Amazon

Continuous Improvement Manager

Area Manager

Site Manager

Junior Site Manager

Syddansk Universitet - University of Southern Denmark

Junior Research Assistant

Kverneland Group Kerteminde A/S

Master Thesis Project

ForeFlight

Data Consultant

Odense University Hospital

Semester Project

Follow for daily posts about Lean, CI & Innovation | Continuous Improvement Manager @ Amazon

Hi!👋 Ivan here

I'm an industrial engineer with 7+ years of experience in Operations Management and Continuous Improvement.

I serve two main groups of people:

	• Business owners and executives who want to turn their broken processes into brilliant ones (and save so much damn money) through Kaizen and Innovation

	• Founders and consulting firm owners within CI, Lean or Innovation who want to promote their businesses and make LinkedIn a legit revenue channel

(DM me for the details) 


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 continuous improvement journey. This helped me grow my audience from 9,000 to 100,000 followers in a year.

Join my newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/ddQncJM5

Ivan Carillo

26 Kaizen Leadership Mantras

Here are the 4 principles that I believe are most powerful (and why):

1/ Gemba never lies; go and see for yourself.

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/ The person doing the work knows it best.

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?

Founder of Gemba Walk AI — I help executives cut waste and fix the broken processes costing them millions

Brutal truth: most Kaizen implementations fail within 6 months.

Here's why (and how to fix it):

Common failure pattern..

↓ Launch with great enthusiasm 
↓ Form improvement teams 
↓ Run some workshops 
↓ See initial results 
↓ Get distracted by other priorities 
 ↳ Kaizen activities fade away

The missing ingredient? 
Systems thinking.

Successful Kaizen requires these systems working together:

1/ Total Quality Management

+Customer focus throughout organization
+Process-oriented improvement mindset

2/ Just-In-Time Production

+Elimination of waste in all forms
+Flow-based operations

3/ Total Productive Maintenance

+Equipment reliability and efficiency
+Operator involvement in maintenance

4/ Policy Deployment

+Clear targets cascading from top to bottom
+Aligned improvement efforts

5/ Suggestion Systems

+Employee engagement in daily improvement
+Recognition of participation

6/ Small Group Activities

+Quality circles and improvement teams
+Collaborative problem-solving
 
Most companies try to implement Kaizen 
…without these foundations. 

Remember:

Success requires patience.

+Start with one system
+Build it thoroughly
+Connect it to others gradually

…and never stop improving!

Founder of Gemba Walk AI • I help executives cut waste and fix the broken processes costing them millions

Most companies create fantastic value stream maps.

Then file them away. (I've seen it dozens of times) 

Video credit to Krish Sengottaiyan. Give him a follow

Teams spend weeks mapping their current state. 

They identify waste. 
They draft the future state

Then ...nothing changes.

You know why?

No one is responsible for the customer experience.

Traditional organizations are function-based.

→ Finance reports to CFO 
→ Operations reports to COO 
→ Sales reports to CRO

Each leader knows their department.
But nobody understands how value flows end-to-end.

No single leader owns value stream performance.

"Everyone" is responsible = No one is responsible

VSM needs an owner with authority. 
One leader who can make decisions across silos.

CEO could, but they operate too high to manage CI.

So it's key to assign executive-level VSM ownership. 

Before you map your next value stream, answer this:

Who owns the complete customer journey?

If you can't name them...
save yourself the effort.

P.S. Does anyone in your organization have E2E accountability for value delivery?

Jay Mount Consulting

Most revenue teams are building with borrowed tools.
The same CRMs. The same databases. The same cold email sequences.
It’s no wonder results feel flat — everyone’s playing the same game.

At JMC, we help you build your own.
We design Revenue Intelligence Architectures — proprietary systems that turn raw data, messy ops, and stale tactics into leverage your competitors can’t copy.

Our systems give you:
• Decision-making engines that route leads automatically
• Custom TAMs built from scratch (not scraped from ZoomInfo)
• Cross-channel orchestration that learns, adapts, and compounds
• A foundation your team can own, scale, and evolve

This isn’t RevOps.
It’s competitive advantage — built through automation, intelligence, and strategic clarity.

Want to see what that looks like in your business?
Start with a 48-hour architecture evaluation. We’ll map the risks, identify the upside, and show you exactly where the edge lives.

Founder

Growth Steps Newsletter

Join a community of 30,000+ Leaders Growing Smarter Every Week

The Growth Steps Newsletter delivers practical, no-fluff business insights straight to your inbox. Every week, I share simple, actionable strategies to help you lead with clarity, grow your business, and make real progress.

No theory. No wasted words. Just real-world advice you can apply immediately.

Lead better – Sharpen your decision-making and leadership skills.

Grow faster – Unlock smarter ways to scale your business.

Make progress – Cut through complexity and take action that matters.

Join the 30,000+ leaders who already get their weekly advantage. Subscribe now.

Writer

Clay

Solutions Partner

Predictable Revenue™ Inc.

Advisor

Techstars

Startup Mentor

Kinext

Hybrid Financial Ltd.

Responsible for product, growth, and scaling for Hybrid Financial. Early employee at the company to implement sales enablement tools, systems, and processes to grow from:

- Under 10 employees to over 180
- 20 customers to over 200.

Developed proprietary sales enablement AI-based platform to drive growth and create a different category.

Chief Growth Officer | Building Investor Audiences

basix.ai

We started basix.ai because we saw firsthand how doing “sales as usual” prevented sales from happening. Once we isolated and focused on the activities that drive revenue, we were able to boil it down to its simplest components; do the things that drive prospects forward, and stop doing the things that hinder sales. 

Most sales reps inadvertently spend time:

- Chasing deals that were never going to close (based on bad or incomplete data)
- Deciding who should be contacted based on gut feel
- Spending time on endless research, going between systems and databases

We built a technology platform that actually works with the salesperson to keep them in sales conversations and in their sales flow. 

Our experience has shown the answer is not to try to surround the salesperson with more activities and just increase performance, but rather keep the focus on just selling.  

With basix, the smart workflow engine learns what activities and what prospects to focus on so your sales team can get better results. This happens because the system learns who is the current “low-hanging fruit” and constantly serves them up. At the same time, the highest and best activities are matched, taking those prospects further into the buyer’s journey, and moving them to the close.

CEO & Co-Founder, basix.ai | Rapidly scaling sales teams

Architected and delivered 11% of net new income across $660MM of incentive compensation within RBC's P&C Banking Division.
- 400% lift in the number of products sold per Agent/Rep.
- 27,000 Agents/Reps selling financial services/insurance to individuals and companies.

Director, Performance & Incentive Design

National Sales Management Performance - Deposit, Investment, Lending Products

Mackenzie Investments

Product Development & Sales Growth, Reported to the Head of Product

Founder Helping You Grow | Follow for Daily Leadership & Growth Insights | Serial Entrepreneur | Ex-RBC

My story isn't typical - it's not about steady corporate progression or entrepreneurship from the start.

At 23, as a single dad, my journey took an unexpected turn.

In big corporations, where I stayed longer than planned, I experienced a different kind of growth.

Each night, after my son slept, my dual life as a father and ambitious professional unfolded.

But here's something you might not know: in these big companies, I didn't just get by; I excelled. Leading teams from two to 550, I was more than just another face.

I was a leader, learning about product development and large-scale expansion.

Yet, I constantly wondered, 'Am I too late to start my own business?'

This internal struggle, balancing comfort and ambition, kept me restless.

Outwardly successful in corporate, inwardly, I yearned for something of my own.

Skeptics called my desire to leave a stable career crazy, intensifying my internal conflict.

As my son became more independent, my perspective shifted.

A change was brewing, a readiness for something new.

That's when I left my corporate safety net, embracing the unknown.

The excitement of change was tangible, but what was to come?

My journey, initially thought to be solo, became a collaborative effort.

My first customer, my peers - they were more than connections; they were catalysts for transformation.

This transformation led to founding two startups in seven years.

Leaving corporate life for entrepreneurship was more than a business move; it was self-discovery, realizing my potential.

My achievements are clear:

→ Generated 9-figure revenue growth for clients and employers.
→ Progressed through 10 roles in two companies before venturing out.
→ Grew bootstrapped businesses to 7 and 8-figure heights.
→ Developed numerous leaders.
→ Launched several products.
→ Built two startups in seven years.

I share my story to inspire those on similar paths, not for self-praise.

If you're wondering if it's too late or too risky, let my experience guide you.

I'm here to connect, share, and inspire.

Let's discover what lies ahead, together.

Join my free newsletter at https://jaymount.me/newsletter

taplio

The Battle

Ivan Carillo

Jay Mount

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