Today’s guest is Dan Markovitz, President of Markovitz Consulting. Dan founded Markovitz Consulting to help organizations become faster, stronger, and more agile through the application of lean principles to knowledge work. Dan has worked with non-profit and governmental organizations such as the New York City Department of Health, Planned Parenthood, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, as well as a diverse roster of corporations such Starkey Technologies, W.L. Gore & Associates, Abbott Vascular, Clif Bar, Hydro Flask, and CamelBak.
He is a faculty member at the Lean Enterprise Institute and teaches at the Stanford University Continuing Studies Program. He also lectures at the Ohio State University’s Fisher School of Business.
Markovitz has published articles in the Harvard Business Review blog, Rotman Management, Quality Progress, Industry Week, Reliable Plant, and Management Services Journal, among other magazines. In 2015, he keynoted the Lean UK Summit, the Lean Island Conference in Reykjavik, and the Printing Industry Association National Conference. He’s also a regular presenter at the Association for Manufacturing Excellence National Conference and the Outdoor Industry Association Rendezvous.
Dan is the author of two Shingo Award winning books, A Factory of One: Applying Lean Principles to Banish Waste and Improve Your Personal Performance and his most recent book Building the Fit Organization: Six Core Principles for Making Your Company Stronger, Faster, and More Competitive.
Today Dan & I talk about:
How a love for coaching runners has influenced his lean and continuous improvement journey
The need for leadership to act and think differently as well as front line associates in applying lean principles
An experience he recently had with a simple kaizen idea he observed that he thought really captures the true spirit of kaizen
How a lot of people get lost on their lean journey by getting tripped up by 5S
The generosity of the lean and continuous improvement community
The power of benchmarking
The need to overcome learned helplessness

Interview Links
The Machine That Changed The World
The 28th Annual Shingo Conference April 25-26 in Washington DC
A Factory of One: Applying Lean Principles to Banish Waste and Improve Your Personal Performance
Building the Fit Organization: Six Core Principles for Making Your Company Stronger, Faster, and More Competitive
Joy Inc by Rich Sheridan
Rich Sheridan’s Episode on The Lean Leadership Podcast
Built to Last by Jim Collins
Great by Choice by Jim Collins
Connect with Dan on twitter
Connect with Dan on LinkedIn
Markovitz Consulting

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