Lean Blog Interviews — 432: Jamie Flinchbaugh on ”People Solve Problems” – His New Book

Show page: https://www.leanblog.org/432 

My guest for Episode #432 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Jamie Flinchbaugh, an old friend of mine and a frequent guest (Episodes 561064, and 261, plus the two times he’s interviewed me, Episodes 50 and 316).

He’s also the co-creator and frequent co-host with me on the Lean Whiskey podcast series.

Today, the talk is all Lean, no whiskey. We talk about leadership, problem solving, more today — talking about his new book, People Solve Problems: The Power of Every Person, Every Day, Every Problem. I put Jamie on the spot to coach me through some problem solving I’m doing related to podcast growth, and he makes a lot of great points.

Today, we discuss topics and questions including:

  • So, we don’t need to worry about AI problem solving?
  • The role of software, like KaiNexus
  • The story behind the book – after The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean in ’06
  • Why this book? Why now?
  • Behaviors drive action — what are some of the key behaviors that drive problem solving?
  • Testing to learn… testing throughout?
  • Open to the idea you might be WRONG – humility
  • Entrepreneur — book is a product that scales – thinking about it like a startup?
  • Book isn’t A3 or PDSA or Kata centered… agnostic about the specific method??
  • A3 — The importance of a good problem statement?
  • How do we better understand cause and effect in problem solving?
  • You can coach without being an expert
  • The role of intuition vs data?

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