Lean Whiskey

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.

Highland Park Scotch, What is the Point of Lean During a Rare Pandemic?

Mark Graban, Jamie Flinchbaugh, and Tom Ehrenfeld
https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey21
In Episode 21, Mark and Jamie return to our regular casual format of open discussion over a drink, this time joined by Tom Ehrenfeld, well known to the lean community for his writing and editorial work with the Lean Enterprise Institute. We all enjoyed tasting some Highland Park scotch, with Tom trying it for the first time, Mark opening a new bottle, and Jamie getting towards the end of a bottle. 
We talk about what new things we’ve been up to, with Mark winning with some California-based parasailing. We finish the discussion by talking about our favorite things about fall, with pumpkin spice lattes (or pumpkin-flavored whiskey) being a disqualified answer. 
We spent the bulk of the discussion exploring how companies can and should use lean during the pandemic, and even whether lean is valid under such conditions. We begin by talking about businesses such as United and Delta and how they can deal with such a black swan event in the COVID-19 pandemic. Delta had revenues last quarter of $3B, but lost $5.4B. But what are they going to do, sell their planes? To whom? Movie theaters can’t pay their rents, but what will landlords do, rent their space to another movie theater? There are major challenges that many industries face that will struggle with either long-lasting or even permanent shifts in their markets. Can lean help? Is lean enough? This is what we wrestle with on a Sunday night over a glass, or two, of scotch.  
Our guest Tom Ehrenfeld
The discussed LEI podcast with Dan Heath 
Jamie’s yoga app, Down Dog Yoga
Tom’s viewing of The Criterion Channel 
Highland Park - Scotch whisky from the Orkney Islands (less known region -- remote islands)
Tom and Jamie drink the 12-year-old Viking Honour while Mark cracks open a bottle of Valknut
Article on how United Airlines is dealing with the pandemic
The Wall Street Journal article we discussed that misplaces blame on how hospitals struggled with the pandemic 
Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or at leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or at jflinch.com/leanwhiskey 
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Live from the Colorado Lean Network Summit, Affordable Whiskeys

Mark, Jamie, Katie Benik, and Jen House
http://www.leanblog.org/whiskey20
In Episode 20, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh join the Colorado Lean Summit live and host a virtual happy hour while discussing the first couple days of the events proceedings. Joining us as co-hosts are CLN members Jen House (also a board member) and Katie Benik. We took some questions, shared what people were drinking in the chat, and had our own chat about what we’ve learned from the Summit.
We started by sharing our whiskey selections in the “budget-friendly” category. We certainly had some variation, ranging from Buffalo Trace to Skrewball. Those watching weren’t forced into our theme, so we had more adventurous and elaborate selections from our audience. 
The first takeaway that we discussed was from Deondra Wardelle’s talk, and the challenge of shifting from micromanaging controlling manager to a leader who encourages people to experiment, take action, and learn. We then talked about the theme of respect for people, a key lean tenant, and how hard people find it to be specific about how it is applied. We then turned to Renee Smith’s point of replacing fear with love and providing psychological safety. We concluded talking about Dan Markovitz’s points about framing problem statements. 
In wrapping up, we shared information about CLN’s charity project, Community College of Aurora’s Unity Scholarship to open more opportunities for future Black leaders to reach their highest potential. CLN matched the first $500 donated, and Jamie and Mark are matching the next $500 in donations. The donation channel is open through October 16th. 
And finally, our fun question: what’s your favorite lean-related word, but for a silly reason? The answers included muda, poka-yoke, verschlimmbesserung, and queuing. So get this podcast out of your queue and give it a listen! 
Colorado Lean Network’s 2020 Virtual Lean Summit
Co-hosts Jen House and Katie Benik
Mark’s ZERO hat giveaway for World Patient Safety Day 
Our whiskeys included Buffalo Trace, Elijah Craig Small Batch, Kirkland Blended, and Skrewball Peanut Butter whiskey
Jamie’s blog post on myths of respect for people 
Mark’s post about verschlimmbesserung 
The scholarship for the Community College of Aurora
Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or at leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or at jflinch.com/leanwhiskey 
Please review us and subscribe!

Mark Graban & Cliff Hazell: Amrut, Uncle Nearest, and Some Tweets

Mark Graban and Cliff Hazel
http://www.leanblog.org/whiskey19
For Episode #19, Mark Graban is joined by a new guest host, Cliff Hazell. Mark and Cliff first met years ago in Austin at the Lean Coaching Summit, where they shared some Garrison Brothers whiskey and talked about Lean, Deming, coaching, and such.
So today, Mark and Cliff share a drink — Amrut whiskey from India for Cliff and Uncle Nearest 1856 Tennessee whiskey for Mark. “Uncle Nearest” is a new brand that's named after Nearest Green, the slave who taught Jack Daniels how to make whiskey (read more about that here).
Watch the video version of the episode
You can check out our YouTube channels, Mark's here and Cliff's here (Flight Levels Academy)
Amrut Whisky
Uncle Nearest Whiskey
Cliff on Twitter
Cliff on LinkedIn
Flight Levels Academy
 

Just the Two of Us (Mark Graban & Jamie Flinchbaugh), Islay Scotch & More

Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh
https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey18
In Episode 18, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh return to our tried and true format of “just the two of us”, although that won’t last long as Mark will soon have a guest co-host and then we will record an episode live as part of the Colorado Lean Network Summit. Jamie decides to move to the porch, a “proper” whiskey drinking spot in contrast to his office, which might be a new standard (at least until winter). 
In this episode, we begin by remembering the life of Bill Hanson, who is a co-founder of MIT’s Leaders for Manufacturing program, now called Leaders for Global Operations. Mark and Jamie are both graduates. As we toast Bill’s contributions, we begin sipping our whiskey selection, each choosing a scotch from Islay. Mark is drinking Ardbeg Ultimate 10 Year and Jamie is drinking 16 year old Lagavulin.
In the News, we start by talking about Mark’s blog takeover by Deondra Wardelle, who has collected a series of authors to write under the hashtag #rootcauseracism. We continue further to explore articles about asynchronous work. The pandemic has forced many to change their work, leading some to just work harder with less effective and efficient work structures, while others are redesigning how they work leveraging asynchronous work as the pivot. 
We also explore the frequent questions that Mark and Jamie receive asking for how companies solve problems, and explore both the proper mindset and framing of benchmarking. We invoke a little Jeff Goldblum from Jurassic Park on the value of earning knowledge for yourself. We finish with a discussion of the books we are currently reading. Until next time, cheers! 
Remembering MIT’s Bill Hanson
Colorado Lean Network’s 2020 Virtual Lean Summit
Ardbeg 
Ardbeg’s Space Whisky
Lagavulin 16 Year Old
Ron Swanson makes a brief visit to Lagavulin 
Leanblog.org’s #rootcauseracism
www.leanblog.org/RCR 
Randall Pinkett’s 7 Myths of Racial Equity 
What If Working From Home Could Be Different To How It’s Been Until Now?
Slowing Down to Speed Up – Effective Asynchronous Communication for Teams
What Remote Companies Can Teach About Asynchronous Communication
Jeff Goldblum’s Jurassic Park lecture on earning knowledge
Jamie and Mathtech’s series on Reimagining Government 
Book: The Invincible Company
Book: The Map of Knowledge
Book: How To Be An Anti-Racist 
Book: Stamped from the Beginning 
Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or at leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or at jflinch.com/leanwhiskey 
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Show Firsts: 3 People, 2 Pours, 3 Keynotes

Mark Graban, Jamie Flinchbaugh, Jim Huntzinger
http://www.leanblog.org/whiskey17
In Episode 17, after not doing an episode of Lean Whiskey in almost two months, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh try all sorts of firsts. We had three people, with Jim Huntzinger of Lean Frontiers joining us. We all drank the same whiskey. We used two different whiskies. We talked about 3 different keynotes. OK, so they aren’t groundbreaking firsts, but it was new for our show. 
Jim Huntzinger joined us after an aborted attempt in March for Jamie to do an in-person episode during a planned visit to Lean Frontiers headquarters. We had planned on sampling some of David Meier’s whiskey. Since that didn’t happen, we decided to invite Jim to join Mark and Jamie and sample the same whiskey. Fortunately, Mark and Jamie had the same bottles at home. We all shared and enjoyed Glenns Creek Distillery’s Cuervito Vivo and Cafe Ole. 
We talked about a range of lean topics. TWI, or Training Within Industry, came up in a discussion about Delta’s approach to asking passengers to wear masks. We talked about Lean Frontier’s upcoming virtual workshops and some featured keynotes. Lean Coaching Summit features Deondra Wardelle who has coached others in professional groups ranging from schools to churches using kata and helped them to success. Watch for Deondra to take over Mark’s blog for a week in August. We explored Jim’s own mini-keynote on Advanced Lean, and how the arc of lean learning often brings you back to the fundamentals, just applied in a more rigorous way. And we finally return to David Meier and his forthcoming work on applying standardization where there appear to be none. 
We finish the episode sharing a bit of our different office experiences and improvements while working from home. We hope you enjoy the episode, and we toast all of you on your lean learning journey. Cheers!
 
 
Episode #17 Show Links:
 
Here are some links from the show: 
 
About our guest Jim Huntzinger and his organization Lean Frontiers
Mark’s first podcast with Jim Huntzinger in Episode #8, but Jamie beat him to it with Episode #5
Mark’s post about how Delta asks people to wear masks and its relation to TWI
Patrick Graupp’s handwashing video via TWI 
Our two whiskey pours were both from Glenns Creek Distillery, starting with Cuervito Vivo and finishing with Cafe Ole
The upcoming virtual Lean Coaching Summit and its keynoter Deondra Wardelle
The forthcoming Lean Accounting and Management Summit and its mini-keynote Jim Huntzinger on Advanced Lean
Next year’s TWI Summit in Europe and the US that David Meier will talk about building standards
 
Find the podcast feed and past episodes at LeanWhiskey.com or at leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or at jflinch.com/leanwhiskey 
 

Relocating Coast to Coast, Making Cocktails, and Covid

Episode page: http://www.leanblog.org/whiskey16
In Episode 16, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh take a little longer than usual to get to the lean talk. Our whiskey topic was cocktails, which takes longer to make (and apparently talk about) than pouring neat whiskey into a tumbler. Mark made a Boulevardier and Jamie made an Old Fashioned. We discuss bar tools and stirring versus shaking (sorry Mr. Bond, see the links below). See, we talked about process.
We also explore Mark’s experience in traveling coast to coast in his move from Orlando to LA, and share a little more on what we’ve both been up to. For our In the News article, we explore the grand experiment of working from home, and what it means for businesses, technology, culture, and jobs. We even explore how Kainexus is dealing with it as a company. It may possibly be that the grand experiment leaves a greater lasting impression than the virus itself. 
We spend a little time exploring a listener's question on how lean thinking can help us deal with larger complex problems, such as reopening the economy. And we close by answering a question more about gratitude, which is what surprising good thing has come from our shelter-in-place time? Cheers!  
Jamie has been working on launching a new program, the JFlinch Learning Lab. You can see the announcement in his newsletter here and you can sign up for his newsletter here.
Mark is launching a new podcast with Value Capture honoring the legacy of the firm’s founder, Paul O’Neill. The podcast is called Habitual Excellence, which you can find here.   
Jamie’s cocktail was an Old Fashioned with Glenn’s Creek Distillery’s Cuervito Vivo and homemade maple simple syrup 
Mark’s cocktail was a Boulevardier with Michter’s Straight Rye, Campari, and Cocchi sweet vermouth
Mark and Jamie debate (well, we actually agree) on whether we should shake or stir, but the right bar equipment is important, such as Mark’s jigger. 
Shaken or stirred. As a fun bonus, here’s every James Bond saying “shaken, not stirred”, and West Wing’s President Bartlett mocking James Bond. 
In the news, we’ve talked about this grand experiment (with thousands of embedded smaller experiments) called “working from home”. Here’s an early article exploring China who went first, an interesting piece from Fast Company, and something from CNBC about how work will be affected. I also mentioned virtual working expert Sacha Conner.  And here’s Kainexus’ blog post about their remote work from March. 
Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or at leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or at jflinch.com/leanwhiskey 
Please review us and subscribe!