational life cycle stages and the strategic focus that belongs to each one

🔻 Why delegation is not a time management tool but your most powerful mechanism for growing an organization

🔻 How levels of work and time span help you match the right people to the right decisions

🔻 Why breaking down silos is the wrong goal and what to do instead

🔻 Why hierarchy exists not for reporting but to bring value to problem solving and decision making

📘 Order Tom's Book, "Premeditated Culture": https://a.co/d/01ioDINF

🔗 Connect with Tom Foster: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fosterlearning/

🔗 Learn more about KPI Fire: https://www.kpifire.com/

🎙 Hosted by Keith Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithnorris/

Lean has always been about working smarter. AI might be its most powerful tool yet.

In this episode of KPI Fireside, host Keith Norris sits down with Jennifer Ralston and Tina Agustiady for a practical conversation on where AI and continuous improvement intersect. Jennifer is the CEO and Founder of HKPO and the HKPO Veterans Academy. Tina is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, author, educator, and respected continuous improvement leader. Together, they make the case that structured problem-solving skills are more relevant than ever in an AI-driven world.

🔻 Why AI makes belt programs more powerful, not less relevant

🔻 How AI helps practitioners break through analysis paralysis in DMAIC projects

🔻 Real-world AI use cases across healthcare, finance, and manufacturing

🔻 Why you need domain expertise to prompt AI effectively

🔻 How to build AI adoption into organizational strategy and policy

🔻 What Dr. Deming's "knowledge of knowledge" tells us about AI transparency

🔻 How Lean Six Sigma certifications are impacting hiring and career advancement

🔗 Connect with Tina Agustiady on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-agustiady/

🔗 Connect with Jennifer Ralston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeralston/

📘 Sign up for free Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Training for Veterans: https://gohkpo.com/training/

🎟️ Register now for the online Webinar "AI & Lean" on August 19th, 2026: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ai-lean-tickets-1990425638666

🔗 Learn more about KPI Fire: https://www.kpifire.com/

🎙 Hosted by Keith Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithnorris/

What if your company expected every single employee to submit improvement ideas within their first six months on the job?

In this episode of KPI Fireside, host Keith Norris sits down with John Garrett, who has spent the last 20 years as a Product Owner and Client Success Executive at 3M Health Information Systems, where he specializes in helping healthcare organizations and their customers get more value.

🔻 How 3M made CI part of every employee's job from day one

🔻 Why owning your forecast matters more than hitting it

🔻 How to build trust and drive change without direct authority

🔻 Why going on site beats every survey you'll ever send

🔻 The art of asking questions that get honest answers

🔗 Connect with John Garrett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-garrett-b8767047/

🔗 Learn more about KPI Fire: https://www.kpifire.com/

🎙 Hosted by Keith Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithnorris/

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and everywhere you get your podcasts.

What separates organizations where continuous improvement fades after a leadership change from those where it becomes part of the company's DNA?

In this episode of KPI Fireside, host Keith Norris welcomes back Darren Dolcemascolo, founder of EMS Consulting Group, for his second appearance on the show (first heard in Episode 31). With more than two decades of experience helping organizations improve operational performance through Lean Six Sigma, leadership development, and execution-focused consulting, Darren shares what it really takes to move beyond tools and improvement activity to build the operating discipline needed for measurable, sustainable results.

🔻 Why the terminology debate in Lean Six Sigma misses the point—and what actually matters

🔻 How leadership engagement (not lip service) determines whether improvement programs succeed or quietly die

🔻 Why CI teams are set up to fail when they own improvement instead of leadership owning it

🔻 How to structure a Green Belt program so it drives real ROI, not just completed coursework

🔻 What leader standard work is, why leaders should develop it themselves, and how to make it stick

🔻 Why Gemba walks matter—and what happens when leaders actually show up to where the work gets done

🔗 Connect with Darren Dolcemascolo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrendolcemascolo/

🔗 Visit EMS Consulting Group: https://www.emsstrategies.com/

🔗 Learn more about KPI Fire: https://www.kpifire.com/

🎙 Hosted by Keith Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithnorris/

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and everywhere you get your podcasts.