I had the pleasure of discussing with Mark on the Business901 podcast, the role he is playing at the Lean Enterprise Institute and his book on Lean Health Care. Mark is an engaging speaker and a Lean advocate. Mark also writes the highly acclaimed Lean Blog.

We also had a chance to talk about the collaboration headed by the Lean Enterprise Institute and the ThedaCare Center for healthcare improvement, where they have a network of 16 healthcare organizations that are trying to help each other with their lean improvement efforts. (www.healthcarevalueleaders.org)

Mark Graban is a Senior Fellow at the Lean Enterprise Institute and author of the Shingo Prize-winning book Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Satisfaction. Previously, Mark worked as a consultant for numerous healthcare organizations across North America and in the United Kingdom. He taught and led teams of hospital personnel across multi-month lean transformation engagements in departments including laboratory, radiology, primary care, and nursing settings. Working with managers and senior leaders, these hospitals developed a track record of sustaining their lean improvements and also instilling a culture of continuous improvement and kaizen. With a background in Industrial Engineering, Mark first learned and practiced lean in various manufacturing industries, learning how lean concepts and management methods could be translated into different settings.