Gemba Academy Podcast: Lean Six Sigma | Toyota Kata | Productivity | Leadership

Culture shapes how people receive change, and nowhere is that clearer than on a shop floor where history, language, and moral authority all sit alongside the 5S board. Royden Johnson and Luc van Merrienboer bring two distinct lenses to that tension: Royden from years of leading continuous improvement in South Africa, and Luc from rolling out digital transformation across Asia and now the African continent. Their conversation with Ron covers resistance, influence, and what it actually takes to bring people along rather than drag them forward.

In this episode you’ll learn:

The cultural context of 5S in Asia and Africa (5:01)

How 5S connects to every performance pillar in a manufacturing operation (9:43)

What digital transformation actually looks like on a shop floor (13:04)

Where their passion for continuous improvement comes from (15:42)

How to use personal, social, and structural influencing strategies together (17:18)

How to handle CAVE people without losing the rest of the team (19:29)

Why unemployment history in South Africa shaped resistance to continuous improvement (25:32)

What happened when a leader stopped pushing and started listening (27:28)

How to speak, listen, and lead while keeping everyone’s dignity intact (31:50)

Keep Learning

If the discussion about moral authority, influencing strategies, and leading change on a diverse shop floor resonated with you, the School of Leadership offers structured ways to develop those same skills in your own context.

Learn More About School of Leadership at gembaacademy.com/leadership

Podcast Resources

Royden on LinkedIn

Luc on LinkedIn

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What Do You Think?

When you have encountered a CAVE person in your organization, what shifted the dynamic?

Trust in leadership has been declining for decades, and Keith Wyche has the research to prove it. A 40-year veteran of AT&T, IBM, and Walmart, Keith opened up to us about a few mistakes he’s made in his career. The real conversation here is what changed him, and what he thinks it will take to reverse the broader collapse.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How a career spanning AT&T, IBM, and Walmart shapes a leadership philosophy (2:26)

Why a 15-year-old’s question became the catalyst for serious research (4:05)

How the thirst for power quietly replaced the calling to serve (6:08)

What happens when results become the only measure that matters (7:27)

Why vulnerability is harder for leaders than it looks (10:42)

How admitting a mistake in front of 30,000 employees built more trust than any win (11:08)

How to rebuild trust one promise at a time (16:48)

The difference between listening to defend and listening to understand (18:53)

Why people never forget how a leader made them feel (20:42)

“My successes may have inspired me, but my failures taught me.” – Keith Wyche

Keep Learning

If Keith’s point about creating followership through trust, listening, and character resonated with you, the School of Leadership is a practical place to build those same skills in yourself and your team.

Learn More About School of Leadership at https://www.gembaacademy.com/leadership

Podcast Resources

Keith on LinkedIn

Uncommon Leadership

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Stay current on new courses, podcast episodes, and continuous improvement resources. Sign up for the Gemba Academy newsletter at gembaacademy.com/news

What Do You Think?

When you listen in a conversation, are you listening to understand the other person, or are you already forming your response?

Most leaders assume that the right argument, delivered clearly, will change minds. Owen Fitzpatrick has spent 30 years studying why that assumption is wrong. A psychologist who has worked inside some of the world’s most extreme propaganda environments, from North Korea to Rwanda to his own teenage years, Owen brings a framework to this conversation that reframes how belief actually changes. The implications for anyone trying to lead a continuous improvement effort are hard to ignore.

In this episode you’ll learn:

What the purpose of life being “defeated by greater things” reveals about continuous improvement (3:37)

How a single question changed the trajectory of Owen’s life and work (5:00)

Why the inner critic is the wrong label for what actually holds people back (9:18)

How propaganda works in three parts and why it mirrors what happens inside our own minds (14:35)

Why naive realism is the single biggest obstacle to influencing anyone (22:43)

How recognizing inner propaganda as propaganda changes the way your brain processes it (28:55)

Why logic comes last when beliefs actually change (33:40)

How the three conditions of belief change explain why great arguments still fail (35:12)

“Being right is not enough. Having the facts, having the data, having the information, table stakes, you need to have that. But it’s not enough to be persuasive.” – Owen Fitzpatrick

Keep Learning

If Owen’s point that buy-in requires more than logic resonates with how you lead change, the School of Leadership builds the skills that close that gap.

Learn More About School of Leadership at https://www.gembaacademy.com/leadership

Podcast Resources

Owen on LinkedIn

Owen’s Website

Owen’s Newsletter

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Stay current on new courses, podcast episodes, and continuous improvement resources. Sign up for the Gemba Academy newsletter at gembaacademy.com/news

What Do You Think?

How do you define propaganda?

Most organizations say they want high performers, yet quietly punish them for being too valuable to lose. Kabrina Ashley, a coach and behavioral science practitioner based in Nashville, makes the case that the real barriers to change, growth, and improvement are not strategic, they’re neurological. The conversation covers why good intentions still produce bad outcomes, and what leaders can do differently once they understand what is actually happening inside their employees’ heads.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How inertia shapes the way people respond to change (8:57)

What the high performers paradox costs organizations over time (10:57)

Why personality frameworks can mislead leaders who rely on them too heavily (14:51)

How asking better questions changes what people believe is possible (18:47)

Why most corporate training fails to produce lasting retention (22:57)

What running old code means and where it comes from (26:49)

How the habit loop connects to the rewards we give ourselves at work (30:56)

Why the quality of your questions determines the quality of your results (35:10)

“The quality of your life is determined by the quality of questions that you ask.” – Kabrina Ashley

Keep Learning

If the conversation about habit change, running old code, and why training rarely sticks resonated with you, the School of Leadership covers the human side of building organizations that actually improve.

Learn More About School of Leadership at https://www.gembaacademy.com/leadership

Podcast Resources

Kabrina on LinkedIn

Kabrina’s Website

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Stay current on new courses, podcast episodes, and continuous improvement resources. Sign up for the Gemba Academy newsletter at gembaacademy.com/news

What Do You Think?

When you look at your highest performers right now, are they growing toward their potential or quietly being held in place by how much you need them where they are?

Something fundamental has shifted in how people relate to work, and most leaders are still operating from a story that the workforce has already left behind. Jonathan David Lewis, president of brand strategy firm McKee Wallwork and author of The Rebuilders, makes the case that the old shared narrative of careers, retirement, and institutional trust has fractured. What comes next depends entirely on whether leaders choose to rebuild it.

In this episode you’ll learn:

What forgetting obvious things costs a leader over time (2:34)

Why Jonathan wrote a daily reader instead of a conventional leadership book (5:05)

How the shared story of work collapsed and what replaced it (8:14)

What TFS reveals about the current workforce’s relationship to the future (11:41)

Why counter-trends in the trades and faith communities signal a rebuilding moment (16:29)

How the shift from print-first to digital-first thinking is reshaping the workforce (19:30)

What inside-out leadership means when the burden gets heavy (24:41)

Whether optimism is a feeling or a daily choice (28:30)

Why the era of postmodernism is over and what younger generations are seeking instead (30:41)

“When you see the crack, look for the light that’s being let in.” – Jonathan David Lewis

Keep Learning

If Jonathan’s argument about inside-out leadership resonated, the School of Leadership offers a structured way to develop the character and practices that sustain that kind of work over time.

Learn More About School of Leadership at https://www.gembaacademy.com/leadership

Podcast Resources

Jonathan on LinkedIn

McKee Wallwork

“The Rebuilders”

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Stay current on new courses, podcast episodes, and continuous improvement resources. Sign up for the Gemba Academy newsletter at gembaacademy.com/news

What Do You Think?

In your organization, which part of the old story of work is your team still holding onto, and what would it look like to rebuild something more honest in its place?