Tag: Customer Focus

I've blogged about this before, but I'm going back to the problems at Starbucks again with today's post. Starbucks has a new CEO who is...

tl;dr summary: Starbucks' mobile order system demonstrates significant variability both in the organization of pickup areas and in how beverages like the Nitro Cold...

I try not to use the word "Lean" as an adjective that means "better." We see this a lot online, the so-called "Lean boarding...

This is an interesting article: Inside Toyota's Takaoka #2 Line: The Most Flexible Line In The World I had a chance to visit the 'Takaoka #1"...

Thankfully, I'm relatively healthy. I have occasional doctor visits for a few minor conditions. Some visits go smoothly, but some (or most?) highlight...

It's said in the Lean methodology that "value is defined by the customer." Value can be defined as, in most cases, "Something the customer...

I posted an article on LinkedIn last week as a companion article and summary of my podcast with Dean Gruner, MD, the recently retired CEO of ThedaCare. That article: "A Retired Hospital CEO Shares the Employee Feedback That was 'A Bucket of Cold Water to the Face.'" There have been over 125 comments so far... but one has me scratching my head. It read: "I looked at deploying Lean within our PNO, and ultimately decided against it, in part for two reasons: because Lean is about doing the same thing, albeit better and it is not as much customer/outwardly focused as we need in healthcare." Lean is not customer/outwardly focused? I hope this isn't a widespread perception or belief out there. I hope I'm overreacting to something that's not really a problem... but I wrote the post anyway.

Last week, I was in Austin for the annual Lean Coaching Summit, where I took a full-day class on "Motivational Interviewing" (as I had...

Why the sign on the Apple Store door reminded me of their poor problem solving and inelegant solutions to my broken MacBook Pro. This might be my last blog post for the week unless that gets sorted out (or if I get better at doing work like this on my iPad). It might be my last Mac. How the mighty have fallen?

I posted this on LinkedIn earlier today and am re-posting as a blog post to get your thoughts... and then, as I writing this, the news about the man being forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight went viral.

I had a chance to visit one of their community hospitals, Hillcrest Hospital, as well as the main campus. It was a very stimulating visit and it was great to see the progress they were making in building a “culture of improvement.”

I love stories of humility and customer focus in healthcare. Let me share two such stories with you today. Oh, and, I ended up...