Lean Coffee Talk (formerly known as Lean Whiskey)

End a Year, End a Bottle; Start a Year, Start a Bottle

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey31
In Episode 31 of “Lean Whiskey,” Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh discuss the routines and practices of wrapping up a year, and kicking off a new year.
In that spirit, we either finish a bottle of whiskey, or start a new one. We also invite three guests to share their thoughts.
Past Lean Whiskey guests Jim Benson, Deondra Wardelle, and Chris Burnham join and share their thoughts on finishing up a year and starting a new one.
Routines, habits, practices that help you transition the year and set up for success in the new year. Lean thinkers know the fallacy of just having good intentions, such as New Year's Resolutions, and tend to focus more on purpose, reflection, structure, and systems. We put that hypothesis to the test by asking three lean thinkers how they approach this time period, and didn't know in advance what they would share. 
Jim Benson talked about their discussions within his company, which take place during huddles which allow the conversation to emerge. This is much different than the once-and-done offsite approach. They are exploring how to increase collaboration, as that is certainly the central theme of their work with clients.
Deondra Wardelle celebrates, which she often models for all of us. She also shared how she develops a theme for each year, which drives her plans and actions. The theme for 2022 is “laser focus” which was very intriguing.
Chris Burnham, who is Senior Lean Strategy Director, KaiNexus, shared his evolution of daily practices which includes reflection, prioritization, and planning. His methods include journals and digital tools and of course, having important conversations about the right topics with the right people. 
Mark and Jamie also share a bit of their perspective on the challenge, including the fact that the turning of a calendar is relatively arbitrary when it comes to performance management and continuous improvement, and Mark notes how often he sees people zero-out their measurements to start the new year (please don't do this).
Jamie observes that the open space often (but not always) created between your last and first meeting gives you more room to mentally breathe (inbox = zero helps too) which allows deep work, whether that is reflection or planning. 
Links From the Show
We record this episode just after Repeal Day 
Mark's whiskey selection: a new bottle of Yamazaki 12 – Thanks, Ralphs!!
Jamie's whiskey selection: finishing bottles of Larceny and Willett Pot Still Reserve Bourbon
Jim Benson's rum selection: Kohana Rum 
Jim Benson's guest appearance on Lean Whiskey Episode 25, and his Personal Kanban site
Deondra Wardelle's whiskey selection: starting a bottle of Old Pogue
Deondra Wardelle's guest appearance on Lean Whiskey Episode 23, and her own company and #rootcauseracism 
Chris Burnham's whiskey selection: finishing a bottle of Blanton's 
Chris Burnham's guest appearance on Lean Whiskey Episode 3, and his own podcast Lean Leadership including guest appearances by Mark on Episode 1 and Jamie most recently on Episode 62
Mark's post about starting the year with blank charts
Since both books came up, we might as well mention Jamie's People Solve Problems and Mark's Measures of Success.

Celebrating 30 Episodes, Writing Books, and Great Whiskey

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey30
In Episode 30 of “Lean Whiskey“, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh find things to celebrate, starting with the fact that we have hit 30 episodes.
In that time, we've had 14 guests or co-hosts, and tasted 56 different whiskeys (not counting the gin and coffee detours) covering 5 countries and 7 states. We've also had over 10,000 downloads which is a celebration of its own right, and while we do not record this show just to get lots of listeners, we are extremely grateful for all of you who have tuned in. 
Having both just returned from our alma maters, Lehigh University (Jamie) and Northwestern (Mark), we share our whiskeys under the theme of the bottle you would pull off the shelf when you are in the mood to celebrate. Jamie had a 21 year old Glenfarclas and Mark finished off his bottle of the 6th release of the WhistlePig Boss Hog titled “The Samurai Scientist.” 
We are also celebrating the pending (October 26th) release of Jamie's latest book, People Solve Problems: The Power of Every Person, Every Day, Every Problem. Instead of In the News, we cover On the Bookshelf, and talk about why we write a book, how to pick a title, how to publish, and more. Mark has written several books, including Lean Hospitals, Healthcare Kaizen, The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen, Practicing Lean (as editor and publisher — and Jamie was a contributor), and most recently Measures of Success. Jamie has published two books now, starting with The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean and now People Solve Problems. 
Links From the Show
Jamie's whiskey, a 21 year old Glenfarclas
Mark's whiskey, the WhistlePig Boss Hog Samurai Scientist
Mark's various books
Jamie's various books
Book The Complete Whiskey Course
Book resources such as editor and publisher Rob Worth, Bethany Brown of The Cadence Group, and coach Cathy Fyock  
Impactful books included Out of the Crisis, Understanding Variation, and Man's Search for Meaning.

Yellow Cards, Coffee Cocktails, and a Smashed Barrel

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey29
In Episode 29, it's been a little while since Mark and Jamie got together for Lean Whiskey. We catch up on what's new, which includes Mark's new certification with distinction with the WSET Level 2 Spirits certification, and Jamie's new side-hustle as a soccer referee.
We return to making cocktails, this time building on our coffee theme from the pour-over edition of Episode 27. We both make coffee cocktails. Jamie's is a whiskey espresso martini, equal parts bourbon, Kahlua, and freshly pulled espresso, shaken and served in a martini glass. Mark worked his way towards his own concoction, based on the Revolver cocktail, using bourbon and coffee liqueur, but he used a couple Texas-based brands and named it the Texas Revolver. We both follow our cocktails with some Glenn's Creek Cafe Ole and discuss Mark's lost barrel of bourbon. 
We did "In the News" with a twist, building on our coffee theme we used something close to the Lean Coffee format and covered many news stories for 5 minutes each. These stories covered Starbucks as a talent pool, CEO pay and diversity, wage inflation, what work really needs to be in-person, people leaving the restaurant industry, and using lean to help get jabs in arms. There was no theme here, just two guys sitting around talking about the news from a lean thinker's perspective. Scroll down for links galore.
After covering a lot of ground, Mark and Jamie look forward to the fall, including football. We hope you enjoy this episode. Please send Mark or Jamie questions, suggestions, or comments for our future discussions. Until next time, cheers! 
Links From the Show
Mark's WSET Level 2 Spirits certification 
Jamie's retirement from coaching announcement and kickoff of a referee side-hustle 
Lean Coffee episode of Lean Whiskey, Episode #27
Jamie's new ECM Casa V espresso machine 
Jamie's Town Branch bourbon used for the espresso martini
Jamie's Buzzopolis espresso blend from Whole Latte Love
The base Revolver recipe that Mark started with 
Mark's "Texas Revolver" included 2 oz Garrison Brothers Hye Rye Bourbon, 0.5 oz Caffe del Fuego Reserve, 3 dashes orange bitters, 0.25 oz Dry Curacao, and 3 dashes coffee bitters
We both finished with David Meier's Cafe Ole
Mark's My Favorite Mistake episode with David Meier
The Lean Coffee method we somewhat followed 
In the News
News item #1: More U.S. companies tie CEO pay to diversity metrics
News item #2: Wage Growth Among U.S. Job Switchers Increased 5.8 Percent Since June 2020 as Businesses Struggle to Attract Workers
News item #3: Starbucks Is the New Talent Factory Powering Corporate America
News item #4: When Do We Actually Need to Meet in Person?
News item #5: How Lean Thinking and Practice Helped Put Shots in Arms, Part 1: Building the Process and Part 2: Wind-down and Reflection
News item #6: Restaurants Will Never Be the Same. They Shouldn't Be.
Our college football schedules for tailgating at Lehigh and Northwestern
 

Mistakes Make us Better (and Sometimes Make Whiskey Necessary?)

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey28
In Episode 28, Mark and Jamie begin by having our spouses pour mystery whiskeys for us. We don’t know what they are when we start drinking them. Mark’s wife at least joins him occasionally in a dram, but Jamie’s wife is truly pouring without experience, but he’s safe since it is from his own shelf. Mark and Jamie give their best guess, so listen and see if they get it right (or at least partially correct). 
Jamie and Mark then build on Mark’s highly successful, and prolific, podcast My Favorite Mistake. We talk about the podcast, its neat origin story, and then we dive into a couple of our own favorite mistakes, although without the systematic breakdown he includes in his podcast. We explore the whole point of examining our favorite mistakes.  Along the way we cover old label designs and baseball and sushi. 
Links:
Mark celebrated his 10 year anniversary as part of the KaiNexus team
Mark’s mystery pour, Old Pulteney Single Malt Scotch Duncansby Head Lighthouse and his 2nd pour from Teeling
Jamie’s mystery pour from 10 year old Whistle Pig rye and his second pour, a 10-year-old Jura scotch
Mark’s My Favorite Mistake podcast
Episodes that were lean-related, including Karyn Ross, Billy Taylor, and Karen Martin
Whiskey-related episode about Garrison Brothers
The favorite mistake story behind Angostura bitters’ label
Redemption Whiskey and Tyler’s Mistake  
Chicago Cubs baserunning mistake that wasn’t
Food: uni and poutine, just not together

Lean Coffee: Pour Over Edition With Inventory / Supply Chain Talk

https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey27
In Episode 27, Mark and Jamie switch things up a bit with a morning recording of the show. While we could have just started our whiskey early, instead we decided to switch to a beverage that shares much of the same culture, craft, and appreciation as whiskey, and that is coffee.
Although a bit of throwback in terms of usages, the trend towards pour over coffee embraces the culture of single origin coffee, much like the shift from whiskey blends towards more single casks. The pour over method is meant to extract more of the “good stuff” and less of the “bad stuff” from freshly ground coffee beans.
So Mark and I poured our coffee and got into our topics of the day. You can see our coffee selections and equipment setups in the links below.
We didn't want to lose the whiskey theme, so we used an article exploring whether 10 million barrels of whiskey resting, or aging, in Kentucky is a good thing or a bad thing.
This became a launchpad to talk about whether just-in-time is dead (as the Wall Street Journal likes to claim) or just misunderstood. We explore MIT's The Beer Game, system dynamics, supply chain design, decision making, and the glut of face masks and hand sanitizer. We could have likely talked about this topic for a very long time, and had we been into a glass of whiskey, perhaps we would have. 
In addition to a little detour into Mark's many hats, including the reason he wears two different hats in one episode, we close on a personal note of how we both like to start our day: with coffee, reading news, and a view. 
Jamie's coffee, Death Wish, and Mark's coffee, Yellow Caturra
Jamie's KitchenAid grinder, Chemex pour over, and kettle
Mark's different KitchenAid grinder, Bodum pour over, and electric kettle
10 Million bourbon barrels resting – too much or not enough? 
The Wall Street Journey's misinformed piece on JIT, Jeff Liker on JIT, Dr. Jonathan Byrnes on supply chain shockwaves, and Dr. Byrnes as a guest Mark's LeanBlog podcast
MIT's The Beer Game, system dynamics and accumulators and delays, and supply and demand
Mark's hat and Jamie's morning view 

The Accidental St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, and Discussing New CEOs Carol Tomé, Rosalind Brewer, and Jane Fraser

Show notes and links: https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey26
In Episode 26, we accidentally celebrate St. Patrick's Day with some Irish whiskey, lightly mourn some NCAA March Madness losses (or absences, and Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban welcome guest co-host Adam Zak. We selected Irish whiskey as a category because we hadn't used it yet, but after changing the date of the scheduled recording, we ended up quite close to St. Patrick's Day (which was officially a dry holiday until 1970, but that pendulum certainly swung the other way). 
In the spirit of Adam Zak's career as an executive recruiter with a Lean lens, we discuss many of the new CEO appointments, in particular, Carol Tomé at UPS, Rosalind Brewer at Walgreens, and Jane Fraser at Citigroup. These appointments are historic in one sense, but also highlight the fact that only 41 of the Fortune 500 are run by women (and Brewer is the only Black woman of the group). We explore what matters when selecting a new CEO, how that fits the strategic needs of the company, and how Lean thinking might influence or be leveraged by some of these leaders. 
We explore a common listener question: Do you think it's possible for a Lean organization to do well with quality and safety? As we certainly don't feel this question takes much nuance to answer, we make our way through this fairly quickly and on to our closing question about what books we are reading these days, with a slight detour into our reading habits. 
Adam Zak's website, his book Simple Excellence with Bill Waddell, and 2008 guest appearance on Mark's Lean Blog podcast #105 
Adam's whiskey selection, 18 YO Tullamore D.E.W.
Jamie's selection, Green Spot aged in zinfandel barrels from Chateau Montelena
Mark's selection, a special bottle of Teeling that he filled at the Dublin distillery, along with an honorable mention of Writers' Tears (since we're all published authors)
A little about new UPS CEO Carol Tomé on Wikipedia and an interview 
A little something about new Walgreens CEO Rosalind Brewer on Wikipedia and Financial Times    
Stuff about new Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser on Wikipedia and NYT
Our collective reading list, Believe in People, The Girl Who Never Makes Mistakes, Constant Comedy, and Team of Rivals
Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or at leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or at jflinch.com/leanwhiskey 

Peaty Scotch, Working from Home, and Misunderstood Lean Phrases with Jim Benson

In Episode 25, Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban welcome a guest to our show, with Jim Benson joining us. Jim has been a long-time collaborator of Mark's, and certainly enjoys a dram or two of whiskey. We begin by getting the backstory on Jim's Twitter handle @OurFounder, complete with artwork. 
Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey25 
Since it's still winter, and Jamie continues to spend more time driving his snowblower than his car, we thought “something peaty” felt fitting. We all selected something peaty from our scotch collection, from Highland Park to Samaroli to Lagavulin, and we learned about Jim's favorite whisky shop in the UK. We discuss the continued extension of work-from-home practices, and both the need and opportunity to make it effective for each individual. This includes everything from ergonomics to managing your attention span, with a little detour into the Pomodoro technique. 
We explored lean phrases that are commonly used but often misunderstood, including “lean project”, “kaizen”, and “respect for people.” The three of us fall dangerously close to “cranky old lean guy” territory, but pull ourselves out just in time for our fun closing question of something we watched recently that was disappointing, ranging from Wonder Woman 1984 to The Muppet Show to baking shows. 
May you enjoy your whiskey, and your work, in peace and health. Cheers! 
Show Notes and Links
Jim's Twitter handle OurFounder, along with Mark and Jamie on Twitter
Mark and Jim's upcoming webinar on 3/2 on humane management and their previous podcast episode on the topic 
We selected “something peaty” so here's a bit about the peat scale 
Jamie's go-to selection, Lagavulin 16 year old
Mark's Samaroli Islay Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
Jim's 21 year old from Highland Park
Jim's favorite UK-based whisky shop Milroy's 
FastCompany on finding the best place to work at home
Jamie's video on making his home office more productive, and a waste walk on his morning routine 
The Pomodoro technique 
Mark's blog post on not using the Deming quote to threaten people 
Jamie's blog post on the myths of the lean principle respect for people 
Mark's “Choose Lean” LeanBlog mug 

Homemade Whiskey Cream and Vaccination (Not to be Mixed Up)

Mark Graban & Jamie Flinchbaugh
https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey24
In Episode 24, Mark and Jamie return to a familiar format, just the two of them chatting over some whiskey. In this episode, they decide to make homemade whiskey cream (more popularly known as Irish cream or just Bailey's). Mark's recipe is keto-friendly and Jamie's utilizes rye whiskey. Check out the links below for their recipes and a history of the creation of Bailey's Irish Cream. 
After celebrating Jamie's completion of his next book's manuscript and Mark's immersion into the world of spirits with WSET Level 2 Spirits certification, they dive into their topic: lean thinking applied to the rollout of the covid vaccine.
We begin with framing the topic with Dwight Eisenhower's quote: “Farming looks mighty easy if your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field.”
We acknowledge the difficulty of the challenge and try to avoid blame, but still focus on how continuous improvement thinking can and should be applied at all levels of the challenge, from national distribution to localized application. We remain hopeful that learning and best practice sharing (and adoption) will win the day, even if we're off to a slow start. 
We wrap up talking about our favorite board games. Enjoy the episode!

Finishing 2020 with Kentucky Bourbon, Eggnog, and Kata Talk

Mark Graban, Jamie Flinchbaugh, and Deondra Wardelle
https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey23 for show notes and links
In Episode 23, Mark and Jamie return to finish out 2020, this time joined by Kentucky native Deondra Wardelle, so naturally Kentucky bourbon is our whiskey category of choice. Bourbons selected include Brough Brothers, Willett, and Barton 1792. After introducing Deondra to our listeners, we take a moment to toast the life of Norman Bodek, who passed away last week at the age of 88. 
After briefly debating whether peppermint should ever be added to beer, even if it is the holidays, we get on with our bourbon selections. We return at the end of the episode to talk about other drinks such as Irish (or whiskey) cream, wine, cocktails, and eggnog. A tempting challenge was put forth for Mark and Jamie to make their own whiskey cream at home - perhaps a future episode event. 
The bulk of the episode we get into Deondra's favorite topic, Toyota Kata, teed up by a Lean Enterprise Institute article. The article prompts us to talk about the underlying nature of learning in lean, problem solving, kata, and coaching. We aren't convinced that you need a new kata to add to the improvement and coaching kata, but instead propose coaching and behavior adjustments to make sure we don't lose sight of the purpose, which is to learn. 
So, give us a listen, and let us know what you think, about learning, or about whiskey. We wish everyone a safe, healthy, and happy holidays to wrap up 2020, and we will see you again in 2021. Cheers! 
Links:
Our guest Deondra Wardelle
Deondra's kata presentation for Lean Frontiers
Deondra's upcoming Lean Frontiers webinar: Strategic Planning Workshop 2021: Planning Through a Continuous Improvement Lens, Thursday, 1/21, 12 noon EST
#RootCauseRacism and www.rootcauseracism.com 
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Webinar, "The Lean Journey to Equity for All" Thursday, 1/28 @ 1pm EST
Mark's tribute to Norm Bodek who recently passed away
Lexington Brewing's Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Peppermint Porter  
Deondra's Brough Brothers bourbon from Louisville, KY
Jamie's Willett Pot Still Reserve bourbon 
Mark's Barton 1792 Full Proof bourbon
Story about the warehouse / rickhouse collapse
The LEI article on kata ("Improve Continuously by Mastering the Lean Kata")
Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn book mentioned on Isao Yashino 
Henri Poincare quote on intuition 
Mark's 2011 April Fool's Joke (the A3 "app") 
Five Farms Irish Cream
Cooper's Hawk Sweet Red wine
 

Catching Up with Honsha Friends Over Whisky, Sake, and an Old Fashioned

Mark Graban, Darril Wilburn, and Sammy Obara
https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey22
For Episode 22, Mark Graban is joined by Darril Wilburn and Sammy Obara, two former Toyota employees who are colleagues at the firm Honsha.
They are two of the authors of the excellent book Toyota by Toyota. The three talk about how they met (via LEI and other Lean events) and how Mark was invited by Darril and Honsha to go to Japan with them two years ago (see posts about that trip).
They talk about the "conveyor belt sushi incident" that Mark blogged about. They also discuss many lessons from Toyota, including the idea that "it's the responsibility of leaders to create a system in which people can be successful." They also chat a bit about how work and life has changed during the pandemic.
Oh, and the whiskey theme was "drink what you like." Mark enjoyed a neat pour of Ichiro's Malt & Grain whisky from Japan. Darril made a very fancy Old Fashioned using a smoked glass and Woodford Reserve Double Oaked bourbon (since he's from Kentucky originally). Sammy enjoyed sake from Japan. We all enjoyed the chance to catch up and talk.