Episode 36: Making Things Better For Everyone with Josh Howell
On this episode of Quality Time with MoreSteam, host Dan Swartwout welcomes Josh Howell, President of the Lean Enterprise Institute. Josh went from Starbucks barista to leading lean transformations at thousands of locations worldwide. Now he's working alongside lean legends Jim Womack, John Shook, and Peter Ward.
Josh shares how his store was randomly selected for Starbucks' "model cafe" experiment with lean. That background led to his promotion from store manager to corporate headquarters when Starbucks expanded lean throughout the company. During the conversation, Josh explains why standardization and innovation are friends, not enemies, and discusses his framework for helping leaders develop humble inquiry skills. The conversation also covers how AI serves as a thinking companion and why Josh still feels as challenged today as when he first began putting these ideas into practice. Plus, there's some good-natured ribbing about college football when this Notre Dame alum cleverly fires back at Dan's historical trivia.
Listen and find out why this 'luckiest lean learner in the world' believes most organizations are missing the boat on actual work improvement and focusing too much on management activities instead of where the real value creation happens.
In this episode, you will hear about:
1:40 - Josh's background
3:28 - Josh responds to Eric Olsen (cliffhanger!)
10:18 - The journey from Starbucks to LEI
15:51 - Interacting with the legends of Lean
19:20 - The definition of Lean
21:14 - Lean thinking and meaningful work
24:50 - Standardization and innovation
27:45 - The coach as learner
29:39 - The Lean Transformation Framework
34:51 - Josh reflects on his career trajectory
37:06 - Sustaining Lean practices
40:40 - It's 2025, so we gotta talk about AI
45:34 - Being successful at Lean is challenging
49:18 - Football talk to close out the show
Additional Resources:
Josh Howell at the Lean Enterprise Institute
Quality Time With MoreSteam on Facebook
Quality Time With MoreSteam on Instagram
Quality Time With MoreSteam on LinkedIn
Subscribe to MoreSteam's Newsletter
Exploring the Potential of AI in Process Improvement
Accelerating Process Improvement with AI
Subscribe to Quality Time With MoreSteam
Host • MoreSteam
Dan Swartwout is the host of Quality Time with MoreSteam. A lifelong Central Ohio resident, Dan is a double Buckeye. He earned both a BA and a law degree from The Ohio State University. Before joining MoreSteam, Dan had a long career as a host, comedian, and master of ceremonies. For 17 years, Dan was the studio audience host for the Ohio Lottery game show Cash Explosion. Dan was also the host of CBuzz, which was a collaboration between the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, WWCD 92.9, and the Columbus Dispatch. On CBuzz, Dan interviewed some of the most prominent entrepreneurs in Central Ohio. From 2002-2020, Dan toured the country as a standup comedian. Tracks from his comedy CD have been played over 5,000 times on Sirius/XM satellite radio. Now, Dan brings his experience and enthusiasm to Quality Time with MoreSteam -- it's business and fun, together.
President and Executive Team Leader • Lean Enterprise Institute
Joshua Howell is president and executive team leader at the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI). For over a decade, he has supported individuals and organizations with lean transformations for improved business performance. As a coach, he helps people become lean thinkers and practitioners through experiential learning, believing such an approach can lead to enterprise-wide improvement. Regular e-letters are how he shares what he’s learning with lean practitioners worldwide.
Prior to joining LEI, Howell was an architect and implementer of a lean operating and management system for retail stores at Starbucks Coffee Company, where he also created a team of lean coaches who helped facilitate and sustain the improvements globally. The system enabled improved quality for products and experiences, increased product availability, and reduced waste (eg. brewed coffee). It was implemented by creating problem-solving experiences for managers at all levels, developing that valuable capability across the company.
Howell holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame.
Bio and picture from the Lean Enterprise Institute's website.
