Kevin Meyer

Consultant, speaker, and author

Kevin Meyer has more than 25 years of executive leadership experience, primarily in the medical device industry, and has been active in lean manufacturing for more than 20 years serving as director and manager in operations and advanced engineering, and as CEO of a medical device manufacturing company. He consults and speaks at lean events; operates the online knowledgebase, Lean CEO, and the lean training portal, Lean Presentations; and is a partner in GembaAcademy.com, which provides lean training to more than 5,000 companies. Meyer is co-author of Evolving Excellence–Thoughts on Lean Enterprise Leadership (iUniverse Inc., 2007) and writes weekly on a blog of the same name.

Mon, 02/10/2020 - 12:01
Leverage Learning Environments to Create Customer ValueImagine value no longer directly associated with just price
Wed, 03/18/2020 - 12:01
A couple weeks ago a consultant friend of mine, who coincidentally focuses his practice on lean in healthcare, was complaining about issues with his healthcare providers. It’s a story we hear often: doctors running late, very short and often…
Take the Time to Get the Full Story You might learn something unexpected, perhaps even about yourself
Mon, 12/09/2019 - 12:03
Most of us have learned that being busy does not mean you’re being productive, and that multitasking leads to being less productive—although I still see that being harped on as a “skill” on resumes and profiles. Leading organizations manage by…
The Divergent Paths of Old Lean DudesOur legacy is the success we help create in future generations
Wed, 10/23/2019 - 12:02
I have been immersed in the lean world for more than a quarter century. From the start, when some folks from the Association for Manufacturing Excellence showed me how quick changeover could save my injection-molding operation (and probably my job)…
Oh You’re Good. With Deliberate Reflection You Can Be a Master.‘Most of us look for reasons when we fail, but few of us look for reasons when we succeed.’
Tue, 06/04/2019 - 12:03
My favorite part of a recent podcast with James Clear, author of Atomic Habits (Avery, 2018), was the last five minutes, when he talked about a potential downside of good habits. When we decide to improve and create a new practice with the right…
The Limits of Learning From FailureThe real problem, I’d argue, is that when first-time leaders fail, they often do so spectacularly
Mon, 03/25/2019 - 12:02
Experienced leaders know that failure is not necessarily a negative and can lead to both individual and organizational learning. We try to embrace failure and create a culture where appropriate failure is accepted as long as it’s learned from,…
Creating Economic Value Based on Human ValuesHerb Kelleher demonstrated how effective and powerful humble, authentic, and empathetic leadership can be
Mon, 02/11/2019 - 12:02
When legendary CEO Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines passed away Jan. 3, 2019, many articles memorialized him, including this one by Bill Taylor in the Harvard Business Review and this one by Mark Graban, but I’d like to reinforce a couple…
Looking Forward With Alfred AdlerHow an Austrian psychotherapist sheds light on budgeting
Mon, 12/10/2018 - 12:01
Iam not really sure how it started, but one day a couple months ago, I found myself diving down an internet rabbit hole in search of more information on a guy named Alfred Adler. Adler was an Austrian psychotherapist in the early 1900s who, although…
Midnight at the Gemba‘Go see, ask why, show respect.’
Tue, 10/30/2018 - 12:03
During the late 1990s, I was working in the Silicon Valley for a medical device company, responsible for a drug-infusion pump manufacturing operation. I had just completed a crazy period where I had also “temporarily” (months and months...) led the…
Thinking About ThinkingHow are we affected by our bias, framework, and viewpoint?
Wed, 08/15/2018 - 12:01
For the past several years, I’ve been fascinated by how we think—and how that affects us, our leadership, and the organizations we’re a part of. A couple years ago I wrote about the beginner’s mind and the various forms of bias, particularly…
ReflectionHumbly ask yourself some tough questions
Thu, 05/03/2018 - 12:02
One of my great pleasures is going for a walk on the six-mile-long and generally empty beach a couple blocks from my house. There’s the remnant of a long-dormant (hopefully!) volcano at one end that is strangely humbling. A long walk in such a…