This week The Management Brief presents a podcast with Josh Howell, LEI President, and Mark Reich, LEI Chief Engineer, Strategy. They discuss Mark’s 30-plus years working with hoshin kanri — two decades at Toyota and then coaching executives while with LEI — and the impact that the strategic planning and execution process has had on Toyota and the many companies with which Mark has supported.

You’ll hear how hoshin kanri helped Toyota establish self-reliant North American operations, which required commitment from top leaders outside of Japan establishing a vision and engaging and developing management amid a period of rapid growth. Mark also describes how companies beyond Toyota —  even those without historically strong management and a culture of problem-solving and collaboration — have been able to establish these corporate traits while they’re defining strategic objectives and taking actions to achieve them.

To learn more about hoshin kanri and how to deploy the process in your company, be sure to also read Mark’s upcoming book, Managing on Purpose.

In this edition of The Management Brief, Mark Reich sits down with Isao Yoshino, a 40-year veteran of Toyota and a driving force behind the company’s success with hoshin kanri. Yoshino shares the impact that hoshin kanri and A3 problem-solving has had on him professionally and personally.

Key takeaways include:

· Multiple roles over four decades at Toyota shaped Yoshino’s management beliefs and career.

· Yoshino discusses working directly with Mikio Sugiura, who was instrumental in developing Toyota’s hoshin kanri process.

· Hoshin kanri can positively impact a company as it has Toyota, notes Yoshino, but it’s not without a few challenges.

· Delivering bad news first and an earnest desire to learn from failures were commonplace for Yoshino and Toyota executives and fostered the improvement mindset that still thrives in the company today.

In this episode of the WLEI podcast, we sit down with Mark Dolsen, President of TRQSS, a seat belt manufacturer that supplies Toyota and other automakers in North America. Mark shares insights into TRQSS's lean journey and the critical role of frontline supervisors in driving continuous improvement. 

Key takeaways include: 

In this edition of The Management Brief, Mark Reich sits down with Geoff Miller, CEO of Grand Rapids Chair, to discuss his company's lean transformation journey. Geoff shares how the adoption of hoshin kanri and A3 problem-solving has helped the company maintain strategic focus and build organizational capability. Geoff offers a candid reflection on his leadership transformation, underscoring the importance of perseverance and continuous learning, even in the face of significant disruption. 

Key takeaways include:

In this edition of The Management Brief, LEI President Josh Howell sat down with Charlie Murphy, Senior Vice President at Turner Construction, to discuss the company's remarkable lean transformation journey. Charlie shares how the organization leveraged core lean principles and practices to drive a dramatic improvement in safety performance and build a culture of continuous improvement.

Key takeaways include: 

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In the latest edition of the Design Brief, we sit down with Jay Hill, the Vice President of Advanced Technology at GE Healthcare, to discuss the company's approach to product development in the complex healthcare technology space.  

Jay offers insights into:  

In the latest issue of The Management Brief, host Mark Reich sits down with Marcia Brey, the Vice President of Logistics at GE Appliances.

Marcia shares her extensive career journey at GE Appliances, spanning roles in design, customer service, distribution, quality, and eventually leading the company's lean enterprise transformation. 

Key points discussed include:

Marcia's initial exposure to lean principles like value-stream mapping and kaizen events while leading the warehouse network.

Her transition to plant manager of a complex refrigeration factory and the importance of daily management and engaging the team to solve problems.

The creation of GE Appliances' lean enterprise team in 2016 to implement new processes and drive strategic alignment using hoshin kanri.

How hoshin kanri is used to cascade objectives, enable cross-functional collaboration, and develop leadership skills through reflection.

Marcia's advice for leaders struggling to implement strategy and daily management systems, emphasizing the need to start somewhere and continuously improve.

Her current role in logistics and the opportunities to further explore customer problems and strengthen the value stream by breaking down traditional organizational boundaries.

In this episode of the WLEI Podcast, we're joined by Dr. Carlos Frederico Pinto (aka Dr. Fred), a medical oncologist with over 30 years of experience leading transformative changes in cancer care. Dr. Pinto shares insights on using lean thinking to dramatically improve patient outcomes and access to care.

Some highlights from the conversation include:

• How redesigning patient pathways allowed breast cancer patients to receive all necessary tests and treatments in a single visit. 

In this episode of the WLEI Podcast, we sit down with Jose Ferro, the founder of the Lean Institute Brasil and co-author of LEI's new book Daily Management to Execute Strategy: Solving problems and developing people every day. José shares his insights on how companies can effectively connect their high-level strategy to frontline operations and the importance of developing a problem-solving culture. 

Some key takeaways from the conversation include:

Daily management is a structured process to align an organization's strategy with its day-to-day work.

Solving problems at the operational level is fundamental to an effective daily management system and developing people.

Leader behavior can enable effective problem-solving and destroy effective problem-solving.

A clearly defined help chain connects frontline daily management to managerial-level daily management and provides systematic support to frontline operations.

The approach to implementing daily management should be tailored to each organization's specific needs and context.

Order your copy of Daily Management to Execute Strategy: https://www.lean.org/store/book/daily-management-to-execute-strategy-solving-problems-and-developing-people-every-day/

Discounts up to 20% off are available for large orders.

In this episode of the WLEI podcast, we speak with Karen Khachikyan, CEO of Expper Technologies, and Mineh Badmagharian, the clinical and product development leader. They shared the remarkable story behind Robin, a robot designed to provide emotional support and comfort to pediatric and geriatric patients in hospitals and care facilities.  

What stood out most was the team's relentless focus on truly understanding their end users - the children, seniors, and medical staff who interact with Robin. Insights from the discussion include: 

• The importance of understanding your customer. The team spent years carefully observing how children reacted to different iterations of Robin, refining details like the robot's age and favorite animal to create a personality kids would love. 

• Integrating the technical and clinical needs. The two teams weren’t always aligned, but they found creative solutions by keeping the user experience as the north star.  

• Understanding the human element of robotics. - Perhaps most inspiring was the team's deep personal connection to Robin, treating it as a beloved member of the family, a sentiment shared by nurses and patients with access to a Robin. 

Before listening, check out videos of Robin in action.

• https://youtu.be/FwZuUkjoj4M