Reflecting on the GE Lean Mindset Event, Including Ford, Uber, and PG&E

Episode page

In Episode 42, Jamie Flinchbaugh visits Mark Graban in northern Kentucky and they get to record an episode in person. This was the origin of the podcast series — getting together in person, enjoying whiskey, and talking about Lean stuff. 

In the last episode, we did an experiment that was inconclusive — sometimes that's how it goes. We had moved the whiskey talk to the end of the episode, but since we had no firm evidence that it was better, we moved it back to the beginning.

Since we were together, Jamie selected something from Mark's shelf, the Boone County Amburana Wood, as it isn't something you'd regularly find on the shelf. Mark had received a special package in the mail from the Jim Beam distillery — two different expressions of Little Book — and so he did a side-by-side comparison. 

They then discussed the GE Lean Mindset Event, held for employees, customers, and suppliers. The bulk of the speakers are available on a YouTube playlist.

We primarily discussed the discussion between Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, and Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber. We also discussed the conversation with Patti Poppe, CEO of PG&E (the primary power utility in California if you don't recognize the name). We explored the key nuggets from those speakers. 

After the recording stopped, the conversation continued at the outstanding Prohibition Bourbon Bar in Newport, Kentucky, ranked as one of America's Best Bourbon Bars by The Bourbon Review (that's where the photo was taken… and yes, they allowed us behind the bar).

 

---

Links From the Show:

• Jamie's selection, Amburana Wood finished Bourbon from Boone County
• Little Book, the experimental expressions from Freddie Noe of Jim Beam 
• The playlist for the GE Lean Mindset Event 
• Mark's podcast episode recorded on-site with Jim Womack, Katie Anderson, and Jamie Parker 
• California Burning, the book about PG&E mentioned by Patti
• Prohibition Bar in Newport, Kentucky, featured in The Bourbon Review
• Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or jflinch.com/leanwhiskey 

Please review us and follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform!