About six years ago I was meeting with a clinical team to kick off an early improvement effort at their hospital. We began with a reflection on the problems with traditional business management practices. To break the ice, I played a short clip from an I Love Lucy episode that has now become a staple of lean learning. We watched as Lucy and Ethel struggled to keep pace with an ever-accelerating chocolate packing line, and we watched Lucy stuff about two pounds of unwrapped chocolates into her clothing lest their autocratic supervisor see that they couldn’t keep the pace. (If you haven’t yet watched this clip from Job Switching, you can view it now.)

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