Lean Into AI
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how organizations solve problems, make decisions, and deliver value. At the same time, lean and continuous improvement principles remain essential for building adaptable, high-performing systems. Lean Into AI brings together leaders and practitioners from across the operational excellence community to explore where these two powerful forces meet and how they can evolve together.
Future of People at Work Initiatives are volunteer-led work groups addressing specific challenges in the continuous improvement community. Each initiative brings together diverse perspectives from across the community to develop practical solutions and implement real changes across organizations. The Ohio State University Center for Operational Excellence is proud to serve as the sponsoring organization for Lean Into AI.
The cornerstone of the Lean Into AI work group is a six-part collaborative webinar series featuring conversations between AI experts and Lean practitioners. Each session pairs thought leaders from both fields to explore emerging technologies and real-world case studies. Guided by a skilled facilitator, the series bridges perspectives, translates complex concepts into actionable ideas, and helps lean professionals understand how to use AI tools responsibly and effectively in their improvement work.
Past Events
August 20, 2025 | Part One: Optimization Before Automation
October 22, 2025 | Part Two: Moving from AI Skeptic to Strategist
Upcoming Events
February 11 | 12 – 1 p.m. | Zoom Webinar
AI is everywhere, but for many operational excellence and continuous improvement practitioners, the real question is simple: Can AI actually help with the work I do every day?
In this highly interactive Lean Into AI session, Jim Perry will lead a live, crowd-sourced exploration of real operational use cases submitted by participants. Ahead of the session, attendees are invited to share a manual process they currently perform, anything from data cleanup to reporting, documentation, analysis, or workflow coordination. During the webinar, we’ll select several submissions and walk through live mini-demonstrations of what’s possible using today’s AI tools.
The goal is not perfection or polished automation, it’s practical learning, curiosity, and confidence. You’ll see how AI can augment problem solving, reduce friction in everyday work, and open new ways to experiment safely and thoughtfully.
This session is designed to:
- Build practical AI literacy for operational excellence practitioners
- Demystify what AI can and cannot realistically do today
- Reduce fear and uncertainty through hands-on examples
- Spark ideas for small, low-risk experimentation in your own organization
- Connect continuous improvement thinking with emerging digital capabilities
Come ready to learn, ask questions, and imagine what’s possible when human problem solving meets intelligent tools.
For best results and to support realistic, practical demonstrations, selected participants should be prepared to share redacted or anonymized sample files, screenshots, or relevant process details, along with the tools they currently have access to. This allows demonstrations to reflect real working environments whenever possible. If needed, comparable tools may be used to illustrate the approach and underlying concepts.
Jim Perry is a seasoned data and technology leader with over 20 years of experience driving digital transformation for Fortune 100 companies. His expertise spans artificial intelligence (AI), data strategy, and enterprise technology implementation, helping organizations become data-driven, customer-centric, and operationally efficient.
As an Adjunct Lecturer at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, he teaches courses in AI Prompt Engineering and Data Mining, equipping professionals with practical skills to leverage AI for business impact. He also advises companies through his private consulting practice, where he helps teams integrate AI to improve efficiency, speed, and decision-making.
Steve Pereira, emcee, is obsessed with making tech human and leveraging it to deliver continuous value. Steve has spent over two decades improving the flow of work across organizations. He’s worked through tech support, IT management, build and release engineering, and as a founding CTO for enterprise SaaS.
He serves as lead consultant for Visible Value Stream Consulting, as a board advisor to the Value Stream Management Consortium, Chair of the OASIS Value Stream Management Interoperability technical committee, and co-founder of the Flow Collective to bring flow-focused professionals together. Since 2017, he has been developing and facilitating Flow Engineering to make flow improvement in large organizations accessible, collaborative, and actionable.