Operational Excellence Mixtape - Best of First Half of 2025
News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace better.
Hi Readers - In need of a much needed Summer break, I’ve compiled the Top 10 most-clicked links from the first 6 months of 2025, which proved once again that I have no idea what people are most likely to click on:
The most-clicked link was a post by my friend Didier Rabino on How Leader Standard Work Fuels Creativity, Not Control. I have found that Leader Standard Work is one of the tougher ideas to implement, for many of the reasons Didier shares in this post.
The ever-popular Simon Sinek shared Three Simple Words That Could Elevate Your Career. While I wholeheartedly agree with his premise, I’ve witnessed situations where these words actually hindered the perceptions of some leaders.
Change management remains a hot topic. Many readers wanted to learn the 5 components of a successful change plan according to Nikhil Pal.
All the people pleasers out there wanted to know How to Say No at Work.
Virginia Mason Medical Center is one of only a very few examples of a healthcare organization that has embedded lean management systems to improve outcomes for patients for over 20 years. Here’s Why Virginia Mason Medical Center Took a Page Out of Toyota’s Book.
Speaking of Toyota, many readers checked out what it looks like inside the giant hospital that is staffed by Toyota employees.
Many of my more technical readers wanted to learn more about ANOVA and Process Behaviour Charts from Dr. Wheeler.
Readers appreciate book and resource recommendations, including this list of 12 System Thinking Resource Recommendations from IDEO.
Collaboration is critical when you want to drive operational excellence at scale. Readers agree and clicked often on HBR’s article 3 Types of Silos That Stifle Collaboration.
HBR closes out the top 10 with a great article on Where Data-Driven Decision-Making Can Go Wrong.
Look for the next regular-format mixtape on August 8. Hope you’re enjoying the summer.