Are most Continuous Improvement professionals doomed from the moment they sign the employment agreement?

CI is one of the few professions where you often have to prove to the people they hired you that they need your help.

Unfortunately too many CI people are left to swim with the sharks in their role and don't have the support system to help them thrive.

Don Lowe, recently appointed President of the Salt Lake City Chapter of Impruver University, and I discuss what it takes to succeed in Continuous Improvement and how membership in a community can help.

Are leaders born - or are they made?

I had the privilege of speaking with Patrick Adams on this episode to discuss Developing the Next Generation of Leaders.

With the emergence of #AI and other fast-moving technological advancements, what skills do leaders of the future need that should be sharpened today?

What are those traditional leadership competencies that all great leaders share and are standard for leadership development?

What processes can be used to set young people on a path to becoming tomorrow's leaders?

Patrick and I discuss these topics and more in this episode.

They say that AI in 2025 is what databases were in the late 1990s.

Is it an industrial revolution or just an evolution?

How will AI impact the role of Continuous Improvement leader in the near future?

We tackle these questions and so many more like it in this episode of The Impruvers Podcast.

In a sense, conflict is the route to respect. Conflict, if managed productively, can help reveal the thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and traumas that people carry along with them to work every day.

Therefore, conflict avoidance is a path to disrespect. As leaders make consequential choices without coming to understand the people they lead, the feeling of disrespect is inevitable.

In this episode, Mark Greenhouse, Principal at Levantar Consulting, explains how respect for people goes far beyond listening to people's ideas for improvement. It goes into taking the time to understand their problems and actively particpating in the solutioning process.

While most companies just hire Continuous Improvement professionals and wait for a transformation to unfold, leaders that actually create CI cultures behave differently.

In this episode, former COO and Principal at Chelwood Consulting, Scott Springer, shares the secrets and techniques that separate the leaders within CI cultures from the many who try and fail.

It seems like entrepreneurship is a natural extension to working within Lean or Continuous Improvement for a decade or more. However, given the stark realities of risk, failure, and the financial hurdles to starting and growing a business, many choose not to engage.

In this episode, Dr Bob Emiliani and I discuss a few things we've learned along the way as entrepreneurs in the Lean and Continuous Improvement business.

A Lean Transformation requires the CEO to be a bit of a Lean Pro. So why aren't boards of directors and investors calling upon Lean Pros to serve in top jobs?

In this episode, Dr Bob Emiliani explains how Lean, in classically managed companies, presents a way of working that is completely contrary to common methods.

In this episode, Katie Anderson talks about her experience over the last year traveling the world, winning the Shingo Prize, and organizing Japan Study Trips. She shares some key learnings from her experiences and some tips for creating a learning organization to accelerate a culture of Continuous Improvement.