Videos

How do I engage with my clients? This is best described as ACT with Purpose, where ACT stands for Advising, Coaching, and Thought Partner. In this brief video, I explain what that all means, and how it works.  

When I began JFlinch in January of 2020, I simply got started because I really wanted to decide slowly over time what work I truly wanted to do. While the pandemic forced some changes, it also set a path of my honing of my strategic heuristics for decision making, and

Is problem-solving more or less important in an AI-enabled world? There is a lot of talk about AI, and ChatGPT in particular, and mostly whether it is inherently good or inherently bad. But let’s accept the premise that it is part of our future. We’ve actually been heading here for

Why is rigorous thinking and the Business Model Canvas vital for entrepreneurs? The BMC has been a popular tool and method for the entrepreneurial world. Books are written, workshops are attended, and people talk about it. Yet hardly anyone seems to do one, and many who do will not maintain

Why does problem-solving seem so different to many from waste elimination? Why is the creation of a standard such an act of sheer will rather than a set of skills?   If we see the creation of standards and the elimination of waste as just different types, or specific types,

Improving quality is about more than just finding and fixing problems. You need to architect an effective system to help you contain, control, and improve quality. I call this framework the 4 loops of quality, and we’ve used it for a long time for the assessment, design, and improvement of

The fishbone diagram is useful to help break down a problem and see many potential causes and contributing factors to a problem. But the traditional breakdowns don’t feel appropriate for many types of problems, especially large, complex, amorphous types of problems. This video suggests an alternative framework to overlap on

Episode 34: “Crazy Ideas, From Shipping Flowers to Crab Whiskey” In Episode 34, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh begin by belatedly celebrating the 3rd birthday of Lean Whiskey. No, this wasn’t a pandemic-launched podcast, although if we hadn’t started it yet it probably would have become one. We also learn

There are many problems where we struggle with things such as creativity and breaking down the problem. One such problem that is frequently voiced is the elimination of bureaucracy. You cannot just eliminate bureaucracy. What can you do? You can break down the problem, understand the elements and contributing factors.

How you start does matter, because it sets up momentum and other psychological factors to carry that momentum forward, as is also true in the reverse where a bad start can sabotage your remaining efforts. Years ago, The Onion showed a light on this fact with this hilarious story that