Lean Six Sigma pioneer Mike Carnell joins this episode of Quality Time with MoreSteam. One of the most respected and longest-tenured continuous improvement practitioners, Mike shares the moment that set his path. After the Marine Corps, he started at Motorola, where he saw a problem that had lingered for 19 years get fixed in three days. At that moment, Mike decided that he wanted to be the problem solver.
Since then, Mike’s resume includes deployments in over 40 countries and direct working relationships with legendary CEOs such as Jack Welch. From that extraordinary career, Mike says he learned something simpler and harder to fake than any leadership technique or management trend: integrity, the most important characteristic of good leadership.
Mike has some memorable stories from his decades in continuous improvement. In addition to leadership stories from Jack Welch, he shares the story of a platinum smelter in South Africa that everyone warned him not to touch because it might explode. Of course, that's the problem Mike wanted to solve. He spent four months sorting through data and figured out the solution involved turning one valve. That simple fix to a potentially explosive problem generated $100,000 in benefits during a worldwide platinum shortage.
If you want to hear more from Mike, an earlier in-depth interview with MoreSteam CEO Bill Hathaway captures his experiences during the early development of Six Sigma at Motorola. He also explains how the methodology evolved, spread to other organizations, and eventually incorporated Lean thinking. Read the interview and explore the history of Lean Six Sigma.
Mike and host Dan Swartwout also discuss AI in continuous improvement. Drawing from a recent presentation he gave to the ASQ Buffalo Section, Mike shares a statistic that should make any quality professional think twice: a leading AI tool was running at just 86% accuracy. That's a 14% error rate, nowhere near six sigma. Mike's take is simple. Read the output, but check the numbers and don't trust AI without independent verification.
Even though Mike embraces the math behind Lean Six Sigma, he can still read a room. Listen to this episode and you’ll be better at both.
In this episode, you will hear about:
0:24 - Mike’s introduction to Lean Six Sigma
3:08 - Mike’s introduction to MoreSteam
4:04 - Continuous improvement deployments across the world
9:44 - How Mike works with leaders
10:53 - Working with Jack Welch
17:13 - The common trait of successful leaders
18:10 - Lessons learned from Mike’s time in the Marines
20:09 - Mike’s thoughts on “quick wins”
20:47 - Fixing the unfixable smelter
25:06 - Mike’s AI presentation to ASQ Buffalo
27:07 - Verifying the accuracy of AI output
30:23 - Standup comedy and continuous improvement
31:19 - Being able to read the room
34:00 - The need for rigorous statistical analysis
38:47 - MoreSteam and Mike
Additional Resources:
Mike Carnell on LinkedIn
Carnell Holdings
Mike Carnell AMA on Reddit
MoreSteam's YouTube Channel
Quality Time With MoreSteam on Facebook
Quality Time With MoreSteam on Instagram
Quality Time With MoreSteam on LinkedIn
MoreSteam on LinkedIn
Dan Swartwout on LinkedIn
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