Lean Blog Interviews — 408: Katie Labedz on “How to Improve Absolutely Anything”

Author of new book, trainer, consultant

My guest for Episode #408 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Katie Labedz, the author of the new book How to Improve Absolutely Anything: Continuous Improvement in Your Home, Office and Family Life.

Katie Labedz is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with over 20 years of experience implementing continuous improvement solutions within non-manufacturing and manufacturing environments.  Her company is Learning to Lean.

Katie also has her Master’s certification in instructional design, her Project Management Professional (PMP) certification through PMI and is a certified instructor/facilitator through Langevin.

Topics and questions in today’s episode include:

  • What’s your Lean origin story?
  • What did you learn moving from IT to manufacturing to working with Lean in office settings?
  • How is Lean different with “carpet walkers”?
  • How do you define “continuous improvement”?
  • When do you need to take a break from improvement to stabilize things?
  • Lessons from working on virtual improvement this year?
  • Why write the book?
  • Favorite practical tips and tricks (Lean methods at home) from the book?
  • Lessons about motivations and “resistance to change”?

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network