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Mark Graban

Mark Graban is a Senior Advisor at KaiNexus. Mark graduated from Northwestern University in 1995 with a BS in Industrial Engineering and later earned an MS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is author of two Shingo Research Award-winning books, and has worked as a consultant to healthcare organizations throughout North America and Europe, teaching and implementing kaizen and other Lean management practices. He was previously a Senior Fellow with the Lean Enterprise Institute and the Healthcare Value Network and continues as an LEI faculty member. Mark is also the founder of the popular LeanBlog.org and its podcast series.
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Recent Posts

Moving Leaders From "I Support Lean" to "I Am Committed to It"

April 13, 2026

Over the years in Ask Us Anything, we have heard a version of this story again and again:

"Our senior leaders support Lean."

On the...

How Simple Does Your Improvement System Actually Need to Be?

April 9, 2026

One operations leader, describing how he onboards people to his organization's improvement platform, said something that should make...

What Happens After You Outgrow Your Suggestion Box, Spreadsheet, or Homebrew System

April 8, 2026

You already know something is broken. The spreadsheet that tracked 40 improvements just fine is now a 12-tab monster maintained by a...

What Your CI Program Loses When Executives Delegate Change Leadership

April 6, 2026

Most executives don't oppose continuous improvement. They support it -- in the way they support good nutrition or regular exercise. They...

Psychological Safety and Lean: What Actually Makes People Speak Up

April 6, 2026

If there is one concept that kept resurfacing across the Ask Us Anything sessions -- even when we were not using the formal term -- it...

Finally, a Simpler Way to Do Continuous Improvement: Just Put On These Glasses

April 2, 2026

For years, we at KaiNexus have been building software to help organizations manage continuous improvement and operational excellence....

When the Floor Holds the Leaders Accountable: What Real CI Culture Looks Like

March 30, 2026

Every conference talk about continuous improvement culture follows the same script. A senior leader explains how they "empowered"...

Are You Really Backsliding -- or Was Continuous Improvement Never Deeply Adopted?

March 30, 2026

One of the most common questions in the Ask Us Anything series sounds like this:

"We were doing great with Lean, and now we are...

Karen Martin on Clarity, Leadership, and Why "A Process Has to Earn the Right to Be Automated"

March 25, 2026

We recently hosted Karen Martin for an "Ask the Expert" webinar through KaiNexus, and she delivered. Karen is a two-time Shingo Award...