Lean Roundup #196 – September 2025

A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of September 2025.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.  

Fear and Futility: Two Barriers to Improvement (and How Leaders Can Remove Them) – Mark Graban explains how fear and futility undermine improvement and what leaders can do to eliminate these barriers.

What is your “OK Zone?” – Mark Rosenthal introduces the concept of the “OK Zone” to encourage learning and growth outside of one’s comfort zone.

Mendomi: The Well-Being of Japanese Employees – Christopher Roser explores Mendomi, the Japanese approach to employee well-being, and its importance in lean workplaces.

What Is the Lean Practitioner Program and Why It Matters – Alen Ganic outlines the Lean Practitioner Program and why it is essential for building capability and sustaining improvement.

The Battles We Have to Win: Fear – Pascal Dennis reflects on fear as a central battle leaders must win to create trust and enable continuous improvement.

Strategy Deployment for the 21st Century – Bruce Hamilton shares how strategy deployment must evolve in the 21st century to align organizations and engage employees.

Why Technical Solutions Fail Without People: Reflections from 30 Years in Operations – Mark Graban highlights why technical solutions often fail without addressing the human and cultural side of operations.

Lean Is about the Work: Enhance Value-Creating Work to Truly Transform End-to-End, Value-Stream Performance – Josh Howell and Mark Reich argue that Lean is fundamentally about enhancing value-creating work to transform value-stream performance.

How I’ve Aimed to Share the Uncommon Knowledge of Lean Product and Process Development – Larry Navarre describes his efforts to spread the uncommon knowledge of Lean product and process development.

Excellence Isn’t an Accident: Mentorship as the Engine of Mastery – James Morgan emphasizes that excellence is driven by mentorship, which serves as the engine for mastery.

The Design Brief | What Most Companies Miss about the Role of Chief Engineers – Lex Schroeder explains what many companies miss about the role of chief engineers in design.

Plan, Do, Check, Act… or Plan, Do, Cover Your A? Leadership Makes the Difference – Mark Graban contrasts genuine PDCA with superficial “Plan, Do, Cover Your A” behaviors, stressing leadership’s role in real learning.