Podcast · Business

Lean Focus Podcast

The Lean Focus Podcast brings you inspiring stories of Lean transformation, hosted by Damon Baker, CEO of Lean Focus and renowned "Lean Catalyst." In each episode, Damon sits down with one of the world's top business leaders to recount the true story behind an extraordinary business transformation.

New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 56 min
Latest: 6 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

6 Oct 2026 · 52 min

What 12 Leaders Taught Me About Transformation

After 12 conversations with CEOs and senior executives who have actually led transformation, one thing became impossible to ignore: Transformation is not something leaders do to an organization. It begins when leaders change how they see, think, and behave. In this special solo episode of the Lean Focus Podcast, Damon Baker steps back from the interview format to reflect on the biggest lessons from Season 1. The guests came from very different companies, functions, industries, and circumstances. Some were leading transformation from the CEO seat. Others came from Finance, Marketing, Human…

Play episodeWhatsApp Download

Earlier episodes 13 most recent

S1 · E13 · 1 Sep 2026 · 56 min
It Took 18 Days to Do 24 Minutes of Work w/ Peter Kürstein, Former CEO, Radiometer (A Danaher Company)
Peter Kürstein knew Radiometer inside and out. He had already spent 19 years with the company when Danaher acquired Radiometer in 2004. Peter became CEO at the time of the acquisition and would spend the next 12 years leading the company through its transformation . He knew the business. He knew the people. He knew the customers. What he didn't know was Lean. Then, just two weeks after the acquisition, Peter participated in an Executive Champion Orientation led by then-Danaher CEO Larry Culp. Peter went to the Gemba and followed a carbon dioxide sensor through production. What he discovered…
S1 · E12 · 4 Aug 2026 · 52 min
Building a Business That Doesn't Need Heroes w/ Mithun Ramachandran, nVenia
When Mithun Ramachandran became President of nVenia, he faced a challenge familiar to many first-time CEOs and presidents: How do you create change without pretending you already have all the answers? The pressure on new leaders is enormous. Move fast. Make decisions. Prove yourself. Instead, Mithun chose a different path. He listened. Before launching initiatives. Before reorganizing teams. Before declaring what needed to change. He visited customers. He spoke with more than 70 associates. He studied the work. He focused on understanding the business before trying to transform it. What he…
S1 · E11 · 7 Jul 2026 · 55 min
When a Company That Knows Lean Stops Living It w/ Brian Huh, Envista
Envista didn't start from scratch. The company was born out of Danaher. The tools were there. The playbook was there. The talent was there. And that's what makes this story so fascinating. In Episode 11 of the Lean Focus Podcast, Damon Baker sits down with Brian Huh, Vice President of the Envista Business System Office, to explore what happens when a company that deeply understands Lean slowly drifts away from the discipline that made it successful. Coming out of COVID, Envista had momentum. Strong growth. Strong EBITDA. Confidence. Then the dental market softened. Performance started…
S1 · E10 · 2 Jun 2026 · 57 min
Inside Fluke's Transformation from Hardware to Data — Betting on the Future of Work
Fluke didn't have a performance problem. It had a future problem. In Episode 10 of the Lean Focus Podcast, Damon Baker sits down with Wes Pringle, CEO of Evident Scientific, to unpack how one of the most respected industrial brands in the world made a high-stakes decision: reinvent the business while it was still winning. At the time, Fluke was the clear leader in handheld industrial test tools. Trusted brand. Dominant market share. World-class hardware. But the world was changing. Industrial environments were becoming more automated. Fewer technicians. More connected systems. The value was…
S1 · E9 · 5 May 2026 · 55 min
Inside GE Aerospace's FLIGHT DECK Transformation w/ Phil Wickler, GE Aerospace
GE Aerospace is a world-leading provider of jet and turboprop engines, as well as integrated systems for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft. At any given time, there are approximately one million* people flying on GE Aerospace-powered aircraft. In Episode 9 of the Lean Focus Podcast, Damon Baker sits down with Phil Wickler, Chief Transformation Officer at GE Aerospace , to explore how the company is driving operational discipline across a global workforce of more than 57,000 employees. Despite strong results, leadership believed the company could operate with…
S1 · E8 · 7 Apr 2026 · 56 min
The Lean CFO: Looking Past the Numbers to Fix the Business w/ Mark Dyas, Lighteum Medical
Most companies think Finance reports performance. The best companies know Finance should drive it. In this episode of the Lean Focus Podcast, Damon Baker sits down with Mark Dyas, CFO of Lighteum Medical , to discuss what happens when a Lean-thinking CFO stops acting like a scorekeeper and starts operating as the connective tissue of the business. Mark has led transformation across public companies, privately held organizations, and private equity-backed environments, and he's seen the same pattern repeat itself: strong historical performance masking operational risk, leadership teams…
S1 · E7 · 3 Mar 2026 · 58 min
Building the System Before the Crisis — How Jason Few Is Reinventing The Way FuelCell Energy Works
FuelCell Energy has been a pioneer in clean energy for more than 50 years. But legacy, mission, and breakthrough technology alone don't ensure longevity. In this episode of the Lean Focus Podcast, Damon Baker sits down with Jason Few, President & CEO of FuelCell Energy, to tell the story of a transformation driven not by crisis—but by clarity. Jason reflects on a hard truth he recognized early in his tenure: the company had an enormous mission and opportunity, but no shared way of working to match the scale of what needed to be accomplished. Teams were overloaded, priorities competed, and…
E6 · 3 Feb 2026 · 55 min
Kind Enough to Care, Curious Enough to Change: Accelerating a Winning Company w/ John Adams of Magnum Manufacturing
How do you transform a company that isn't broken? In this episode of the Lean Focus Podcast, host Damon Baker sits down with John Adams, CEO of Magnum Manufacturing, to explore the most overlooked leadership challenge in business today: evolving a company that's already winning. When John stepped into the role, Magnum was strong, profitable, and respected — but the momentum was fading. The company wasn't in decline…it just wasn't accelerating. John shares how he recognized the quiet danger of confidence drifting toward complacency — and why the next chapter required a new operating mindset…
S1 · E5 · 6 Jan 2026 · 1 hr 5 min
When HR Leads the Lean Transformation: How Rich Trojan Reinvented Holland's Culture and Cadence
What happens when Human Resources — not Operations — leads the Lean transformation? In this episode of the Lean Focus Podcast , host Damon Baker sits down with Rich Trojan , Chief Human Resources Officer at Holland LP , to explore how a people-first function became the driving force behind one of the most successful lean turnarounds in recent years. When Rich joined Holland, the company wasn't broken — it was busy. Hundreds of competing priorities, strong personalities, and no common operating rhythm. HR wasn't supposed to fix that. But Rich saw something others missed: without alignment,…
S1 · E4 · 1 Dec 2025 · 55 min
Lean in Marketing: Martyn Etherington on Transforming a Service Bureau into a Growth Engine
When most people hear "Lean," they think factories, assembly lines, and manufacturing systems. But in this episode of the Lean Focus Podcast, host Damon Baker sits down with Martyn Etherington, Chief Marketing Officer of BMC Software, to explore how Lean principles can transform one of the least expected functions in business: marketing. Martyn is a transformation-driven Chief Marketing Officer who architects high-performance, data-driven growth systems for global enterprise software companies. He led Danaher Strategic Development and Deployment for Tektronix across four strategic cycles and…
S1 · E3 · 3 Nov 2025 · 1 hr 5 min
Hyper Scaling Under Pressure: Building Spark into a Market Challenger
What happens when you're asked to build a challenger brand inside a Fortune 500 company — and the stakes couldn't be higher? In this episode of the Lean Focus Podcast, Damon Baker sits down with Eric Conley, CEO of Chase Corporation, to unpack one of the most extraordinary growth stories in medtech: the launch and scale of Spark, Envista's answer to Align Technology's Invisalign. Eric didn't inherit a burning platform. He inherited something harder: a business with huge potential, enormous demand, and a delivery system already buckling under the weight. Lead times were two months in a market…
S1 · E2 · 6 Oct 2025 · 56 min
Leading Change Without a Burning Platform: How Bret Snyder is Reigniting Growth at W. L. Gore & Associates
How do you create a sense of urgency when there's no crisis? In this episode of the Lean Focus Podcast , Damon Baker sits down with Bret Snyder , CEO of W. L. Gore & Associates , to explore what it takes to lead transformation inside one of the world's most admired companies — when everything looks fine from the outside. For decades, Gore thrived on its legendary innovations like GORE-TEX® Fabric and built a culture admired around the world — nimble, accountable, and deeply customer-focused. But by 2020, growth was slowing, decision-making had become cumbersome, and Gore was over-reliant on…
S1 · E1 · 28 Aug 2025 · 54 min
Bringing ModusLink Back From the Brink w/ CEO Fawaz Khalil
In this premiere episode of the Lean Focus Podcast, host Damon Baker sits down with Fawaz Khalil, CEO of ModusLink, a Steel Partners company, to explore one of the most compelling turnaround stories in recent years. When Fawaz took the helm, ModusLink was on life support—revenues were half of what they once were, the company hadn't turned a profit in over a decade, and customer confidence was shattered. The team had seen "transformation" efforts come and go—with little to show for it. Fawaz changed that. In this conversation, Fawaz shares exactly how he: Stopped the bleeding and rebuilt…

About Lean Focus Podcast

Lean Focus Podcast is a English business podcast from Damon Baker. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Damon Baker
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 56 min
Latest episode: 6 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1828716231
Rights: 2025

RSS feed Apple Podcasts

More English business

Take it with you

The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.