Giving Thanks for Lean, Kaizen, and Improvement (& A New Chapter from Paul Akers)

Thursday is the American holiday of Thanksgiving, so I'm going to take the rest of the week off (and many of you will be out of the office).

The end of the year is a time to reflect. Paul Akers is the latest person to reflect on their early days of Lean practice by contributing a new chapter to our charity eBook Practicing Lean. I'm thankful for him and others who are sharing their stories.

I'm thankful for the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation and the important work they do, which is why proceeds from Practicing Lean are being donated to them. I'm thankful for the 99 readers/buyers (as of yesterday) that we have so far. I'm also thankful for everybody else who is fighting hard for patient safety (like Chris Jerry and also Leapfrog Group).

I'm also thankful for those who advocate for patients, such as e-Patient Dave.

I'm thankful for my Healthcare Kaizen co-author Joe Swartz, for collaborating with me and for being a great guy.

I'm thankful for all of you taking time to read my little blog here. I recently passed a threshold of 4 million total page views since I launched the site in 2005, as this chart shows:

#VanityMetric – Over 4,000,000 lifetime page views on https://t.co/V1KoMImrby. Thanks everyone! pic.twitter.com/X87KCshzRG

— Mark Graban (@MarkGraban) November 23, 2015

I'm thankful for everybody who cares so much and is working so hard to improve the way healthcare is delivered. I'm thankful for the healthcare professionals who jump through hoops (even though they shouldn't have to) because they care so much about their patients and I'm thankful for healthcare professionals who help fix our broken systems and processes.

I'm thankful for my wife, and my in-laws, and my parents coming to visit all of us today for Thanksgiving week.

What do you give thanks for in 2015? What's your favorite story or reflection from the year? Please leave a comment and share what you think.

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Check out my latest book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation: