John Shook is a former chairman of the Lean Enterprise Institute and Lean Global Network. Shook learned about lean management while working for Toyota for nearly 11 years in Japan and the U.S., helping it transfer production, engineering, and management systems from Japan to NUMMI and subsequently to other operations around the world. In the U.S., Shook joined Toyota’s North American engineering, research and development center in Ann Arbor, MI, as general manager of administration and planning. Shook is the former director of the University of Michigan, Japan Technological Management Program, and faculty of the university’s Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering.

As co-author of "Learning to See," Shook helped introduce the world to value-stream mapping. He also co-authored "Kaizen Express," a bilingual manual of the essential concepts and tools of the Toyota Production System. In his latest book, "Managing to Learn," he describes the A3 management process at the heart of lean management and leadership.

Shook is a sought-after conference keynoter who has been interviewed on lean management by National Public Radio, Bloomberg News, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, and numerous trade publications.