Lean Coffee Talk — S2: E 3: What do Crayola, the NFL, MIT, the Pope, and Red Eyes all have in common?

In Season 2, Episode 3, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh both share specific episodes of their other podcasts. Jamie shares his People Solve Problems episode featuring Crayola CEO Pete Ruggiero, and Mark shares a repeat guest for My Favorite Mistake with NFL Players Association Dr. Thom Mayer to talk about the experiment of new kickoff formats and the impact (pun intended) on concussions. We then share our coffees, with the caffeine-laden Red Eye being the drink of choice, including Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell’s extreme coffee order. 

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They then jump into lean coffee discussion format covering a wide range of topics. We discuss why Americans aren’t filling the half-million manufacturing jobs already available, two new lean books on problem solving and hoshin kanri, and why it may be ok for it only to take 2 days to select Pope Leo XIV but five rounds of interviews to hire a remote worker (picking up on a popular meme). 

The discussion then turns to the MIT Sloan School of Management Work / 25 online conference, beginning with a bit of a rant about a poorly run event that wraps up in lessons of how to respond to customers when you do make mistakes. Then two speaker topics were explored from the conference, including Sharon Parker’s SMART model for how to prevent burnout in your employees, and then moving to Lynda Gratton’s presentation on the value of mastery in your career. 

The final segment of cultural shares includes two items to watch, featuring Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson in Friendship (in theaters now) and National Geographic’s Endurance about Sir Ernest Shackleton’s journey on Disney Plus. We hope you enjoy the listen!

Links From the Show: