Reflecting on the GE Lean Mindset Event, Including Ford, Uber, and PG&E

In Episode 47, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh attempt another experiment in format, covering a range of quick-hit topics in the news rather than a single deep dive. As always, we welcome feedback. Before we got to that, however, our whiskey theme was also new, or new to us: we each picked a whiskey we hadn’t tried before. Jamie’s pick was Four Walls Irish American Whiskey, a celebrity whiskey from a group of stars from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, including Rob McElhenney, who famously co-owns Wrexham AFC, a 3rd tier football club in the UK, along with Ryan Reynolds. Mark’s pick was inspired by his My Favorite Mistake podcast with the founder of Jeptha Creed with their Bloody Butcher’s Creed 4 Grain Bourbon Whiskey, made from Bloody Butcher red heirloom corn grown on their own farm.  In the news, we covered four topics. First was Kentucky’s decision to decriminalize medical errors, which allows healthcare providers to focus on providing care the best method possible and not going to jail just for a mistake, lessons from the RaDonda Vaught case in Tennessee. Next, while not really news, we discussed Jamie’s Forbes article about Hanlon’s Razor, including what a razor is, what it has to do with the lean principle of Respect for People, and how it can help choose a more productive path of action. Third we explore the Labor Notes’ article declaring the end of lean production. Of course, we disagree, although both motivation and validly bad lean practices both contribute to their perspectives. Finally, we cover a Wall Street Journal article titled The Jiggle Is Up, about how companies are defeating attempts to manipulate work with mouse jigglers. There is so much wrong here, from culture to process to metrics, that we start to unpack.  We finally end, with July being so hot seemingly everywhere, with our favorite summer refreshing non-whiskey cocktails. But, you’ll have to either listen to or skip to the end of hear our choices.  Jamie’s pick: Four Walls Irish American Whiskey Mark’s pick: Jeptha Creed Bloody Butcher’s Creed 4 Grain Bourbon Whiskey My Favorite Mistake podcast featuring Jeptha Creed founder Kentucky decriminalizes medical errors  More misunderstanding of lean Jamie on Hanlon’s Razor in Forbes WSJ on eliminating mouse jiggles as productivity Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or jflinch.com/leanwhiskey  Please review us and follow!

In Episode 46, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh spend a lot of time talking about AI, but that still, as always, begins with the whiskey. Episode page We both asked ChatGPT to consider all our ingredients for making a whiskey-based cocktail, and to invent an original recipe. Jamie's is called The Bourbon Harmony, although there was a lot in there to try to reach harmony, and Mark's was called the Spiced Cherry Rye Cocktail. The verdict for both drinks was that they were good, but probably wouldn't be made a second time. We had slightly different tactics in prompting ChatGPT to generate our recipes, which we discussed.  We then spent a little time recognizing the passing of Don Petersen, former CEO of Ford in the late 1980s. Peterson was very different from an automotive CEO at the time, disrupting many practices whose time had come. Most notably, he brought in Dr. Deming to help influence the transformation.  The discussion then turned into a deeper dive into how a lean thinker might look at artificial intelligence, machine learning, and more. This explored governance of AI, having good standard work and workflow design around AI usage, lessons of effective delegation while treating AI like an employee, when to use it, and even a few tips and tricks along the way. We saved the discussion of whether AI will be the end of humanity for when we might have a stronger cocktail.  Have AI design your new cocktail, make it yourself since AI can't do that, and sit down for this interesting discussion. Cheers, or in binary... 01100011 01101000 01100101 01100101 01110010 01110011 Links and Info From the Show: Jamie's Bourbon Harmony recipe: 2 oz Bourbon (used Elijah Craig Small Batch), 0.5 oz Lillet Blanc, 0.5 oz Aperol, 0.25 oz Drambuie, 2 dashes Orange Bitters, 1 dash Angostura Bitters, Orange peel (for garnish) Mark's Spiced Cherry Rye Cocktail recipe: 2 oz Rye Whiskey, 0.5 oz Tart Cherry Liqueur, 0.5 oz Italicus, 0.25 oz Green Chartreuse, 0.25 oz Aperol, 0.5 oz Lemon Juice, Garnish: Lemon twist or a few cherries News of former Ford CEO Don Petersen passing away and Mark's blog post adding much context, including Dr. Deming GrantThornton's report on AI risks  Jamie's YouTube video linking AI and problem solving  Wall Street Journal on whether AI causes job loss  Wall Street Journal on how AI changes jobs Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or jflinch.com/leanwhiskey  Please review us and follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform! 

Episode page In Episode 45, Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban join the Just-in-Time Cafe team of Elisabeth Swan and Tracy O’Rourke as a special nod to their 100th Episode, while also having a chance to toast Mark’s accomplishment of 250 episodes of My Favorite Mistake podcast and 500 episodes of the Lean Blog Podcast. This episode blended the two formats a bit, but you can be sure whiskey was one of those elements that we retained.    We each selected a cocktail to make. Jamie made his original recipe, the Black Forest Kiss. Since you can’t Google it, the recipe is 2 oz bourbon, ½ oz sweet vermouth, 1 oz Cherry Herring, 5 dashes chocolate bitters, and garnished with cherries. Mark made a Perfect Manhattan with walnut bitters. Elisabeth made Remember the Maine. Tracy was stuck with wine, but you’ll have to listen for the story as to why that was. We also checked in about the various books we’ve written, including Mark’s The Mistakes That Make Us, Jamie’s People Solve Problems, Elisabeth’s Picture Yourself a Leader, and the forthcoming 2nd edition from Tracy and Elisabeth of the Problem Solver’s Toolkit.    We shared our Hot Apps personal choices, which included Trello, Kainexus, Asana, and the combination of Evernote and Scannable. In the episode you’ll hear how we utilize these apps. We then turned our attention to podcasting, sharing our origin stories, what we love about it, and some mistakes that we’ve learned from through the process.  Just in Time Cafe podcast My Favorite Mistakes podcast Lean Blog podcast People Solve Problems podcast Picture Yourself a Leader book The Mistakes That Make Us book  People Solve Problems book Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or jflinch.com/leanwhiskey  Please review us and follow!  Notes for everyone on what’s below. Please add links for preferred website and books for the show notes (going both directions): Jamiehttps://www.jflinch.com/ https://www.jflinch.com/people-solve-problems/ Elisabethhttps://www.jitcafe.com/ https://elisabethswan.com/book/ Tracyhttps://www.jitcafe.com/ The new edition of the Problems Solver’s Toolkit will be released soon, but no link yet.  Markhttp://markgraban.com/  https://www.mistakesbook.com/

Episode page with video and more In Episode 44, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh get back together for this first episode of 2024. Since we’re not doing Dry January, we go right into the whiskey first by talking about old bottles, including one very old one found at auction. We then did our own comparison tasting, with Jamie trying two different age statements of Knob Creek bourbon and Mark trying two different expressions of Glen Scotia scotch from Campbeltown.  Dry January is like a New Year’s Resolution that you don’t intend to keep past a month. We discuss New Year’s Resolutions and their reasons for failure. We relate all this to goals, hoshin kanri, SMART goals, systems, and small steps. So, if you’re still working on clarifying your goals or resolutions for the year, take a listen.  Boeing’s recent troubles with an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX-9 door plug falling out mid-flight was also discussed, including Boeing’s resolution / commitment to add more inspectors to the process. Will more inspectors and more inspections make a difference? If not, what will make a difference? We may not know the final answer, but we break it all down for you in this discussion.  We wrap things up with a little football talk, both the NFL and College. Cheers!  Vintage bottle sold at auction, from York, PA Jamie’s selection: Knob Creek Mark’s selection: Glen Scotia NPR on abandoned New Year’s resolutions Jamie’s 2010 blogpost on goals Jamie’s 2021 short video on working with goals  Boeing’s own updates on the 737-9 On Senator Cantwell’s letter to the FAA Yup, University of Michigan wins the National Championship Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or jflinch.com/leanwhiskey  Please review us and follow!  

Episode page with video and more In Episode 43 of the “Lean Whiskey” podcast, Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban begin by talking about each of our interviews regarding the new book by Steve Spear and Gene Kim, Wiring the Winning Organization. Mark interviewed Steve and Gene for the Lean Blog Interviews podcast, and Jamie interviewed Steve for a forthcoming episode of the People Solve Problems podcast. We then shifted our attention to celebrating 100 years of Suntory Distilling by each pouring different expressions from the Japanese side of the company, Hibiki and Yamazaki. We also discussed the Jim Beam side, its progression and integration into the Suntory ownership.  We eventually jumped into our primary In the News segment discussing a detailed investigative journalism report from Reuters on the objectively poor safety record at SpaceX. The data is compelling, from a fatality to a coma, and eight amputations. But the safety rate is six times the industry average, coming in at 4.8 per 100 workers. Yes, space travel and doing anything breakthrough is inherently dangerous, but there's two arguments with this. First, the injuries are things like falling out of trucks and not related to launching a rocket. Second, there are numerous examples of doing inherently dangerous work with a great safety record. Alcoa, under the leadership of Paul O'Neill, is a great example of this, where not only is the work done safely, but with increasing profits along the way.  We explore the importance of leadership — through policy to system to culture — in the outcomes of safety. Elon Musk, as the leader of SpaceX, has signaled in many ways that safety is secondary. This includes a distaste for safety yellow on aesthetic grounds to statements that workers are responsible for protecting themselves. Both SpaceX and Tesla have a tendency to withhold reporting required data to OSHA, which might not be visible to employees, but it likely is to management. We make clear that safety practice and culture is the responsibility of management.  We wrap up this episode sharing fun facts about our hometowns, wishing everyone a happy holidays, and a final cheers to 2023! Links From the Show: Mark interviewed Steve Spear and Gene Kim in episode 493 of the LeanBlog Podcast, and Jamie interviewed Steve for a forthcoming episode of People Solve Problems Podcast on their new book, Wiring the Winning Organization Celebrating 100 years of Suntory Distilling  Mark's blog about the culture clash when Suntory acquired Jim Beam Jamie's selection: Hibiki Japanese Harmony Mark's selection: Yamazaki Distiller's Reserve NAS Japan Release and the Legent Yamazaki Cask Finish Blend  Kaizen & Culture Clash Between Suntory & Jim Beam? Reuters' investigative report on safety at SpaceX COSH's Dirty Dozen of companies with poor safety records  Examples of Paul O'Neill's take on prioritizing safety and being profitable here and here Please review us and follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform!

Episode page In Episode 42, Jamie Flinchbaugh visits Mark Graban in northern Kentucky and they get to record an episode in person. This was the origin of the podcast series — getting together in person, enjoying whiskey, and talking about Lean stuff.  In the last episode, we did an experiment that was inconclusive — sometimes that's how it goes. We had moved the whiskey talk to the end of the episode, but since we had no firm evidence that it was better, we moved it back to the beginning. Since we were together, Jamie selected something from Mark's shelf, the Boone County Amburana Wood, as it isn't something you'd regularly find on the shelf. Mark had received a special package in the mail from the Jim Beam distillery — two different expressions of Little Book — and so he did a side-by-side comparison.  They then discussed the GE Lean Mindset Event, held for employees, customers, and suppliers. The bulk of the speakers are available on a YouTube playlist. We primarily discussed the discussion between Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, and Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber. We also discussed the conversation with Patti Poppe, CEO of PG&E (the primary power utility in California if you don't recognize the name). We explored the key nuggets from those speakers.  After the recording stopped, the conversation continued at the outstanding Prohibition Bourbon Bar in Newport, Kentucky, ranked as one of America's Best Bourbon Bars by The Bourbon Review (that's where the photo was taken… and yes, they allowed us behind the bar).   Links From the Show: Jamie's selection, Amburana Wood finished Bourbon from Boone County Little Book, the experimental expressions from Freddie Noe of Jim Beam  The playlist for the GE Lean Mindset Event  Mark's podcast episode recorded on-site with Jim Womack, Katie Anderson, and Jamie Parker  California Burning, the book about PG&E mentioned by Patti Prohibition Bar in Newport, Kentucky, featured in The Bourbon Review Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or jflinch.com/leanwhiskey  Please review us and follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform!   

Episode link with video and more In Episode 41, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh try a couple experiments, in the spirit of continuous improvement. You’ll first notice that we moved the whiskey talk to the end. The hypothesis here is that some people don’t want to hear the whiskey talk, so they can just exit the podcast when we finish the lean talk. We also used a different platform for recording, so it may affect your listening or viewing experience. We would really appreciate any feedback at all on these experiments.  In lean talk, we explore the question of whether lean can and should be forced. We examine this from different angles, including terms like accountability and quotas. We even evoke the words of Dr. Deming in the process. We quote Toyota’s Jamie Bonini who said “if the employees are upset by it, it’s not really TPS.” We explore 5S, audits, incentives, and more.  We finally get around to talking about the whiskey that we were sipping on during the episode. After all, this is kinda the point. For this episode’s theme, we are pulling the bottle off our shelf that is the least expensive, but still worth sipping on its own. Mark is drinking Benchmark, and Jamie went with Rebel. Cheers!  Mark’s audiobook of The Mistakes That Make Us is now available  Tennis’ Western and Southern Open The Michigan Lean Consortium, where Mark recently presented Mark’s famous Office 5S video Jamie’s whiskey… Rebel Bourbon 80 proof at $19 Mark’s whiskey… Benchmark Bourbon 100 proof between $17-19 Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or jflinch.com/leanwhiskey  Please review us and follow!

Episode page with video and more In Episode 40, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh get back together after their in-person visit where they enjoyed the origins of this podcast: talking about lean stuff while enjoying some whiskey. We get to celebrate the launch of Mark’s new book, The Mistakes That Make Us, as well as Jamie’s new podcast titled People Solve Problems. We recap our in-person visit and some of the great whiskey we were able to try. And we taste one of the expressions we were able to try at the distillery, New Riff’s Straight Bottled-in-Bond Malted Rye.  We then pivoted to talking about pivots, starting with the example of how Instagram originally started as Burbn check-in app to share your drinking experiences with others. It then pivoted to photo sharing, and the rest is history. We compare and contrast other pivots, including Play-Doh, the pacemaker, Slack and Twitter, 3M Post-its, and a purple dye found when trying to cure malaria. We share some lessons from each of our books about how to enable and / or embrace the pivot when the opportunity presents itself.  We wrap up talking a bit about the book writing process, and the joys and pains that accompany it. Cheers!  Mark’s book, The Mistakes That Make Us, is now available for purchase Jamie launched a new podcast, People Solve Problems, interviews based on his book Mark and Jamie’s analog in-person Lean Whiskey We visited Revival Vintage Bottle Shop, Prohibition Bourbon Bar, and New Riff Distilling Mark and Jamie both pouring the New Riff Kentucky Straight Bottled-in-Bond Malted Rye Whiskey Instagram pivoted from Burbn Instagram, or Meta, also recently launched Threads. You can find Mark here and Jamie here Making purple dye from a failed malaria drug  Hold on Loosely by 38 Special on Spotify  Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or jflinch.com/leanwhiskey  Please review us and follow! 

Episode page with links, video, and more In Episode 39, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh toast the completion of Mark's new book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation (coming soon!). We also acknowledge Jamie's forthcoming podcast based on the book People Solve Problems. That's already plenty to cover before we even get into our whiskey.  Our whiskey theme was sourced juice, or essentially whiskey producers that buy whiskey from other distillers. This practice takes many different forms. Jamie is drinking Holla Bourbon Whiskey, a 4 year wheated bourbon, while Mark is drinking The Senator Straight Rye Whiskey sourced from MGP. Holla Spirits is primarily a vodka company with an incredibly wide range of infused vodkas, from jalapeno to pickle to cotton candy. They use higher grade ethanol from either corn or cane. Our lean topic was CEOs who “go to the gemba,” specifically referencing recent Wall Street Journal articles featuring Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi driving an Uber and Starbucks brand-new CEO Laxman Narasimhan being trained and working as a barista. While there is a lot these articles don't tell you, we have to draw some conclusions about whether these efforts are well-intentioned or not. We didn't like the barista with gold cufflinks or the Uber driver ignoring important calls from his General Counsel.  We did conclude that there are three dimensions to this practice to get right, and all three must be right for this practice to be worth the effort. First, you have to get the intention correct. Second, you must execute it with the right spirit and curiosity. Third, you have to do the right things with what you learn, not just fixing specific problems but challenging business model assumptions or improving major systems of how the company works. Links From the Show: Mark's book page to find out more when The Mistakes That Make Us will be released Jamie's blog, where you can find the People Solve Problems podcast release Mark's recent blog post about Glenns Creek Distillery and creativity-before-capital kaizen NBC News covering sourced whiskey Whiskey Advocate covering sourced whiskey Jamie's whiskey from Holla Spirits, a 4-year Wheated Bourbon, distilled by Southern Distilling Company in North Carolina and blended by Cloonaughill Celtic Malts in York, PA Mark's whiskey, The Senator Straight Rye Whiskey, a 4-grain blend distilled by MGP in Lawrenceburg, IN  Uber's CEO driving covered by Wall Street Journal as well as Business Insider and Inside Hook  Starbucks CEO trains and works as a barista, as covered by Wall Street Journal Jamie's past blog about Undercover Boss, and Mark's past blog about a hospital CEO going undercover  Mark's recommended podcast is Culture by Design Jamie's recommended podcast is Stuff You Should Know  Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or jflinch.com/leanwhiskey  Please review us and follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform! 

Episode page with video and more What do you do when you are chosen as Jim Murray’s US Micro Whiskey of the Year? You pop in to join Mark and Jamie on Lean Whiskey to talk about it. At least that’s what our friend David Meier of Glenns Creek Distilling did in Episode 38. While we were able to drink, and celebrate, the success of OCD #5, we also explored David’s continued learning, problem solving, and improvement of whiskey production. We also learned that he was featured on an episode of Moonshiners: American Spirit, more of a documentary exploring the production of American spirits than the original show.  After David departs, Mark and Jamie discuss a recent report featured on NBC outlining that 1 in 4 hospital visits result in adverse events. This comes from a recent study on patient safety published in the New England Journal of Medicine. We break down the statistics, explore the real meaning behind those numbers, and discuss the causes and contributing factors. Throughout the dialogue we cover process improvement, problem solving, near misses, organizational learning, and psychological safety. We also spend time looking at Dr. Don Berwick’s editorial about the study, and at least try to summarize his contributions to patient safety.  Mark and Jamie wrap up the first episode of 2023 talking about books. We hope everyone has a wonderful 2023. Happy New Year, and Cheers!  Glenns Creek Distilling’s OCD #5 selected US Micro Whiskey of the Year Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible website Moonshiners: American Spirit Glenn’s Creek Distilling  NBC’s reporting that 1 in 4 patients experience adverse effects, and the New England Journal of Medicine published study behind the statistic Patient safety advocate Don Berwick’s Commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine Upcoming webinar hosted by Mark on the proposed National Patient Safety Board The Economist’s reporting on today’s healthcare system challenges around the world Jamie’s book recommendation Ikigai Mark’s future read: If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury in Medicine and Why It's So Hard for Clinicians to Put Patients First  Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or jflinch.com/leanwhiskey  Please review us and follow!