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Mark Graban

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http://www.markgraban.com

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Business, Nonfiction

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July 2011

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Mark Graban is a consultant, author, keynote speaker, and blogger in the world of “Lean Healthcare.” In June 2011, Mark joined the software company KaiNexus as their “Chief Improvement Officer,” to help further their mission of “making improvement easier” in healthcare organizations, while continuing his other consulting and speaking activities.

He is the author of the book Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Engagement (Productivity Press), which was selected for a 2009 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award and is being translated into seven languages. A 2nd revised edition was released in November, 2011. Mark has also co-authored a new book, titled “Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Su Mark Graban is a consultant, author, keynote speaker, and blogger in the world of “Lean Healthcare.” In June 2011, Mark joined the software company KaiNexus as their “Chief Improvement Officer,” to help further their mission of “making improvement easier” in healthcare organizations, while continuing his other consulting and speaking activities.

He is the author of the book Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Engagement (Productivity Press), which was selected for a 2009 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award and is being translated into seven languages. A 2nd revised edition was released in November, 2011. Mark has also co-authored a new book, titled “Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements,” released in June 2012. He is the founder and lead blogger and podcaster at LeanBlog.org, started in January 2005.

Mark earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University as well as an MS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the MIT Sloan Leaders for Global Operations Program (previously known as Leaders for Manufacturing). Mark has worked in automotive (General Motors), the PC industry (Dell), and industrial products (Honeywell). At Honeywell, Mark was certified as a “Lean Expert” (Lean Black Belt).

Since August 2005, Mark has worked exclusively in healthcare, where he has coached lean teams at client sites in North America and the United Kingdom, including medical laboratories, hospitals, and primary care clinics. From 2005 to 2009, Mark was a senior consultant with ValuMetrix Services, a division of Johnson & Johnson and he currently consults independently and in conjunction with the firm Lean Pathways.

Mark’s motivation is to apply Lean and Toyota Production System principles to improve quality of care and patient safety, to improve the customer/patient experience, to help the development of medical professionals and employees, and to help build strong organizations for the long term.

From June 2009 to June 2011, Mark was a Senior Fellow with the Lean Enterprise Institute, a not-for-profit educational organization that is a leading voice in the Lean world. Mark served as the LEI’s “Chief Engineer” for healthcare activities, including workshops, web & social media, and other publications. Mark also served as the Director of Communication & Technology for the Healthcare Value Network, a collaboration of healthcare organizations from across North America, a partnership between LEI and the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value. Mark continues as an LEI faculty member.

Mark is a popular speaker at conferences and private healthcare meetings. He has guest lectured at schools including MIT and Wharton and has served as a faculty member for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He has been quoted and interviewed in many publications, including Health Affairs and the New York Times.

Mark and his wife live in San Antonio, Texas.

See: http://www.markgraban.com/about-mark-... ...more

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Mark Graban's Blog

What I Tell People Who Want to Write a Book About Lean

Twice in the past two weeks, I have talked with people who want to write a book about Lean. Both were early in the process and trying to figure out what they were signing up for. I've had a lot of these conversations over the years. I enjoy doing them and this blog post is not meant to replace future chats. Those conversations tend to cover the same ground: whether the idea is worth a […]

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Mark Graban’s books

Average rating: 4.11 · 392 ratings · 42 reviews · 27 distinct works • Similar authors

	Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More by Mark Graban (Goodreads Author), Donald J. Wheeler (Foreword) 4.29 avg rating — 151 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Satisfaction 3.96 avg rating — 130 ratings — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation 3.97 avg rating — 34 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements by Mark Graban (Goodreads Author), Joseph E. Swartz 4.10 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2012 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Practicing Lean: Learning How to Learn How to Get Better... Better by Mark Graban (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Cameron Stark, David Haigh 3.94 avg rating — 18 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen by Mark Graban (Goodreads Author), Joseph E. Swartz 4.50 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Engagement, Third Edition it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Reflections from Lean Leaders: Transcripts from Podcast Interviews with Authors and Thought Leaders really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lean Blog: Sports: Lean Concepts in Sports and Lean Lessons from the Sports World by Mark Graban (Goodreads Author), Chad Walters, Mike Thelen liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2014 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Best of Lean Blog 2011: Posts from Mark Graban's LeanBlog.org 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2014	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Mark is Currently Reading

Mark Graban is currently reading

The Laws of Subtraction: 6 Simple Rules for Winning in the Age of Excess Everything

by Matthew E. May

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Mark Graban wrote a new blog post Larry Culp on Resistance to Lean: Compliance Isn’t Belief In early 2025, Eric Veiel asked Larry Culp a question that most Lean deployment articles skip: when you're getting ready to implement one of these pro Read more of this blog post »
Sep 02, 2026 01:51AM · like
Mark Graban rated a book really liked it The Birth of Lean by Koichi Shimokawa	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Quotes by Mark Graban (?)

“You get what you expect and you deserve what you tolerate.”
― Mark Graban, Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Satisfaction

tags: culture, expectations, lean, orkplace

12 likes

“Our own attitude is that we are charged with discovering the best way of doing everything.”
― Mark Graban, Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Satisfaction

tags: culture, lean, toyota, workplace

2 likes

“Lean is about the total elimination of waste and showing respect for people.”
― Mark Graban, Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Satisfaction

tags: health-care, lean

1 likes

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