Powering Gemba Walks with Artificial Intelligence | Follow for posts on Continuous Improvement and Innovation

Hi - I'm Ivan, an industrial engineer with 7+ years of experience in Operations Management and Kaizen.

I serve two main groups of people:

1. Executives tired of broken processes burning money - I show them how to fix it and recapture 15-30% in Muda

2. Founders in Continuous Improvement who know their stuff but can't crack LinkedIn - I show them how to turn it into a legit revenue channel

(send me a direct message for more info)

I started writing on LinkedIn in October 2023. Since then, I have been sharing actionable, educational, and entertaining content to support LinkedIn community members in their Kaizen journey. It helped me grow my audience from 9,000 to 100,000 followers in 2024.

I have been posting around:

	• Continuous Improvement
	• Lean Manufacturing
	• Growth Mindset
	• Innovation

Including insights on 5S, Value Stream Mapping, Leadership, Industry 4.0, and Problem Solving. 

Now I'm building Gemba Walk AI to make every Gemba Walk part of a learning system, where collective insights drive faster, better decisions than any single expert could achieve.

For free weekly tips, subscribe to The Kaizen Geek newsletter.

Ivan Carillo

Toyota's competitors thought Taiichi Ohno was insane. He was letting line workers stop production over a scratched fender. They stopped laughing when Toyota dominated the industry for the next 50 years. Here's what happened:

After World War II, Ohno visited auto factories in Detroit. He expected to learn from the best. Instead, he found rework areas filled with broken pieces and leftover parts. Waste everywhere, hiding in plain sight.

He went back to Toyota City and did something nobody had tried before. At every station on the assembly line, he hung a rope called the Andon cord.

The instruction was simple: 

If you see a defect pull the cord. The line slows or stops. Engineers, workers, and suppliers huddle up and fix it on the spot. Detroit thought he was crazy. "How can you build thousands of cars a day if you stop the line for every little scratch?"

Ohno's answer was simple: 

A scratched fender is an early warning that a piece of equipment is failing. Fix the scratch today, and you prevent 500 defective fenders next week. Ignore it, and you're building rework areas just like Detroit.

That's the difference between firefighting and fire prevention.

Most operations leaders I talk to are stuck in firefighting mode. They walk past small defects every day because the line has to keep moving.

But those small defects are talking to you. They're telling you exactly where your next big quality failure will come from.

How many "minor" defects is your team walking past today that are actually early warning signs?

Kaizen vs. Innovation
 
Who wins?
 
There are two types of improvement:
 
Kaizen → Continuous improvements through ongoing effort. Involves everyone. Requires little money but sustained work.
 
Innovation → Dramatic improvements from large investments in new technology. Involves select champions. Requires big money but less sustained effort.
 
You need both. But here's how to proceed if you are forced to choose between the two.
 
 Choose Innovation when:
 
-you need dramatic breakthroughs to compete
-technology has fundamentally changed
-current processes are broken beyond repair
-you're entering new markets
-you must leapfrog competitors
 
Choose Kaizen when:
 
-you need sustainable competitive advantage
-you want to build organizational capability
-current processes work but need improvement
-you want everyone engaged in improvement
-you need to protect gains from innovation
 
Innovation creates the breakthrough.
Kaizen sustains it.
 
Without continuous improvement, every innovation you invest in will slowly erode back to zero.

A split illustration comparing Kaizen and Innovation. On the left, a hand-drawn sketch of a SIM card tray with a notched SIM card — labeled "Poka Yoke" — representing Kaizen's approach of error-proofing and incremental improvement. On the right, four SIM card generations shown in descending size order: Full Size, Mini SIM, Nano SIM, and eSIM — representing Innovation's leaps to entirely new solutions. Below both panels, the caption reads: "Kaizen gets you better, Innovation gets you different. You need both to thrive."

Taiichi Ohno said: "Where there is no standard, there can be no Kaizen."
 
He could have kept going:
 
 
Where there is no Kaizen, there can be no Innovation.
 
Standards don't kill creativity.
They create the foundation that makes creativity possible.

A pencil-drawn diagram of a steep incline with a ball marked "P" (representing a Process) at four progressive positions moving uphill. Each upward leap is labeled "kaizen" with a curved arrow. Between each position, a wedge or chock block under the ball — labeled "Standardization!" — prevents it from sliding back down. At the bottom left, a ball with no wedge shows the process rolling backward, labeled "process," illustrating regression without standardization. Below the illustration, the caption reads: "Where there is no standard, there can be no Kaizen."

"We don't have time for improvement."
This is the biggest lie in business.
You have time for:
 
-fixing the same problems every week
-working around broken processes
-apologizing to angry customers
-replacing burned-out employees
-losing market share to competitors
 
But not 30 mins a day to move forward?
 
Organizations that say they can't afford Kaizen are already spending a third of their time on the consequences of not improving.
 
They're paying the price. Just not getting the benefits.
 
Real Kaizen can fit inside the workday you already have:
 
→ 3-minute fixes at the point of work
→ 15-minute daily stand-ups
→ 1-hour weekly problem-solving sessions
→ Half-day monthly deep dives
 
Inaction is the real time waster.

Most companies are stuck on one speed. That's why they never reach Operational Excellence. The Japanese solved this decades ago with 3 concepts most leaders still confuse:
 
Kaizen - Kaikaku - Kakushin
 
Most leaders treat them as buzzwords. A few use one of them well. Very few uses all three in the right way, at the right time.
 
Here's what they mean (and why you need all three):
 
1/ Kaizen → Change for the better
 
Small, continuous improvements. Every day. Everyone involved.
 
→ Low cost, low risk
→ Driven by frontline workers and managers alike
→ Builds lasting habits, not one-time fixes
 
Example: Adjusting a workstation layout to cut motion by 10%.
 
Kaizen doesn't create breakthroughs.
It sustains them, and compounds gains over time.
 
2/ Kaikaku → Radical change
 
A deliberate, large-scale transformation of a process or system.
 
→ Top-down decision driven by urgency or opportunity
→ Higher investment and risk
→ Rewires how an entire system operates
 
Example: Redesigning your entire production flow to implement pull-based manufacturing.
 
Kaikaku creates a new baseline.
Kaizen then locks it in.
 
3/ Kakushin → Innovation
 
Reinvention. Creating something that didn't exist before.
 
→ Highest risk, highest potential reward
→ Disrupts markets or creates entirely new ones
→ Requires courage to abandon what's working
 
Example: Building an AI-powered process that makes the old one obsolete.
 
Kakushin opens new territory.
The other two make sure you can hold it.

Hand-drawn graph on aged paper showing three levels of process improvement over time: Kaizen as small incremental steps, Kaikaku as a steeper staircase of radical change, and Kakushin as an exponential curve representing innovation and reinvention.

Accountability and blame cannot coexist.
 
Pick one.
 
The most common tendency in traditional management?
 
Falling into the blame trap.
 
Blame Culture
 
→ Problems hide
→ Mistakes get covered up
→ People protect themselves
→ Learning stops
→ Improvement dies
 
Accountability Culture
 
→ Problems surface quickly
→ Mistakes become lessons
→ People own their commitments
→ Learning accelerates
→ Improvement thrives

Blame asks: "Who caused this?"
Accountability asks: "What caused this?"

All the difference in one word.

Hand-written text on a beige paper background reading "Blame the people" with "the people" crossed out in red, replaced below with "the process" written in red — transforming the phrase into "Blame the process."

Visual Management changes how people think, not just what they see. (here's what most leaders miss about ↓)
 
Kaizen is 90% Mindset, 10% Tools.
 
But what is the most powerful tool in your toolbox?
 
Well, your eyes.

We humans are visual creatures - our eyes take in information very quickly.

Visual Management is used to 

+share information 
+set new work standards 
+provide workflow transparency 

Key Steps: 

1/ Make information visible and accessible 
2/ Create visual cues that can be understood quickly 
3/ Highlight abnormal conditions that need attention 
4/ Enable teams to see project status and progress 

Some Examples: 

+Dashboards that display KPIs 
+Kanban Cards to limit work-in-progress 
+Gantt Charts to illustrate project timelines 
+Andon Systems that signal problems 
+Color-Coding systems for quick identification 

Another example is in this photo!

Remember: 

Humans process visual information much faster than text.

A clean indoor parking garage with three yellow-lined parking spaces on a polished concrete floor. A red Tesla Model 3 occupies the left space, a silver Ford F-150 truck occupies the right space, and the middle space is empty — visually demonstrating visual management through floor marking that makes normal (occupied) and abnormal (empty) conditions immediately obvious at a glance.

21 sentences every kaizen leader must hear at least once (read my fav ones below ↓)


When I read books, especially about Kaizen, I always look for something that will stay with me. I end up writing down the things that strike me most in my journal. Here are the 4 sentences in the list that I believe are most powerful (and why):

1/ Gemba never lies

I've seen leaders make terrible decisions because they trusted Excel sheets over their own eyes. The problems that cost us millions are often visible on the shopfloor, but nobody bother to look. Reports tell you what people want you to know. Gemba tells you what's actually happening. I think the moment you stop walking the floor is the moment you lose touch with reality. Your operators won't lie to you if you show up regularly, ask good questions, and actually listen to their answers.

2/ Without psychological safety, Kaizen dies.

I've watched brilliant Kaizen programs collapse because people were terrified to speak up. Companies that blame individuals for systemic problems get exactly what they deserve. Silence. Workers hide defects, skip reporting near-misses, and watch waste happen rather than risk looking stupid or getting punished. I think this is why most Kaizen initiatives fail within a year. You can't improve what people won't talk about, and people won't talk about problems in a culture of fear.

3/ People who do the work are the experts

I learned this the hard way early in my career when I implemented a Kaizen idea. The operators supported it, then immediately went back to their old method the moment I left. Every time I've ignored frontline expertise, I've wasted time and money solving the wrong problem. I think we underestimate how much knowledge lives in the hands and muscle memory of people who do the same task hundreds of times daily.

4/ Kaizen culture doesn't support strategy. Kaizen culture is strategy.

I spent years thinking CI was something that helped execute our "real" strategy. I was wrong. Companies with a strong Kaizen culture adapt faster, survive disruptions better, and outperform competitors with superior strategic plans. I think this is the principle most executives miss. Your competitors can copy your products in months, but they can't copy a culture where thousands of people solve problems every single day.

P.S. What's your fav one in the list? Anything else to add here?

21 Sentences Every Kaizen Leader Must Hear At Least Once — A numbered list of Kaizen leadership principles on a textured beige background, including: Gemba never lies; Challenge the status quo, always; Everyone must own improvement; Problems are treasures, not threats; Plan, Do, Check, Act—repeat forever; Data tells you what, people tell you why; Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication; People who do the work ARE the experts; Speed and quality are not opposing forces; Without psychological safety, Kaizen dies; Expertise isn't about having all the answers; Standardization comes BEFORE improvement; Leaders must resist the urge to jump to solutions; Kaizen doesn't support strategy, Kaizen IS strategy; If the student hasn't learned, the teacher hasn't taught; The master knows when to step aside and let others grow; KPIs can improve even as the culture declines, watch both; Creating a Kaizen culture cannot be separated from sustaining it; and others.

Master Continuous Improvement to keep your business ahead in 2026. 

(check this out ↓)

1/ PDCA

PDCA is the backbone of Lean problem-solving.

Four steps. Methodical. Repeatable.

Use it for:

+Problem solving
+Quality management
+New product development
+Process improvement

It stops you from jumping to solutions before you understand the problem.

2/ Value Stream Mapping

VSM shows every step in your operation from raw material to customer delivery. It exposes waste hiding in plain sight.

Five steps to build one:

+Pick a product family
+Assemble the VSM team
+Calculate customer demand
+Map the material flow
+Map the information flow

3/ Kanban

Toyota invented Kanban in the 1950s to control production flow.

Today it manages work across manufacturing, logistics, and software.

A Kanban board has three elements: columns, cards, and swimlanes. 

Move work faster, cut waste, and see bottlenecks before they cost you.

4/ 5S

5S turns a chaotic workspace into a clean, standardized one.
Five steps, all starting with S:
Sort (Seiri) — Remove what you don't need
Set In Order (Seiton) — A place for everything
Shine (Seiso) — Clean and inspect daily
Standardize (Seiketsu) — Lock in the new normal
Sustain (Shitsuke) — Make it a habit

5/ Poka Yoke

Poka-Yoke means "mistake-proofing" in Japanese.

It builds error prevention directly into the process, so operators can't make the wrong move even if they try.

6/ Gemba Walk

Data tells you what happened. Gemba shows you why.

"Gemba" means "actual place" in Japanese.

Leave your desk. Walk the floor. See the work firsthand.

***
Manufacturing teams struggle to capture critical floor insights. 

That's why we are building gembawalk.ai. 

Gemba Walk AI digitalizes your observation process, so you can ensure your CI efforts deliver measurable results. 

Join the waitlist now: gembawalk.ai 

(and get also our checklists for free)

Fast, Cheap, Good - Pick two.
 
(trade-offs are inevitable)
 
"We need it fast, under budget, and perfect."
 
Everyone knows it's impossible. Nobody says it.
 
Three months later:
 
The project is late, over budget, or broken.
 
 You can't have everything.
 
The worst project managers?
 
They promise all three.
Then they blame the team when it doesn't work.
 
PS. Do you think the project management triangle is still relevant?

Before you launch your next improvement initiative, ask yourself one question:
 
Have I stabilized the current process first?
 
Improvement efforts layered on top of unstable processes produce unstable results.
 
The gains look real for a few time, then quietly disappear.
 
Standardize. Document. Train. Hold the standard.
 
Then improve.

Hand-drawn diagram showing three targets representing process states. Top-left: an 'Unstable Process' target with dots scattered across all rings. A solid arrow labeled 'What most teams try' points directly to the top-right 'Stabilized Process' target, where dots are clustered near the center but still spread out. A dashed arrow with an X crosses out this direct path. Instead, a second path goes downward to a 'Stabilized + Improved' target at the bottom, where all dots are tightly grouped in the bullseye, then curves up to the Stabilized Process — labeled 'What actually works.' The message: don't try to improve an unstable process directly — first stabilize it, then improve.

Stop calling them solutions. They are countermeasures. Here's why it changes how you think: (not a wordplay at all)
 
 
"Solution" means the problem is solved.
 
Done.
Move on.
Forget about it.
 
"Countermeasure" means you countered today's conditions.
 
Tomorrow brings new ones.
Stay sharp.
 
Watch what happens when teams use each word:
 
SOLUTION MINDSET
 
→ Fix it once
→ Walk away
→ Blame someone when it breaks again
→ Resist going back to look
 
COUNTERMEASURE MINDSET
 
→ Counter what you see now
→ Watch how it holds
→ Expect things to shift
→ Plan your next adjustment
 
One word builds complacency. The other builds discipline.

A pencil sketch-style portrait of Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System, depicted as a middle-aged Japanese man in a collared shirt and tie, with a factory floor illustrated in the background. Beside his portrait is a quote that reads: "Something is wrong if workers do not look around each day, find things that are tedious or boring, and then rewrite the procedures. Even last month's manual should be out of date." — Taiichi Ohno.

Let's be honest. Your endless meetings are a waste of time. Here's how Kaizen organizations turn 10 minutes into millions of dollars in savings:
 
Traditional meetings:
 
→ 30-60 minutes of opinions
→ Problems hidden in PowerPoints
→ Action items that die in email
→ Same issues next week
 
Daily huddles:
 
→ 10 minutes standing up
→ Problems visible on boards
→ Ownership assigned immediately
→ Issues escalate or resolve in 24 hours
 
We implemented this at a 300-person manufacturing facility.
 
Week 1: "We don't have time for daily meetings"
Week 4: "How did we survive without this?"
 
Here's the structure that made a difference:
 
Tier 1 → Frontline - Daily
 
+What broke?
+Who needs help?
+What's blocking us?
 
Tier 2 → Supervisors - Daily
 
+What can't frontline solve?
+Where do we need support?
 
Tier 3 → Managers - 2x week
 
+What patterns are emerging?
+What resources needed?
 
Tier 4 → Leaders - Weekly
 
+What strategic issues surfaced?
+What investments required?
 
Results after 90 days:
 
Problems solved → 73% faster
Employee engagement → +34%
Productivity → +22%
 
P.S. Your teams don't need longer meetings.
 
They need better systems.

A pencil sketch illustration of five businessmen in suits sitting around a conference table, reacting in shock and alarm as a dark, tentacled monster emerges from a swirling vortex at the center of the table. Money bills float through the air. Financial charts and graphs — showing upward trends, bar charts, and pie charts — cover the whiteboards on the surrounding walls. The creature has multiple eyes and dripping tentacles, cracking through the table's surface, symbolizing a hidden threat consuming organizational resources or time during a business meeting.

The operator put all his setup tools on a cart instead of walking back and forth. 

Setup time down 15%. 

No engineers. No capital. No approval process.

That's Kaizen.

A pencil-sketch illustration of a maintenance worker in work clothes and a beanie hat standing in an industrial workshop. To his left, a rolling tool cart sits in front of a pegboard wall displaying organized hand tools including wrenches, screwdrivers, pliers, and gauges. A toolbox rests on the floor beside the cart. To his right, a large metal lathe machine occupies the background. The setting evokes a factory floor with exposed brick walls and overhead pipes.

Management has 2 functions: maintenance and improvement. The higher you go in management, the more time you spend on improvement. (read this ↓)
 
There are two types of improvement:
 
Kaizen → Continuous improvements through ongoing effort. Involves everyone. Requires little money but sustained work.
 
Innovation → Dramatic improvements from large investments in new technology. Involves select champions. Requires big money but less sustained effort.
 
But there's one thing most managers misunderstand:
 
Kaizen creates something innovation alone cannot, 
i.e. lasting change that compounds over time.
 
Innovation alone:
 
- Big improvement spike
- Gradual decline as gains erode
- New problems emerge
- Process isn't maintained
- Another innovation creates another spike
- Another decline follows
 
Kaizen plus innovation:
 
- Innovation creates the breakthrough
- Kaizen sustains and enhances the gains
- Next innovation starts from a higher baseline
- Creates a staircase pattern upward
- Competitors can't catch up
 
You need both.
 
Innovation creates the breakthrough.
Kaizen sustains it.
 
Without CI, every innovation you invest in will slowly erode back to zero.

Traditional management follows Plan-Do-Check-Finish. After checking results, they stop. Here is why their improvements don't last:
 
Companies preach the use of PDCA, but they are used to skip the Act phase.
 
No standardization. No next cycle. Improvement quietly dies.
 
Sound familiar?
 
1/ Team builds a detailed improvement plan
2/ Implementation starts with real enthusiasm 
3/ Results get measured once, maybe twice
4/ The new process gets abandoned when the next crisis hits
 
Real PDCA never stops spinning:
 
Plan → Set the target and action steps
Do → Run the pilot on a small scale first
Check → Measure results against expectations
Act → Standardize what works, kill what doesn't
 
In a Kaizen culture, every completed cycle starts the next one.
 
That's how small gains compound into advantages your competitors can't copy.

A site operations lead fixed a morale crisis in 45 days. His total investment: 3 minutes per day. Zero dollars. Here's the story:
 
 
A manufacturing plant had a turnover problem nobody could explain. The plant manager brought in an HR consultant to interview employees at every level.
 
The complaints weren't what he expected.
 
→ "When I walk past the site lead, he doesn't look me in the eye."
→ "I've never seen him smile."
→ "I sacrificed time with my children for that task. Not a single thank you."
→ "I was presenting to leadership. Every one of them was texting."
 
No one asked for more money.
 
They wanted to be seen. They wanted to know their work mattered.
 
The fix took no budget, no program rollout.
 
 The plant manager committed to 3 minutes a day:
 
→ Greeting people by name on the floor
→ Asking one person about their weekend
→ Saying "thank you" when someone delivered work
→ Putting his phone away in meetings
 
3 minutes of respect and consideration each day.
 
That's it.
 
45 days later, morale scores had jumped. Attrition slowed. The floor felt different.
 
People don't leave bad companies. They leave leaders who make them feel invisible.
 
PS. When was the last time you walked the floor and thanked someone by name?

Do you know what the clearest expression of leadership contradiction is? Executives who say they want a Continuous Improvement culture, but then punish people who report problems. (read this ↓) 
 
Some executives say they want to build a Kaizen culture.
Then they punish people for surfacing problems.
 
Let me be clear about this:
 
You can't build a Kaizen culture in the dark.
 
Kaizen organizations understand that
problems aren't threats. They're treasures.
 
You should strive for true transparency.
 
It means:
 
→ Making problems intentionally visible
→ Celebrating when problems are surfaced
→ Creating systems where hiding issues is harder than solving them
 
Remember:
 
Secrecy is the enemy of excellence.
 
P.S. How visible are problems in your organization?
 
Can people surface issues without fear?

Hand-drawn sketch of an iceberg. The visible tip above water is labeled "What executives see." The massive submerged portion is filled with operational problems: waste, delays, defects, conflict, rework, inefficiency, miscommunication, technical debt, bottlenecks, poor planning, manual work, overproduction, inventory, transportation, motion, waiting, non-value-add, quality issues, misalignment, burnout, bugs, broken processes, silos, lack of transparency, poor alignment, cultural friction, bureaucracy, duplication of effort, hidden costs, missed deadlines, and systemic flaws.

The biggest lie in manufacturing improvement:
 
"Kaizen only works in Japan."
 
Companies in the US, Europe, and beyond have proven the opposite for decades.
 
Culture affects how you implement Kaizen, not whether it works.
 
The principles are universal because they're just good management:
 
+observe the process 
+involve the people closest to the work
+make small improvements every day
 
…and never stop.
 
That's Kaizen.

***
Manufacturing teams struggle to capture critical floor insights. 

That's why we are building gembawalk.ai. 

Gemba Walk AI digitalizes your observation process, so you can ensure your CI efforts deliver measurable results. 

Join the waitlist now: gembawalk.ai

We are launching in April for a limited time before we waitlist again.

A minimalist Japanese-style illustration featuring a large red circle (evoking the rising sun) against a cream, textured background. In the foreground, black silhouettes depict a traditional arched bridge with a figure standing on it, a pagoda-style structure with a person nearby, and a windswept bonsai tree to the right. Two cranes fly across the upper portion of the red circle. The overall aesthetic evokes vintage Japanese poster art.

I have been posting here about Kaizen since October 2023. Translated in numbers that's 971 posts and 100M+ impressions only from this profile. I did it mainly because I love talking about it, and here is my take on Kaizen:
 
 
Kaizen means more than Continuous Improvement. 
  
Kai means "change, remove the old with new." Zen means "good." Not good as in "effective," but good as in the moral sense of being right. The opposite of Zen is not just bad; it's Evil.
  
This matters for how you lead improvement. I've seen too many initiatives that made the numbers better but people's lives worse. These were not in line with the true meaning of Zen.

We often forget that improvement should make our people more capable, businesses should have positive impact, and change should increase human potential.

Making nothing but money isn't great business. And driving change is not as effective if you don't live by Kaizen.

 Here are 5 things to help you build a true Kaizen mindset in 2026:
 
1/ Own problems you didn't create
 
Most people see a problem and think "Not my job" or "I didn't break it." 
 
Stop waiting for someone else to fix what's broken. Someone before me said it better: "Just because something's not your fault doesn't mean it's not your responsibility." 
 
When you see waste, it's yours to address. You don't fix everything yourself. But you stop walking past problems like they're invisible.
 
2/ Question everything you do more than once
 
If you've done the same task twice the same way, ask yourself: "Could this be better?"
 
When you catch yourself saying "That's just how we do it," you've stopped thinking. The moment something becomes routine is when you should examine it.
 
3/ Get curious about failure
 
When something goes wrong, do you look for who to blame or what to learn?
 
Train yourself to ask "Why did this happen?" before "Whose fault is this?" Treat every defect, delay, and complaint as data. See failure as feedback, not someone's mistake to punish.
 
4/ Think in experiments, not solutions
 
Kaizen practitioners are comfortable being wrong because being wrong teaches you something.
 
Start saying "Let's try this and see what happens." Wrong turns teach you where the dead ends are. Run small tests. Fail fast. Learn faster. 
 
5/ Listen to the people doing the work
 
The operator who runs the machine every day knows more about it than you do. Believe this. Ask their opinion before you share yours. Listen to understand, not to respond. Frontline knowledge beats management theories.
 
***
P.S. Kaizen feels overwhelming when you don't know where to start or what to focus on.
 
I created The Kaizen Geek, my newsletter delivering bite-sized, actionable improvement strategies every week. 
 
Join now: ivancarillo.com

Helping execs in new roles accelerate impact, build credibility fast and avoid costly transition mistakes | xIBM Consulting | xPwC | Certified Executive Coach

You’ve just landed your next big executive role - congratulations!

Now comes the part no one prepares you for: making it successful.

The hard truth is, 40% of executive transitions fail within 18 months.

And the cost is staggering:

2.5x to 30x the executive’s salary in lost productivity, turnover, and disruption.

Career damage for the executive that can take years to recover from.

Maybe it's your first time at the senior leadership table. 
Maybe you've done this before, but this time, the stakes feel higher. 
Different company, industry, department or role.

Either way, you know this first year will define your reputation and your results.

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

You've inherited a team that doesn't fully trust you yet. 
You're navigating company politics, shifting priorities, and sky-high expectations. 
Everyone's watching, but no one's guiding. 
You're smart, experienced, and capable. 
But the pressure to prove yourself is relentless.

This is exactly where I come in.

I help new executives thrive where 40% fail by guiding them through the high-stakes first year.

My coaching is confidential, personalized, and focused on helping you:

✔ Earn trust quickly and secure early credibility
✔ Navigate politics and hidden organizational dynamics
✔ Build and align your leadership team for quick wins
✔ Make high-impact decisions without costly missteps
✔ Lay the foundation for long-term success and legacy

 Why Trust Me?
• 25+ years in Fortune 500 consulting, partnering with senior executives 
• Led $30M+ transformation portfolios and 250+ person practices at IBM 
• Led risk strategy for $100M+ proposals and complex transformations 
• Built and delivered IBM's top global executive coaching programs 
• Certified executive coach with 300+ leaders coached

If you’re ready to accelerate your impact and avoid costly missteps,

let’s make your first year your strongest. 

📩 DM me “Executive Transition” and let’s talk.

Dora Vanourek

The most painful part of growth:

The people closest to you will try to stop it.

And the faster you grow, the more uncomfortable others become.

It's not personal - it's human nature:

-  The edge in "wow, you've changed"
-  The unsolicited advice to "be careful"
-  The subtle comments that diminish what you've built

People prefer the version of you they're used to.

Some feel threatened by your progress.

Others try to keep you "safe" in your comfort zone.

5 ways to protect your growth:

1. Audit Your Circle 👥
↳ Who celebrates your wins vs. who diminishes them?
↳ Distance isn't betrayal, it's boundaries

2. Stop Explaining Yourself 🤐
↳ You don't owe anyone a justification for growth
↳ Let your results do the talking

3. Track Your Progress 📈
↳ Screenshot encouraging feedback and messages
↳ Celebrate small victories, they compound into big changes

4. Find Your Growth Squad 🔗
↳ Seek people 2-3 steps ahead of you
↳ Invest in mentors who've walked your path

5. Trust Yourself 💪
↳ Your intuition knows before your mind does
↳ Bet on yourself when no one else will

The people who truly support you will celebrate your growth.

Don't shrink yourself to make others comfortable.

♻️ Repost to remind someone they don’t need permission to grow
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

Hard work doesn't burn people out.

Poor leadership does.

We used to have chair yoga sessions and 
stress management workshops at work.

The people who needed them most couldn't attend.
 
They were triple-booked in meetings.

That's not a wellness problem. 
That's a leadership problem.

A boss tells you to manage your stress.

A leader removes what's causing it.

Stop offering meditation apps while scheduling back-to-back meetings.

Stop promoting "work-life balance" while rewarding those who never log off.

Stop blaming people for burning out in systems designed to break them.

If your team is struggling, look for the real causes:

→ Unrealistic deadlines with no room to breathe
→ Back-to-back meetings with no time to think
→ Unclear priorities that change every week
→ Rewarding "always on" while preaching balance

If you're exhausted, you're not weak. 

You're stuck in a broken system.

And you deserve leaders who fix it - not blame you for it.

♻️ Repost to help someone who needs to hear this
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

Executive Advisor for Senior Leaders Navigating a New Role | ex-IBM | ex-PwC | CPCC

20+ years of experience means nothing
if people dread working with you.

We've all met them:

The senior leader who humiliates in meetings.

The expert who makes everyone feel small.

The exec who treats people like obstacles.

Experience teaches you process.
It doesn't teach you humanity.

The most skilled person in the room
can also be the most damaging.

Signs someone has experience but lacks humanity:

→ They interrupt constantly
→ They take credit but never give it
→ They dismiss ideas without listening
→ They remember every mistake you made
→ They make you feel stupid for asking questions

Meanwhile, leaders who treat people well:

→ Ask questions before judging
→ Celebrate wins that aren't theirs
→ Make space for others to speak
→ Create safety for honest conversations
→ Leave people feeling capable, not small

Your years of experience don't define your value.

How people feel after working with you does.

Be the leader people want to work with.

Not the one they have to survive.

♻️ Repost to remind someone that people first leadership matters
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We've built hiring systems that strip away humanity.

Then we wonder why trust is broken from day one.

It’s because we have normalized 
the unacceptable:

❌ Posting ghost jobs to signal growth
→ while real people wait for an email that never comes

❌ Automated rejections
→ after someone spent hours filling out a complicated application form

❌ Six rounds of interviews
→ because no one trusts anyone else's judgement

❌ Ghosting people after the final rounds
→ because giving feedback is not a priority

❌ "Not enough experience"
→ when they could learn the job in a month

The hiring managers feel this too.

They're drowning in reqs.
Pressured by systems they didn't design.
Told to move fast while also de-risking every hire.

People are not numbers.

Every resume represents someone's hopes.
Their rent. Their kids' futures.
Their career turning point.

To the hiring managers doing their best within broken systems:

Thank you. It matters more than you know.

♻️ Repost if you believe hiring should be more human
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Leadership isn’t earned with a title.

It’s built when people feel safe.

Safe to speak up.
Safe to fail.
Safe to rest.

Build a culture where taking time off doesn’t come with guilt.

What to do as a leader:

✅ Be a role model for taking time off:
↳ Take time off - and talk about it. Normalize rest

✅ Recognize efforts: 
↳ Acknowledge achievements that promote well-being rather than appreciating health sacrifices

✅ Encourage flexibility: 
↳ Trust your team to deliver in ways that work for them

✅ Prevent post-vacation overload: 
↳ Plan ahead to make returning from time off manageable

✅ Conduct meaningful check-ins: 
↳ Make 1:1s safe spaces to talk about well-being and workload

What to avoid as a leader:

❌ Praising work while sick:
↳ "Thank you for working even though you don't feel well" 
↳ This sends the wrong message about your company's values

❌ Neglecting feedback: 
↳ Ignoring employee feedback about workload and stress

❌ Discouraging time off:
↳ Making employees feel guilty for taking breaks

❌ Setting unrealistic goals: 
↳ Targets that require overwork are unsustainable

❌ Promoting an "Always On" culture: 
↳ Expecting 24/7 availability, even on weekends or vacations

Be the leader you wish you had.

📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?
Get weekly insights in The First Year newsletter:

dora.coach

Image credit: Adam Grant

Betting on myself scared me more than staying stuck.

So I finally chose fear instead.

You might be there right now:

❌ Waiting to feel confident before starting
❌ Seeking perfection before launching
❌ Taking "one more certification" before applying

A year ago, I left my 25+ year corporate career.

And what made leaving possible  
was writing on LinkedIn.

Before that, I was stuck.

Overthinking. Doubting myself. 

Who am I to give career advice when my career isn't perfect?

One day, I just hit ‘post’.

Writing here opened doors I didn't know existed:

New people. New projects. New possibilities.

If you're stuck like I was - start anyway.

The hardest part was taking that first step.

If I'd had a tool like Stanley back then, I would've started sooner.

Stanley isn’t another AI.

It works as a true AI LinkedIn coach:

- shows you what your audience actually wants
- finds patterns you'd never notice yourself
- tells you which posts flopped and why
- gives feedback that stings a little (in a good way)

My posts created with Stanley outperform my others by 35-40%.

Try a free trial of Stanley today: https://lnkd.in/g9nvAJzJ

#stanleypartner

By 30, you should have it figured out.
By 40, you definitely should.
By 50, you shouldn't still be searching.

Society sells us a lie about what "on track" means.

That life should be a clean upward line.

That restarting means you failed.

That feeling lost means something is wrong with you.

When you believe those lies, you end up thinking:

This isn't where I thought I'd be.
I should have done more by now.
I should be further along.

I've felt that since walking away from 25 years in corporate.

The exhausting performance of "I'm fine."

The promise that tomorrow will be different 
- and then another day passes and nothing changes.

The shame of feeling behind, 
based on someone else's timeline.

You're not broken.

You're in process.

The most successful people I know restarted more times than they'll ever admit:

- New careers at 35
- New cities at 42
- New identities at 53

The only regret would be staying stuck 
because someone told you it's too late.

You are the greatest project you'll ever work on.

Don't give up on yourself.

♻️ Repost for someone who needs a restart
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A year ago, I left my 25+ years tech consulting career.

To build something of my own.

My friends couldn't understand why I'd leave stability.

Others questioned if it was "too late" to start over.

A few called it a midlife crisis.

But then I found my new people.

Entrepreneurs who'd walked away from golden handcuffs.

Creators building empires from their expertise.

Leaders who measured success differently.

Their ambition didn't make me feel behind.

It showed me what was possible.

When you change your path, you need people who've already taken the leap.

5 ways to upgrade your circle:

1. Audit your conversations - are you talking about problems or possibilities?

2. Join spaces where your future self would hang out, not where you currently are.

3. Share your bold goals openly - ambitious people are drawn to other dreamers.

4. Ask "What are you building?" instead of "How's work?"

5. Give yourself permission to outgrow relationships that hold you to your old life.

Your old circle will keep you comfortable.

Your new circle will keep you growing.

Evolve your circle.
Choose growth.

♻️ Repost to remind someone to find their circle
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

You watched them get promoted.

The ones who laughed at the offensive joke.

The ones who stayed quiet when they should've spoken up.

The ones who took credit for your work.

And you wondered if YOU were the problem:

- Maybe I'm too naive
- Maybe I need to "play the game"
- Maybe integrity is just a fancy word for staying stuck

Those promotions came at a cost you can’t see at first.

The person who got ahead by compromising?
They have to keep compromising to stay there.

The person who sold out their values for a title?
They wake up every day performing a version of themselves they won’t recognize.

Adam Grant said it perfectly:

“The highest form of accomplishment is standing by your principles when they're tested.”

You didn't lose.

You refused to pay for a "win" that would have cost you everything.

Your integrity isn't holding you back.

It's the only thing that will matter when the titles fade.

📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?
Get weekly insights in The First Year newsletter:

dora.coach

♻️ Repost to remind someone integrity wins in the end

Image credit: Adam Grant

You know it's time to leave when you
can't recognize yourself anymore.

It's not the tasks that make you miserable.

It's not even the long hours.

It's having to wear a mask every single day:

- Apologizing for having boundaries
- Staying quiet when ethics get violated
- Laughing at your boss's offensive jokes
- Saying "great idea" when you know it'll fail

You tell yourself this is just how work is.

Everyone deals with it.

This is what being professional means.

But when you look in the mirror,
you don't recognize yourself.

People don't quit jobs.
They quit the person they had to become to survive there.

Start small:

- Stop apologizing for leaving on time
- Update your resume tonight
- Connect with one person in your field
- Remember: this isn't forever

There are workplaces where you can disagree without fear.

Where boundaries are respected, not mocked.

Where you don't have to pretend.

You deserve to feel whole again.

♻️ Repost to remind someone this isn't forever
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

75% of people fear public speaking more than death.

Yet it's the No. 1 skill that accelerates careers.

Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking, held me back for years.

I avoided roles where I'd need to speak a lot. 

Declined podcast invitations.

Fear was costing me too much.

Then I found Ultraspeaking.

Here are the 8 techniques that transformed how I speak:

📌 Save these for later.

1. The Accordion Method 
→ Compress your talk to 60s, then 30s, then 15s 
→ Expand back, keeping only what matters 
→ Forces you to find your actual point

2. The Bow & Arrow 
→ Your Arrow = the ONE thing to remember 
→ Your Bow = supporting evidence

3. The Power Pause 
→ Stop for 3-5 seconds after key points 
→ Gives your audience time to absorb 
→ Silence is powerful, not awkward

4. The 2-3 Word Bookmark 
→ Create 2-3 word triggers, don't memorize scripts 
→ "Customer save" → your problem-solving story

5. Never Break Character 
→ Don't apologize for nervousness or mistakes
→ Your anxiety is invisible until you reveal it 

6. The Pushback Pivot 
→ Pause and acknowledge: "That's an important point" 
→ Reframe: "Here's how I see it..." 
→ Use challenges to strengthen your message

7. Use Clarity Prompts when Stuck
→ "The most important thing is..."
→ "If you remember one thing..."

8. The Opening Rule 
→ Rehearse your opening 3x more than the rest 
→ Early confidence will carry you through

These 8 techniques are just the beginning.

Ultraspeaking is different: 

It’s live practice, speaking games, and real-time feedback from other leaders and world-class coaches.

If communication is holding you back, I recommend joining their flagship course:

https://lnkd.in/gH9yVFE8

#ultraspeaking

26% of your promotion depends on executive presence.

But no one explains what those words really mean.

"She lacks executive presence" might be 
the most frustrating feedback ever.

Because it's rarely followed by what to actually do about it.

I've helped leaders work through this exact challenge.

Here are 8 ways to build executive presence:

1. Practise Strategic Silence
→ Leaders who listen first command more respect
→ Ask: "What are your thoughts?" - then pause

2. Name the Elephant
→ The person who calmly names the tension earns instant credibility
→ Say: "Can we talk about what's really going on?"

3. Make Others Look Brilliant
→ The most respected leaders give credit, not take it
→ Say: "That was Sarah's idea" before adding your own take

4. Simplify Complex Ideas
→ True expertise is ensuring others understand
→ Replace jargon with everyday language

5. Own Your Authority
→ Undermining phrases erase years of hard work
→ Drop "just," "kind of," "I think maybe." Say "I recommend."

6. Calibrate Your Reactions
→ Overreacting undermines credibility
→ Ask yourself: "Will this matter in 6 months?"

7. Bring Solutions, Not Problems
→ Great leaders are valued when they solve issues
→ Never raise an issue empty-handed

8. Learn to Disagree Without Drama
→ Executive presence lives in the middle: calm, direct, unafraid
→ Use: "I see it differently. Here's why."

Executive presence isn't about changing who you are.

It’s about showing up as your real, confident self.

📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?
Get weekly insights in The First Year newsletter:

Dora.coach 

♻️ Repost to help your network
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It starts with one small compromise.

"It's just this once."
"Everyone does it."
"This is how the game is played."

The system doesn't force you to compromise.

It just rewards the people who do with promotions, access, favour.

And makes you wonder what's 
wrong with you for hesitating.

But here's what nobody tells you:

The lies we tell ourselves are the most dangerous ones.

"I'll go back to my values when I make it."
→ You won't. The higher you climb this way, the more you have to protect.

"No one will notice."
→ You will. Every time you look in the mirror.

"I'm doing this for my family."
→ Your family needs your integrity intact - not a sacrifice they never asked you to make.

"I don't have a choice."
→ You do. It's just not the easy one.

The corporate world doesn't break people with one big ask.

It breaks them with a thousand small ones.

You're not naive for wanting to do the right thing.

You're not stuck because you have standards.

You'll sleep better than the ones who traded theirs for a title.

♻️ Repost to remind someone they're not the problem
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ivan Carillo's LinkedIn Performance

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