Episode page: https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey32 In Episode 32 of “Lean Whiskey,” Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh have a first… comparing two similar whiskeys from the same distiller. In this case, family-owned Willett and their Willett Pot Still Reserve bourbon and the Johnny Drum bourbon. We definitely both have our favorite of the two, but you'll have to listen to find out which. We also spend a little time exploring the history of this old brand, their departure, and their recent return to the spirits world. This all happens between NFL conference championship games where neither of our teams are playing.  We discuss The Great Resignation and all of the many facets… the underlying long-term trends, the short-term adjustments, the data, the causes, and the solutions. Breaking the problem down is important, as there is neither one cause nor one solution. We need to move beyond “jerk bosses” such as seen at Better.com, underappreciation as seemingly demonstrated at former-lean-role-model Thedacare, and bad cultures found in many places. 2022 may finally be the year to truly make employee engagement a real strategic imperative.  We finish talking about industrial-based movies and shows, such as the new NBC series “American Auto” or the movie “Gung Ho.” Please tell us your favorites… we'd love to hear from you!  Links From the Show Willett Pot Still Reserve  Johnny Drum Private Stock Insights by Jamie January 2022 newsletter  Thedacare's employee issues, how it started and how it finished Mark interviews the Lean dentist Dr. Sami Bahri in Lean Blog Podcast Episodes 29, 69, and 82 Some articles may require signup or subscription… New York Times No More Working for Jerks The Economist How to Manage The Great Resignation “American Auto” TV Show Movie “Gung Ho“ Movie “Mr. Mom“ Movie “Tucker“ 

Lean Whiskey

Employee Engagement Beyond Buying Them Pizza (or Bourbon)

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey31 In Episode 31 of “Lean Whiskey,” Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh discuss the routines and practices of wrapping up a year, and kicking off a new year. In that spirit, we either finish a bottle of whiskey, or start a new one. We also invite three guests to share their thoughts. Past Lean Whiskey guests Jim Benson, Deondra Wardelle, and Chris Burnham join and share their thoughts on finishing up a year and starting a new one. Routines, habits, practices that help you transition the year and set up for success in the new year. Lean thinkers know the fallacy of just having good intentions, such as New Year's Resolutions, and tend to focus more on purpose, reflection, structure, and systems. We put that hypothesis to the test by asking three lean thinkers how they approach this time period, and didn't know in advance what they would share.  Jim Benson talked about their discussions within his company, which take place during huddles which allow the conversation to emerge. This is much different than the once-and-done offsite approach. They are exploring how to increase collaboration, as that is certainly the central theme of their work with clients. Deondra Wardelle celebrates, which she often models for all of us. She also shared how she develops a theme for each year, which drives her plans and actions. The theme for 2022 is “laser focus” which was very intriguing. Chris Burnham, who is Senior Lean Strategy Director, KaiNexus, shared his evolution of daily practices which includes reflection, prioritization, and planning. His methods include journals and digital tools and of course, having important conversations about the right topics with the right people.  Mark and Jamie also share a bit of their perspective on the challenge, including the fact that the turning of a calendar is relatively arbitrary when it comes to performance management and continuous improvement, and Mark notes how often he sees people zero-out their measurements to start the new year (please don't do this). Jamie observes that the open space often (but not always) created between your last and first meeting gives you more room to mentally breathe (inbox = zero helps too) which allows deep work, whether that is reflection or planning.  Links From the Show We record this episode just after Repeal Day  Mark's whiskey selection: a new bottle of Yamazaki 12 – Thanks, Ralphs!! Jamie's whiskey selection: finishing bottles of Larceny and Willett Pot Still Reserve Bourbon Jim Benson's rum selection: Kohana Rum  Jim Benson's guest appearance on Lean Whiskey Episode 25, and his Personal Kanban site Deondra Wardelle's whiskey selection: starting a bottle of Old Pogue Deondra Wardelle's guest appearance on Lean Whiskey Episode 23, and her own company and #rootcauseracism  Chris Burnham's whiskey selection: finishing a bottle of Blanton's  Chris Burnham's guest appearance on Lean Whiskey Episode 3, and his own podcast Lean Leadership including guest appearances by Mark on Episode 1 and Jamie most recently on Episode 62 Mark's post about starting the year with blank charts Since both books came up, we might as well mention Jamie's People Solve Problems and Mark's Measures of Success.

End a Year, End a Bottle; Start a Year, Start a Bottle

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey30 In Episode 30 of “Lean Whiskey“, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh find things to celebrate, starting with the fact that we have hit 30 episodes. In that time, we've had 14 guests or co-hosts, and tasted 56 different whiskeys (not counting the gin and coffee detours) covering 5 countries and 7 states. We've also had over 10,000 downloads which is a celebration of its own right, and while we do not record this show just to get lots of listeners, we are extremely grateful for all of you who have tuned in.  Having both just returned from our alma maters, Lehigh University (Jamie) and Northwestern (Mark), we share our whiskeys under the theme of the bottle you would pull off the shelf when you are in the mood to celebrate. Jamie had a 21 year old Glenfarclas and Mark finished off his bottle of the 6th release of the WhistlePig Boss Hog titled “The Samurai Scientist.”  We are also celebrating the pending (October 26th) release of Jamie's latest book, People Solve Problems: The Power of Every Person, Every Day, Every Problem. Instead of In the News, we cover On the Bookshelf, and talk about why we write a book, how to pick a title, how to publish, and more. Mark has written several books, including Lean Hospitals, Healthcare Kaizen, The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen, Practicing Lean (as editor and publisher — and Jamie was a contributor), and most recently Measures of Success. Jamie has published two books now, starting with The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean and now People Solve Problems.  Links From the Show Jamie's whiskey, a 21 year old Glenfarclas Mark's whiskey, the WhistlePig Boss Hog Samurai Scientist Mark's various books Jamie's various books Book The Complete Whiskey Course Book resources such as editor and publisher Rob Worth, Bethany Brown of The Cadence Group, and coach Cathy Fyock   Impactful books included Out of the Crisis, Understanding Variation, and Man's Search for Meaning.

Celebrating 30 Episodes, Writing Books, and Great Whiskey

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey29 In Episode 29, it's been a little while since Mark and Jamie got together for Lean Whiskey. We catch up on what's new, which includes Mark's new certification with distinction with the WSET Level 2 Spirits certification, and Jamie's new side-hustle as a soccer referee. We return to making cocktails, this time building on our coffee theme from the pour-over edition of Episode 27. We both make coffee cocktails. Jamie's is a whiskey espresso martini, equal parts bourbon, Kahlua, and freshly pulled espresso, shaken and served in a martini glass. Mark worked his way towards his own concoction, based on the Revolver cocktail, using bourbon and coffee liqueur, but he used a couple Texas-based brands and named it the Texas Revolver. We both follow our cocktails with some Glenn's Creek Cafe Ole and discuss Mark's lost barrel of bourbon.  We did "In the News" with a twist, building on our coffee theme we used something close to the Lean Coffee format and covered many news stories for 5 minutes each. These stories covered Starbucks as a talent pool, CEO pay and diversity, wage inflation, what work really needs to be in-person, people leaving the restaurant industry, and using lean to help get jabs in arms. There was no theme here, just two guys sitting around talking about the news from a lean thinker's perspective. Scroll down for links galore. After covering a lot of ground, Mark and Jamie look forward to the fall, including football. We hope you enjoy this episode. Please send Mark or Jamie questions, suggestions, or comments for our future discussions. Until next time, cheers!  Links From the Show Mark's WSET Level 2 Spirits certification  Jamie's retirement from coaching announcement and kickoff of a referee side-hustle  Lean Coffee episode of Lean Whiskey, Episode #27 Jamie's new ECM Casa V espresso machine  Jamie's Town Branch bourbon used for the espresso martini Jamie's Buzzopolis espresso blend from Whole Latte Love The base Revolver recipe that Mark started with  Mark's "Texas Revolver" included 2 oz Garrison Brothers Hye Rye Bourbon, 0.5 oz Caffe del Fuego Reserve, 3 dashes orange bitters, 0.25 oz Dry Curacao, and 3 dashes coffee bitters We both finished with David Meier's Cafe Ole Mark's My Favorite Mistake episode with David Meier The Lean Coffee method we somewhat followed  In the News News item #1: More U.S. companies tie CEO pay to diversity metrics News item #2: Wage Growth Among U.S. Job Switchers Increased 5.8 Percent Since June 2020 as Businesses Struggle to Attract Workers News item #3: Starbucks Is the New Talent Factory Powering Corporate America News item #4: When Do We Actually Need to Meet in Person? News item #5: How Lean Thinking and Practice Helped Put Shots in Arms, Part 1: Building the Process and Part 2: Wind-down and Reflection News item #6: Restaurants Will Never Be the Same. They Shouldn't Be. Our college football schedules for tailgating at Lehigh and Northwestern  

Yellow Cards, Coffee Cocktails, and a Smashed Barrel

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey28 In Episode 28, Mark and Jamie begin by having our spouses pour mystery whiskeys for us. We don’t know what they are when we start drinking them. Mark’s wife at least joins him occasionally in a dram, but Jamie’s wife is truly pouring without experience, but he’s safe since it is from his own shelf. Mark and Jamie give their best guess, so listen and see if they get it right (or at least partially correct).  Jamie and Mark then build on Mark’s highly successful, and prolific, podcast My Favorite Mistake. We talk about the podcast, its neat origin story, and then we dive into a couple of our own favorite mistakes, although without the systematic breakdown he includes in his podcast. We explore the whole point of examining our favorite mistakes.  Along the way we cover old label designs and baseball and sushi.  Links: Mark celebrated his 10 year anniversary as part of the KaiNexus team Mark’s mystery pour, Old Pulteney Single Malt Scotch Duncansby Head Lighthouse and his 2nd pour from Teeling Jamie’s mystery pour from 10 year old Whistle Pig rye and his second pour, a 10-year-old Jura scotch Mark’s My Favorite Mistake podcast Episodes that were lean-related, including Karyn Ross, Billy Taylor, and Karen Martin Whiskey-related episode about Garrison Brothers The favorite mistake story behind Angostura bitters’ label Redemption Whiskey and 

Mistakes Make us Better (and Sometimes Make Whiskey Necessary?)

https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey27 In Episode 27, Mark and Jamie switch things up a bit with a morning recording of the show. While we could have just started our whiskey early, instead we decided to switch to a beverage that shares much of the same culture, craft, and appreciation as whiskey, and that is coffee. Although a bit of throwback in terms of usages, the trend towards pour over coffee embraces the culture of single origin coffee, much like the shift from whiskey blends towards more single casks. The pour over method is meant to extract more of the “good stuff” and less of the “bad stuff” from freshly ground coffee beans. So Mark and I poured our coffee and got into our topics of the day. You can see our coffee selections and equipment setups in the links below. We didn't want to lose the whiskey theme, so we used an article exploring whether 10 million barrels of whiskey resting, or aging, in Kentucky is a good thing or a bad thing. This became a launchpad to talk about whether just-in-time is dead (as the Wall Street Journal likes to claim) or just misunderstood. We explore MIT's The Beer Game, system dynamics, supply chain design, decision making, and the glut of face masks and hand sanitizer. We could have likely talked about this topic for a very long time, and had we been into a glass of whiskey, perhaps we would have.  In addition to a little detour into Mark's many hats, including the reason he wears two different hats in one episode, we close on a personal note of how we both like to start our day: with coffee, reading news, and a view.  Jamie's coffee, Death Wish, and Mark's coffee, Yellow Caturra Jamie's KitchenAid grinder, Chemex pour over, and kettle Mark's different KitchenAid grinder, Bodum pour over, and electric kettle 10 Million bourbon barrels resting – too much or not enough?  The Wall Street Journey's misinformed piece on JIT, Jeff Liker on JIT, Dr. Jonathan Byrnes on supply chain shockwaves, and Dr. Byrnes as a guest Mark's LeanBlog podcast MIT's The Beer Game, system dynamics and accumulators and delays, and supply and demand Mark's hat and Jamie's morning view  

Lean Coffee: Pour Over Edition With Inventory / Supply Chain Talk

Show notes and links: https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey26 In Episode 26, we accidentally celebrate St. Patrick's Day with some Irish whiskey, lightly mourn some NCAA March Madness losses (or absences, and Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban welcome guest co-host Adam Zak. We selected Irish whiskey as a category because we hadn't used it yet, but after changing the date of the scheduled recording, we ended up quite close to St. Patrick's Day (which was officially a dry holiday until 1970, but that pendulum certainly swung the other way).  In the spirit of Adam Zak's career as an executive recruiter with a Lean lens, we discuss many of the new CEO appointments, in particular, Carol Tomé at UPS, Rosalind Brewer at Walgreens, and Jane Fraser at Citigroup. These appointments are historic in one sense, but also highlight the fact that only 41 of the Fortune 500 are run by women (and Brewer is the only Black woman of the group). We explore what matters when selecting a new CEO, how that fits the strategic needs of the company, and how Lean thinking might influence or be leveraged by some of these leaders.  We explore a common listener question: Do you think it's possible for a Lean organization to do well with quality and safety? As we certainly don't feel this question takes much nuance to answer, we make our way through this fairly quickly and on to our closing question about what books we are reading these days, with a slight detour into our reading habits.  Adam Zak's website, his book Simple Excellence with Bill Waddell, and 2008 guest appearance on Mark's Lean Blog podcast #105  Adam's whiskey selection, 18 YO Tullamore D.E.W. Jamie's selection, Green Spot aged in zinfandel barrels from Chateau Montelena Mark's selection, a special bottle of Teeling that he filled at the Dublin distillery, along with an honorable mention of Writers' Tears (since we're all published authors) A little about new UPS CEO Carol Tomé on Wikipedia and an interview  A little something about new Walgreens CEO Rosalind Brewer on Wikipedia and Financial Times     Stuff about new Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser on Wikipedia and NYT Our collective reading list, Believe in People, The Girl Who Never Makes Mistakes, Constant Comedy, and Team of Rivals Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or at leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or at jflinch.com/leanwhiskey  

The Accidental St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, and Discussing New CEOs Carol Tomé, Rosalind Brewer, and Jane Fraser

In Episode 25, Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban welcome a guest to our show, with Jim Benson joining us. Jim has been a long-time collaborator of Mark's, and certainly enjoys a dram or two of whiskey. We begin by getting the backstory on Jim's Twitter handle @OurFounder, complete with artwork.  Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey25  Since it's still winter, and Jamie continues to spend more time driving his snowblower than his car, we thought “something peaty” felt fitting. We all selected something peaty from our scotch collection, from Highland Park to Samaroli to Lagavulin, and we learned about Jim's favorite whisky shop in the UK. We discuss the continued extension of work-from-home practices, and both the need and opportunity to make it effective for each individual. This includes everything from ergonomics to managing your attention span, with a little detour into the Pomodoro technique.  We explored lean phrases that are commonly used but often misunderstood, including “lean project”, “kaizen”, and “respect for people.” The three of us fall dangerously close to “cranky old lean guy” territory, but pull ourselves out just in time for our fun closing question of something we watched recently that was disappointing, ranging from Wonder Woman 1984 to The Muppet Show to baking shows.  May you enjoy your whiskey, and your work, in peace and health. Cheers!  Show Notes and Links Jim's Twitter handle OurFounder, along with Mark and Jamie on Twitter Mark and Jim's upcoming webinar on 3/2 on humane management and their previous podcast episode on the topic  We selected “something peaty” so here's a bit about the peat scale  Jamie's go-to selection, Lagavulin 16 year old Mark's Samaroli Islay Blended Malt Scotch Whisky Jim's 21 year old from Highland Park Jim's favorite UK-based whisky shop Milroy's  FastCompany on finding the best place to work at home Jamie's video on making his home office more productive, and a waste walk on his morning routine  The Pomodoro technique  Mark's blog post on not using the Deming quote to threaten people  Jamie's blog post on the myths of the lean principle respect for people  Mark's “Choose Lean” LeanBlog mug  

Peaty Scotch, Working from Home, and Misunderstood Lean Phrases with Jim Benson

Mark Graban & Jamie Flinchbaugh https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey24 In Episode 24, Mark and Jamie return to a familiar format, just the two of them chatting over some whiskey. In this episode, they decide to make homemade whiskey cream (more popularly known as Irish cream or just Bailey's). Mark's recipe is keto-friendly and Jamie's utilizes rye whiskey. Check out the links below for their recipes and a history of the creation of Bailey's Irish Cream.  After celebrating Jamie's completion of his next book's manuscript and Mark's immersion into the world of spirits with WSET Level 2 Spirits certification, they dive into their topic: lean thinking applied to the rollout of the covid vaccine. We begin with framing the topic with Dwight Eisenhower's quote: “Farming looks mighty easy if your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field.” We acknowledge the difficulty of the challenge and try to avoid blame, but still focus on how continuous improvement thinking can and should be applied at all levels of the challenge, from national distribution to localized application. We remain hopeful that learning and best practice sharing (and adoption) will win the day, even if we're off to a slow start.  We wrap up talking about our favorite board games. Enjoy the episode!

Homemade Whiskey Cream and Vaccination (Not to be Mixed Up)

Mark Graban, Jamie Flinchbaugh, and Deondra Wardelle https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey23 for show notes and links In Episode 23, Mark and Jamie return to finish out 2020, this time joined by Kentucky native Deondra Wardelle, so naturally Kentucky bourbon is our whiskey category of choice. Bourbons selected include Brough Brothers, Willett, and Barton 1792. After introducing Deondra to our listeners, we take a moment to toast the life of Norman Bodek, who passed away last week at the age of 88.  After briefly debating whether peppermint should ever be added to beer, even if it is the holidays, we get on with our bourbon selections. We return at the end of the episode to talk about other drinks such as Irish (or whiskey) cream, wine, cocktails, and eggnog. A tempting challenge was put forth for Mark and Jamie to make their own whiskey cream at home - perhaps a future episode event.  The bulk of the episode we get into Deondra's favorite topic, Toyota Kata, teed up by a Lean Enterprise Institute article. The article prompts us to talk about the underlying nature of learning in lean, problem solving, kata, and coaching. We aren't convinced that you need a new kata to add to the improvement and coaching kata, but instead propose coaching and behavior adjustments to make sure we don't lose sight of the purpose, which is to learn.  So, give us a listen, and let us know what you think, about learning, or about whiskey. We wish everyone a safe, healthy, and happy holidays to wrap up 2020, and we will see you again in 2021. Cheers!  Links: Our guest Deondra Wardelle Deondra's kata presentation for Lean Frontiers Deondra's upcoming Lean Frontiers webinar: Strategic Planning Workshop 2021: Planning Through a Continuous Improvement Lens, Thursday, 1/21, 12 noon EST #RootCauseRacism and www.rootcauseracism.com  Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Webinar, "The Lean Journey to Equity for All" Thursday, 1/28 @ 1pm EST Mark's tribute to Norm Bodek who recently passed away Lexington Brewing's Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Peppermint Porter   Deondra's Brough Brothers bourbon from Louisville, KY Jamie's Willett Pot Still Reserve bourbon  Mark's Barton 1792 Full Proof bourbon Story about the warehouse / rickhouse collapse The LEI article on kata ("Improve Continuously by Mastering the Lean Kata") Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn book mentioned on Isao Yashino  Henri Poincare quote on intuition  Mark's 2011 April Fool's Joke (the A3 "app")  Five Farms Irish Cream Cooper's Hawk Sweet Red wine  

Finishing 2020 with Kentucky Bourbon, Eggnog, and Kata Talk

Mark Graban, Darril Wilburn, and Sammy Obara https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey22 For Episode 22, Mark Graban is joined by Darril Wilburn and Sammy Obara, two former Toyota employees who are colleagues at the firm Honsha. They are two of the authors of the excellent book Toyota by Toyota. The three talk about how they met (via LEI and other Lean events) and how Mark was invited by Darril and Honsha to go to Japan with them two years ago (see posts about that trip). They talk about the "conveyor belt sushi incident" that Mark blogged about. They also discuss many lessons from Toyota, including the idea that "it's the responsibility of leaders to create a system in which people can be successful." They also chat a bit about how work and life has changed during the pandemic. Oh, and the whiskey theme was "drink what you like." Mark enjoyed a neat pour of Ichiro's Malt & Grain whisky from Japan. Darril made a very fancy Old Fashioned using a smoked glass and Woodford Reserve Double Oaked bourbon (since he's from Kentucky originally). Sammy enjoyed sake from Japan. We all enjoyed the chance to catch up and talk.

Catching Up with Honsha Friends Over Whisky, Sake, and an Old Fashioned

Mark Graban, Jamie Flinchbaugh, and Tom Ehrenfeld https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey21 In Episode 21, Mark and Jamie return to our regular casual format of open discussion over a drink, this time joined by Tom Ehrenfeld, well known to the lean community for his writing and editorial work with the Lean Enterprise Institute. We all enjoyed tasting some Highland Park scotch, with Tom trying it for the first time, Mark opening a new bottle, and Jamie getting towards the end of a bottle.  We talk about what new things we’ve been up to, with Mark winning with some California-based parasailing. We finish the discussion by talking about our favorite things about fall, with pumpkin spice lattes (or pumpkin-flavored whiskey) being a disqualified answer.  We spent the bulk of the discussion exploring how companies can and should use lean during the pandemic, and even whether lean is valid under such conditions. We begin by talking about businesses such as United and Delta and how they can deal with such a black swan event in the COVID-19 pandemic. Delta had revenues last quarter of $3B, but lost $5.4B. But what are they going to do, sell their planes? To whom? Movie theaters can’t pay their rents, but what will landlords do, rent their space to another movie theater? There are major challenges that many industries face that will struggle with either long-lasting or even permanent shifts in their markets. Can lean help? Is lean enough? This is what we wrestle with on a Sunday night over a glass, or two, of scotch.   Our guest Tom Ehrenfeld The discussed LEI podcast with Dan Heath  Jamie’s yoga app, Down Dog Yoga Tom’s viewing of The Criterion Channel  Highland Park - Scotch whisky from the Orkney Islands (less known region -- remote islands) Tom and Jamie drink the 12-year-old Viking Honour while Mark cracks open a bottle of Valknut Article on how United Airlines is dealing with the pandemic The Wall Street Journal article we discussed that misplaces blame on how hospitals struggled with the pandemic  Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or at leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or at jflinch.com/leanwhiskey  Please review us and subscribe! 

Highland Park Scotch, What is the Point of Lean During a Rare Pandemic?

Mark, Jamie, Katie Benik, and Jen House http://www.leanblog.org/whiskey20 In Episode 20, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh join the Colorado Lean Summit live and host a virtual happy hour while discussing the first couple days of the events proceedings. Joining us as co-hosts are CLN members Jen House (also a board member) and Katie Benik. We took some questions, shared what people were drinking in the chat, and had our own chat about what we’ve learned from the Summit. We started by sharing our whiskey selections in the “budget-friendly” category. We certainly had some variation, ranging from Buffalo Trace to Skrewball. Those watching weren’t forced into our theme, so we had more adventurous and elaborate selections from our audience.  The first takeaway that we discussed was from Deondra Wardelle’s talk, and the challenge of shifting from micromanaging controlling manager to a leader who encourages people to experiment, take action, and learn. We then talked about the theme of respect for people, a key lean tenant, and how hard people find it to be specific about how it is applied. We then turned to Renee Smith’s point of replacing fear with love and providing psychological safety. We concluded talking about Dan Markovitz’s points about framing problem statements.  In wrapping up, we shared information about CLN’s charity project, Community College of Aurora’s Unity Scholarship to open more opportunities for future Black leaders to reach their highest potential. CLN matched the first $500 donated, and Jamie and Mark are matching the next $500 in donations. The donation channel is open through October 16th.  And finally, our fun question: what’s your favorite lean-related word, but for a silly reason? The answers included muda, poka-yoke, verschlimmbesserung, and queuing. So get this podcast out of your queue and give it a listen!  Colorado Lean Network’s 2020 Virtual Lean Summit Co-hosts Jen House and Katie Benik Mark’s ZERO hat giveaway for World Patient Safety Day  Our whiskeys included Buffalo Trace, Elijah Craig Small Batch, Kirkland Blended, and Skrewball Peanut Butter whiskey Jamie’s blog post on myths of respect for people  Mark’s post about verschlimmbesserung  The scholarship for the Community College of Aurora Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or at leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or at jflinch.com/leanwhiskey  Please review us and subscribe! 

Live from the Colorado Lean Network Summit, Affordable Whiskeys

Mark Graban and Cliff Hazel http://www.leanblog.org/whiskey19 For Episode #19, Mark Graban is joined by a new guest host, Cliff Hazell. Mark and Cliff first met years ago in Austin at the Lean Coaching Summit, where they shared some Garrison Brothers whiskey and talked about Lean, Deming, coaching, and such. So today, Mark and Cliff share a drink — Amrut whiskey from India for Cliff and Uncle Nearest 1856 Tennessee whiskey for Mark. “Uncle Nearest” is a new brand that's named after Nearest Green, the slave who taught Jack Daniels how to make whiskey (read more about that here). Watch the video version of the episode You can check out our YouTube channels, Mark's here and Cliff's here (Flight Levels Academy) Amrut Whisky Uncle Nearest Whiskey Cliff on Twitter Cliff on LinkedIn Flight Levels Academy  

Mark Graban & Cliff Hazell: Amrut, Uncle Nearest, and Some Tweets

Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey18 In Episode 18, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh return to our tried and true format of “just the two of us”, although that won’t last long as Mark will soon have a guest co-host and then we will record an episode live as part of the Colorado Lean Network Summit. Jamie decides to move to the porch, a “proper” whiskey drinking spot in contrast to his office, which might be a new standard (at least until winter).  In this episode, we begin by remembering the life of Bill Hanson, who is a co-founder of MIT’s Leaders for Manufacturing program, now called Leaders for Global Operations. Mark and Jamie are both graduates. As we toast Bill’s contributions, we begin sipping our whiskey selection, each choosing a scotch from Islay. Mark is drinking Ardbeg Ultimate 10 Year and Jamie is drinking 16 year old Lagavulin. In the News, we start by talking about Mark’s blog takeover by Deondra Wardelle, who has collected a series of authors to write under the hashtag #rootcauseracism. We continue further to explore articles about asynchronous work. The pandemic has forced many to change their work, leading some to just work harder with less effective and efficient work structures, while others are redesigning how they work leveraging asynchronous work as the pivot.  We also explore the frequent questions that Mark and Jamie receive asking for how companies solve problems, and explore both the proper mindset and framing of benchmarking. We invoke a little Jeff Goldblum from Jurassic Park on the value of earning knowledge for yourself. We finish with a discussion of the books we are currently reading. Until next time, cheers!  Remembering MIT’s Bill Hanson Colorado Lean Network’s 2020 Virtual Lean Summit Ardbeg  Ardbeg’s Space Whisky Lagavulin 16 Year Old Ron Swanson makes a brief visit to Lagavulin  Leanblog.org’s #rootcauseracism www.leanblog.org/RCR  Randall Pinkett’s 7 Myths of Racial Equity  What If Working From Home Could Be Different To How It’s Been Until Now? Slowing Down to Speed Up – Effective Asynchronous Communication for Teams What Remote Companies Can Teach About Asynchronous Communication Jeff Goldblum’s Jurassic Park lecture on earning knowledge Jamie and Mathtech’s series on Reimagining Government  Book: The Invincible Company Book: The Map of Knowledge Book: How To Be An Anti-Racist  Book: Stamped from the Beginning  Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or at leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or at jflinch.com/leanwhiskey  Please review us and subscribe! 

Just the Two of Us (Mark Graban & Jamie Flinchbaugh), Islay Scotch & More

Join hosts Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh... i﻿t﻿'﻿s﻿ ﻿t﻿i﻿m﻿e﻿ ﻿f﻿o﻿r﻿ ﻿L﻿e﻿a﻿n﻿ ﻿W﻿h﻿i﻿s﻿k﻿e﻿y﻿.﻿.﻿.﻿ ﻿L﻿e﻿a﻿n﻿ ﻿t﻿a﻿l﻿k﻿ ﻿w﻿i﻿t﻿h﻿ ﻿a﻿ ﻿f﻿u﻿n﻿ ﻿s﻿p﻿i﻿r﻿i﻿t﻿!﻿

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Lean Whiskey

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