Why do Lean transformations fail—and what separates genuine transformation from “Lean theatre”?
In this episode of Lean 911, Mark DeLuzio is joined by Mark Forkun, author of Genba Ikigai – Leading to Serve, for a practical discussion about Lean leadership, leadership habits, problem-solving, culture change, and sustainable business performance.
The conversation explores the 16 leadership habits of Genba Ikigai across four areas:
• Leading Self — understanding and managing your own behavior
• Leading the Tribe — creating trust, clarity, capability, and belonging
• Leading through Problem-Solving — developing people to confront facts and solve problems themselves
• Leading Culture Change — connecting leadership behavior with engagement, strategy deployment, learning, and continuous improvement
Mark and Mark explore practical leadership concepts including Hansei (reflection), Mendoumi (caring for and developing others), problem-solving coaching, and Yokoten (sharing best practices).
They also discuss how the ideas in Genba Ikigai can move from theory into everyday leadership practice through case studies, self-assessment, personal PDCA, AI-enabled Sensei coaching, workshops, and Genba coaching.
If you are a CEO, plant leader, operations leader, Lean practitioner, continuous-improvement professional, or transformation leader, this episode explores an important question:
Are you implementing Lean tools—or developing the leadership habits necessary to make Lean sustainable?
Topics include:
Lean leadership | Genba Ikigai | Lean transformation | Toyota leadership | continuous improvement | leadership development | problem-solving | PDCA | Hansei | Mendoumi | Yokoten | Genba coaching | culture change | business transformation
