Toyota Thinking for Knowledge Work: Don Kieffer on Dynamic Work Design
From Lean Blog Interviews: Real-World Lean Leadership Conversations in Healthcare and Beyond by Mark Graban
December 3, 2025 · 51 min · Season 1 · Episode 540
About this episode
Mark Graban interviews Don Kieffer about applying Toyota thinking to knowledge work and the principles of Dynamic Work Design.
Why does Lean succeed on factory floors but struggle in offices and executive work? In this episode, Mark Graban speaks with Don Kieffer—former Harley-Davidson VP of Operational Excellence and co-creator of Dynamic Work Design—about applying Toyota thinking to modern knowledge work. Don shares how his experiences with Toyota sensei Hajime Oba reshaped his views on Lean, moving away from copied rituals toward principles that redesign how work actually flows through people. He explains the five principles of Dynamic Work Design and why culture and behavior follow from work design, not leadership slogans. This episode is essential listening for leaders, improvement professionals, and executives responsible for complex, intellectual work in engineering, healthcare, finance, and beyond.
People in this episode
Host: Mark Graban
Guest: Don Kieffer
Topics covered
- Lean thinking
- Dynamic Work Design
- Knowledge work
- Operational excellence
- Work design principles
- Cultural change
Keywords
- Lean
- Toyota
- Dynamic Work Design
- knowledge work
- operational excellence
- work design
- cultural change
- Hajime Oba
- Harley-Davidson
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Harley-Davidson, Toyota
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