Mark Graban

An internationally-recognized management consultant and coach, Mark builds upon a deep education in engineering and management with practical experience working with executives and frontline employees in multiple industries to synthesize and practice methods, including lean management, continuous improvement, statistical methods, and people-centered leadership approaches.

Mark has learned, practiced, and taught these methodologies in settings including manufacturing, healthcare, and technology startups. Working independently since 2010 and in partnership with other consulting groups, Mark enjoys helping organizations that are looking for better ways to improve with leaders who are willing to lead that charge. He also is a senior advisor to the software company KaiNexus.

Mark is the author of Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Engagement (now in its third edition, 2016) and coauthored Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Frontline Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements (2012). Both books received the prestigious Shingo Research Award. He’s also authored Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More (2019), and, most recently, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation (2023). He also edited the anthology Practicing Lean (2016). 

The founder, lead blogger, and podcaster at LeanBlog.org, Mark is a popular speaker at conferences and private healthcare meetings. He has been a speaker and coach at organizations across the U.S., in multiple provinces across Canada, and in other countries, including Finland, Holland, Sweden, Japan, Thailand, and China.