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?

Dan Martell

From jail cell to scaling multiple 8-figure businesses - my journey wasn't supposed to work out this way.

At 17, I found myself in adult jail facing serious charges. Most people's stories like mine don't end well. But that rock bottom became my foundation.

I taught myself to code, built and sold 3 tech companies, and invested in over 60 startups including Intercom, Udemy, and Unbounce. Yet my biggest success wasn't financial - it was discovering that the right guidance at the right time changes everything.

That's why I created Martell Media.

I've watched too many brilliant founders struggle with the same challenges:
• Working 80+ hours while growth flatlines
• Building a business that owns them instead of serves them
• Sacrificing health and relationships for a dream that keeps moving further away

Sound familiar?

Since 2016, I've dedicated my life to helping founders scale their companies while buying back their time. My coaching has helped clients grow from 7 to 8 figures, implement systems that let them work 20+ fewer hours weekly, and build businesses that serve their lives - not consume them.

My book "Buy Back Your Time" became a Wall Street Journal bestseller and #1 business book on Amazon because it addresses the fundamental challenge all entrepreneurs face: how to create freedom through your business, not despite it.

If you're ready to scale your company while reclaiming your life, let's connect. The entrepreneurial journey is challenging enough - you don't have to figure it out alone.

🔗 Join 150,000+ entrepreneurs receiving my weekly insights: https://bit.ly/3VMkoGD

Founder & CEO

We Help Ambitious B2B SaaS Founders Achieve their Perfect Exit™

Your team doesn't need a babysitter. They need a leader.

If you don't trust your team to manage their own time, you either hired the wrong people or you're the wrong leader.

Most likely both.

You can't tell if someone is doing good work, so you measure what you can see: butts in seats, hours logged, bathroom breaks.

The result?

Your A-players quit first because they have options and working for you is exhausting.
Your B-players become C-players because you've trained them to wait for instructions.
Your C-players love it because now they can blame you when nothing gets done.

Here's what trust-based leadership looks like:

"I need this project finished by Friday. How you do it is up to you."
"Your quarterly goals are clear. Show me what you accomplished."
"You have a doctor's appointment? Handle your work and go."

Clear expectations. Total autonomy. Real accountability.

No timesheets. No status meetings about status meetings. No asking permission to live your life.

Just adults doing the work they were hired to do.

You hired them for a reason.. so let them reason.

-DM

--

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📘 Bestselling Author (Buy Back Your Time) 🚀 Building AI startups @Martell Ventures ⚙️ 3x Software Exits • $100M+ HoldCo 💬 DM "COACH" if you're looking to scale

There's a reason your team stops talking when you enter the room.

They watch everything...

How you handle stress. 
How you treat mistakes. 
And whether you practice what you preach.

People don't follow your words. They follow your example.

So if you demand excellence but deliver mediocrity...
If you preach accountability but dodge responsibility...
If you talk "growth mindset" but resist feedback...

Then you're not leading. You're just performing.

Real leaders demonstrate:
• Consistency between words and actions
• Vulnerability when they don't have answers
• Ownership of failures, sharing of victories

Fake leaders demonstrate:
• "Do as I say, not as I do" mentality
• Blame-shifting when things go wrong
• Expecting standards they don't meet

Your team doesn't need you to be perfect.
They need you to be real.

Ask yourself: Would I follow someone who acts the way I act?

If the answer is no, your team probably feels the same way.

Be the leader you wish you had.

-DM

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Trained employees solve problems. Untrained employees become problems.

Trained employees make your life easier. Untrained employees make everything harder.

Trained employees attract other good people. Untrained employees drive good people away.

The companies struggling to hire right now are the same ones that never invested in the people they had.

The companies with waiting lists of applicants are the ones known for developing talent.

Your reputation as a leader isn't built on who you kept. It's built on who you developed.

Stop hoarding people like assets and start developing them like investments.

Some will leave. Most will stay. All will remember how you treated them.

-DM

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Smartest advice I've ever got:

/1 Be easy to find, hard to reach.

Be visible enough that opportunities find you. 

Be scarce enough that people value your time. 

Best time management advice I've ever received.


/2 Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.

Some days, answering one email is a win when your inbox is overflowing. 

The point? Doing it poorly is infinitely better than not doing it at all.

This isn’t about lowering standards, it's about making progress. 


/3 NO is just a YES playing hard to get.

If you ask, they might say YES. 

They might also say NO, but if you don't ask it's always a NO. 

So ask.


/4 Success is rarely a brain game.

People who are further in life aren’t smarter than you. They’re just doing more than you.

There's no such thing as "ready". 

You learn to swim by drowning a little every day. 

Jump in. The water's fine.


/5 Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.

Knowledge without action is like a Ferrari without gas. Looks cool, goes nowhere. 

Learn → Apply → Fail → Learn more → Apply better → Succeed → Repeat.

That’s it.


/6 Stay curious.

There’s always room for a new idea.

Be humble. Be teachable. Ask dumb questions. Challenge assumptions.

Be that annoying kid who keeps asking "why."

The moment you think you know it all is the moment you're done growing.

---

Now tell me, what’s the smartest advice you’ve ever received?

Share it below. Let’s learn from each other.

-DM

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I'm 45 years old and know more ChatGPT prompts than most 20-year-olds.

Not because I'm technical. Because I refuse to waste time on tasks AI can do better.

Here are the 6 prompts that save me 20+ hours every week:


Prompt 1: Mind Mapping Complex Topics

Use this when you're trying to understand something new or break down a complex problem.

I use this for market research, competitive analysis, even understanding new industries before investing.


Prompt 2: Explain Like I'm 10

The best test of understanding is whether you can explain it simply.

Perfect for presentations, teaching your team, or testing if you actually understand what you're talking about.


Prompt 3: Mental Resilience Builder

Every plateau requires a mindset shift to break through.

I use this whenever I'm stuck, avoiding something hard, or feeling resistance.


Prompt 4: Reverse Engineering Concepts

Stop starting from scratch. Work backwards from the result you want.

Game-changer for understanding business models, strategies, or how competitors are winning.


Prompt 5: Learn Anything From An Expert

Compress years of learning into hours.

Perfect for entering new industries or learning concepts fast.


Prompt 6: Memory & Retention Optimizer

Reading something once doesn't mean you've learned it.

This transforms passive consumption into active retention.



Here's the pattern:

Every effective prompt has 4 parts:

1. Context (what you're trying to achieve)
2. Role (who AI should become)
3. Command (what you want them to do)
4. Format (how you want the output)

Most people skip 1, 2, and 4. Then wonder why the output is generic.

AI isn't magic. It's a mirror. If your input is vague, your output will be useless. If your input is specific, your output is transformative.


Why this matters:

I'm competing against people half my age with twice the energy. The only way I win is by having better leverage.

These 6 prompts let me learn faster, think clearer, and execute better than I could on my own. And they can help you do the same. 

-DM

P.S. Want my complete AI implementation system (master prompts, custom instructions, and the 7 system prompts that save me 15+ hours per week)? MESSAGE me "AI" and I'll send you the full guide that shows you how to get AI doing 92% of your work. My gift to you 👊

6 Prompts You Need In Your Life Today

58% of employees have left a job because of their boss.

Not the company. Not the pay. Not the work itself.

Their boss.

But here's the part nobody talks about: most of those bosses had good intentions.

They micromanaged because they cared about quality.
They withheld information because they didn't want to overwhelm people.
They made all the decisions because they thought it would be faster.

Good intentions. Terrible outcomes.

They never learned the difference between being a boss and being a leader.

Bosses micromanage because they care about control.
Leaders trust because they care about growth.

Bosses create fear because they think it drives performance.
Leaders inspire confidence because they know it drives excellence.

Bosses hoard information because they want to stay needed.
Leaders share knowledge because they want to build capability.

Your team doesn't need someone to boss them around.

They need someone to lead them forward.

Small difference, massively different outcomes. 

-DM

The Difference Between A Boss And A Leader Explained

Nobody ever quit a job because the snacks weren't good enough.

A recent PayFit survey discovered 46% of employees would turn down a 15% raise to keep their workplace flexibility. 

Read that again.

Nearly half of all professionals would choose freedom over more money.

Yet companies keep spending millions on office perks while ignoring what truly matters:

1. Respect
2. Flexibility
3. Empathetic Leadership
4. Meaning and Purpose
5. Trust and Transparency

The truth is... most "culture building" activities are just expensive distractions from the real issues. 

So next time you approve that office upgrade budget, ask yourself: would your best people trade it all for more agency and less bureaucracy? 

Because your competition is betting they will. And the data says they're right.

-DM

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I fired myself from my own company six times in two years.

Best decision I ever made.

Here's the exact sequence I followed and why you should too:


Phase 1: Buy Back Your Time

Use the Buyback Loop system:

1/ Audit your calendar for 2 weeks (track every 15 minutes)
2/ Highlight red (draining) and green (energizing) tasks
3/ Calculate your buyback rate: Income ÷ 2000 hours ÷ 4
4/ Only delegate tasks below that rate

Once you have time back you'll be able to focus on the rest of system.

Phase 2: Clarify Your Offer

I always say: "Simple scales. Complex fails."

You need to find the overlap of these three:

• What customers pay top dollar for?
• What your team does best?
• What's most profitable?

That's your offer right there. Cut everything else.


Phase 3: Build the Growth Engine

All you need is three channels in parallel:

• Inbound (content that attracts)
• Outbound (cold outreach)
• Partners (leverage other audiences)

This way when one dips, another compensates. Never be at the mercy of a signle platform.


Phase 4: Systematize Delivery

Lean on the 3 Ps:

• Playbooks (document how to do the work well consistently)
• People (hire them for accountability, they need to own outcomes)
• Platforms (automation that scales without headcount)

Once you have this in place, retention becomes easier and running your  operation a lot more predictable. 


Phase 5: Install Leadership

This is where you fire yourself and stop making every decision. How?

• Use 1-3-1 Rule: Train your people to come to you with one clear problem, three solutions and one recommendation

• Decision Ladder: Give an allowance for your team to fix problems without your input. My rule: $50 (anyone), $500 (managers), $5K (directors)

• Leadership Rhythm: Daily standups, weekly sync, quarterly planning


Phase 6: Scale Culture

Culture is decisions made when you're not there.

• Core Values: Have 3 max. Once set... Hire, inspire, fire against them.
• Vision: Visual 5-year future. Repeat until they mock you.
• People Systems: Hire for soul, train for role.

Why this works:

Most founders focus on scaling revenue first. Wrong. That often creates more chaos.

This system forces you to build the foundation before adding any weight.

Each phase removes you from a role.

By phase six, you're actually the CEO.

This took me 28 years and millions in mistakes to figure out. You can shortcut all of it.

To you success,

-DM

P.S. Want the full 47-page Scale Your Business Playbook with every framework, template, and system from all 6 phases? MESSAGE ME "SCALE"  and I'll send you the complete guide at no cost 👊

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The Battle

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Dan Martell

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