A question came in from a blog reader — simple question with no simple or easy answers:
Who are the Lean Thinking CEOs?
My first thought is Amazon's Jeff Bezos, for his famous customer obsession and belief in long-term thinking (as shown in this good video that's been all over the lean blogosphere, including the LSS Academy). I heard recently that Bezos actually participated first hand in a kaizen event, which is pretty momentous for a CEO to do.
Who else is there in the large Fortune 500 space? Is it more likely to find a “lean CEO” in a smaller, private, or family business?
There are lean thinking healthcare CEOs:
- Gary Kaplan, Virginia Mason Medical Center
- John Toussaint, ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value
- Paul Levy, Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center
- Fred Slunecka, Avera McKennan
Who else would you add to the list, for any industry? Create a blog comment or I've asked people to post on twitter under the hash tag #leanCEO.
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Scott Armstrong of Group Health is making a decent go of it.
Larry Culp at Danaher.
I nominate Cincinnati Children's Hospital CEO Jim Anderson. He has focused on using lean principles from the likes of Toyota and many other MFG companies and the results have been spectacular. Steve Kayser
These managers have elements of lean:
B.D. Jellison of Roper Ind.
Dave Roberts of Carlisle Cos
Bruce Flatt of Brookfield Asset Mgm
Richard George of Suncor
Mark Papa of EOG Res
Robert Livingston of Dover Corp
Bezos is well-known for being a strong proponent of Lean Thinking as shown here and here.
Suggestions from Twitter (search #leanCEO):
– Gary Kaplan CEO of Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle
– Terry Leahy, Tesco
– Alan Mullaly, Ford
– Les Cross of DJO
– Akio Toyoda, Toyota
And one person said:
trying to think of lean ceo's to answer the twitter from Mark Graban's #leanceo, but can't think of anyone i'm sure of
Dover has Robert A. Livingston
Illinois Tool Works has David B. Speer
USG has William C. Foote
Suncor has Richard L. George
Sears has Eddie Lampert.