Articles

E136: Facilitating Improvement Events with Evan Unger

In this episode, I share an interview with Evan Unger, who is a change leader with expert facilitator that helps leaders transform their virtual teams to dramatically increase collaborative decision-making, buy-in and results. He shares his professional journey from a leadership role at Merck to becoming an expert in collaborative leadership and facilitation. He introduces
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E135: Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasures with Travis Keener

In this episode, I share an interview with Travis Keener (the “Spill Plan Man”) from November 2025. He is a licensed engineer specializing in spill prevention, control, and countermeasures (SPCC) for industrial facilities. He explains that federal EPA regulations require sites storing over 1,320 gallons of oil-based liquids to maintain rigorous spill plans and secondary containment systems, such as earthen berms or
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E134: Quality Improvement for Society with Dr. Yvonne Howze

In this episode, I share an interview with Dr. Yvonne Howze from December 2025. She specializes in Personal Mastery Leadership along with Organizational and Operational Excellence. She shares her remarkable journey from kindergarten lessons to becoming a nationally recognized leader in education, quality, and nonprofit improvement. With professional experiences spanning education, healthcare, transportation, and major
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E133: Applications of Lean Six Sigma in Dermatology Clinics

I share a presentation I gave in July 2025 at the Practical Symposium in Beaver Creek Colorado. The topic was titled “Operations Management – Make Practice More Efficient” which described my experience working with two dermatology clinics. In the presentation, I explain my background in healthcare improvement using Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. I explain
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E132: Lean Six Sigma for Corporate Giving with Anthea Rowe

In this episode, I share an interview with Anthea Rowe, corporate communications and PR expert. She discusses her career trajectory and the application of Lean Six Sigma principles to non-technical fields like communications and philanthropy. She details a major project she led at 3M, where she utilized the DMAIC process and a Pugh Matrix to
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E131: Agile and Sustainability in the UK with Mike Wrathall

In this episode, I share an interview with Mike Wrathall, where I explore his background in strategy, agile methods and sustainability. His early career involved building digital services, primarily for government and social housing organizations, such as streamlining the process for getting people who are homeless or victims of domestic violence into safe housing quicker.
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Distillery reduces overfill saving $800K per year

A distillery wanted to eliminate MAV (Maximum Allowable Variation) violations and reduce overfill waste without compromising quality. They looked at implementing statistical process control (SPC) into their operations to better monitor and control the variation. SPC gave them real-time alerts on quality issues and process variation and made it easier to collect the data (moving
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E130: Agile Sustainability Manifesto with Ines Garcia

In this episode, I share an interview with Ines Garcia, who is one of the creators of the Agile Sustainability Manifesto. She emphasizes the importance of adapting sustainable behaviors to individual lifestyles and advocating for change through personal example rather than pressure. She stresses that meaningful change starts with individual willingness to be part of
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E129: Reducing Malnutrition in South Sudan with Chelsie Azevedo

In this episode, I share an interview with Chelsie Azevedo, who has a masters in Public Health and is a Registered Dietician (RD), and was previously the Nutrition Technical Advisor for Rise Against Hunger. She shares the story of a powerful multi-year project she helped lead in South Sudan with students at Hope for South
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E128: Transforming Lives Using Lean with Patrick Adams

In this episode, I share an interview with Patrick Adams, founder of Lean Solutions based in Michigan. We met virtually during the pandemic in the Lean Communicators Network, and later in-person at the Lean Six Sigma World Conference. He hosts an annual conference called Lean Solutions Summit that will take place in a few weeks
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