Toyota is often cited as the inspiration for Lean, but its success is rooted in leadership behaviors, management systems, and a deep commitment to learning—not tools or slogans. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections on Toyota’s approach to quality, continuous improvement, psychological safety, and respect for people. Many of these posts explore what leaders outside Toyota often misunderstand—and what truly matters if they hope to learn from Toyota rather than copy it.
This edition of Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape highlights how Lean thinking continues to deliver real results when it’s treated as a management system, not a toolkit. From GE Aerospace’s measurable gains under Larry Culp, to Toyota’s application of flow…
I recently gave a virtual keynote for a global manufacturing company that’s a customer of KaiNexus. Their leaders wanted to explore how to strengthen a culture of improvement — not just by preventing mistakes, but by learning from the ones…
This edition of Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape explores productivity, leadership, and change through a systems lens. From Canada’s long-standing productivity challenge and lessons from Toyota Racing Development, to breaking firefighting cultures, rethinking change management, and supporting leaders through the…
When I launched the My Favorite Mistake podcast in September 2020, I hoped to create space for leaders and innovators to share the moments they wished they could take back — and more importantly, what they learned from them. Five…
TL;DR: I learned SQDC the hard way at GM–first under cost- and throughput-obsessed leadership, then from a NUMMI-trained plant manager who showed me why safety and quality must come first if you want performance (and cost) to truly improve. Two…
tl;dr Lean doesn’t work without psychological safety. Toyota understands that continuous improvement depends on people feeling safe to speak up about problems, mistakes, and concerns–and believing they’ll be taken seriously. Leaders can’t demand this kind of safety; they create it…
Former Toyota leader Mark Reich explains why Hoshin Kanri is not a top-down planning exercise, but a leadership system for aligning strategy, developing people, and managing on purpose through dialogue, PDCA, and shared ownership. Scroll down for how to subscribe,…
Why Lean Thinking Succeeds in Japan–Not Because of Culture, But Because of Intentional Leadership and Systems One of the most persistent myths I’ve encountered over the years goes something like this: “Well, of course they can do Lean… they’re Japanese.”…
This edition of Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape examines the shifting balance between people, systems, and strategy in the pursuit of better performance. From Toyota’s hospital and vineyard-to-glass winemaking to the limits of automation at Starbucks, the selections highlight how…
tl;dr: Toyota treats psychological safety as a core requirement for learning, innovation, and digital transformation–not a “soft” extra. A new Japanese book and firsthand insights show how safety enables stronger TPS, faster learning, and better flow. Psychological Safety as a…
Listen: We would have called this Episode 51 of the Lean Whiskey podcast with Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban. Lean Whiskey is transitioning to a new brand, Lean Coffee Talk, so stay tuned for more episodes from Mark and Jamie.…
A former Toyota leader shares firsthand insights on the mindset shifts, leadership behaviors, and management systems that transformed NUMMI from a failed GM plant into a global Toyota culture case study. The NUMMI (New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc.) experiment remains…