Bring workplace decisions into the discussion
Pete Maher shares first-hand lessons from a career that began as an hourly assembler and led to Vice President of Operations. The cases explore how leadership decisions affect trust, safety, quality, employee development, and organizational change.
A simple way to use an episode
- Choose a case that fits your learning objective.
- Ask learners what they would do before watching.
- Watch the episode on YouTube.
- Discuss the case using the questions in the learning guide.
- Complete the five-minute activity and identify one action to apply.
Each guide includes case context, learning objectives, practical principles, discussion questions, an activity, and a key takeaway. Use the HTML lesson on a phone or download the PDF for printing.
Choose a topic
- Career & leadership — From the Factory Floor to VP: What I Learned About Leadership
- Trust & root cause — The Leadership Mistake That Almost Cost a Good Employee His Job
- Question the routine — What a Leg of Lamb Taught Me About Leadership
- See the work — Management Made Him Walk 61 Miles!
- Safety leadership — 33 Stitches in an Office Cubicle
- Coaching & professional credibility — Carol: Dress for Success
- Trust & leadership integrity — Open-Door Policy? The CEO's Button Told a Different Story
- Trust, people & continuous improvement — The Kiss of Death in a Lean Environment
- Leadership mistakes & employee buy-in — The Leadership Mistake That Cost Us More Than Money
- Engineering team performance and fair accountability — From 20% to 98%: Clear Expectations and Accountability
For supervisors and developing managers
Use a case to open a team conversation, practice a coaching response, or examine a decision before implementing a change. Ask what you can observe, who should contribute, and how you will know the response helped.
About the creator
Pete Maher is a former VP of Operations, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and author of The Lean Leader’s Playbook. The series connects leadership principles with situations from the workplace.
For Pete’s career history, books, and additional practical problem-solving work, see his author and professional biography.