George Trachilis

Author, Speaker, Consultant

George is the Shingo Research Award winning contributor and publisher of the book, Developing Lean Leaders at All Levels. His insight as an entrepreneur and Lean Coach will astound. Don’t miss his talks.

Leadership excellence is the theme for all his materials. Book a conversation to discuss a custom engineered keynote or online talk for your entire leadership team.

George Trachilis, is a leadership-excellence coach who had developed lean leaders throughout the world.

Over the past thirty years implementing Lean, he has helped over one hundred organizations with the tools, systems, and principles that drive the right culture for continuous improvement.
After ten years leading change as an executive, he started a consulting firm implementing Lean. His firm grew to become one of Canada’s Fastest Growth Companies by 2006. The government of Canada contracted George to create an online course, Lean101 to teach the topics and his methods on value stream mapping and waste elimation. This course educated over three hundred companies in Alberta, Canada, and was transcribed by his publisher to become his first book, OEM Principles of Lean Thinking.
His second book was with Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker, the best-selling author of the Toyota Way. This book is called Developing Lean Leaders at All Levels: A Practical Guide and received the Shingo Research Award in 2016. Furthermore, Jeff Liker asked George to partner in business to market and sell this online course and book. The company, Global Leadership Institute, currently runs on its own and is sure to outlive its founders.
George’s third online course was created with Norman Bodek, the Godfather of Lean. Norman was the first person to introduce Lean, and Dr. Shigeo Shingo, to North America. George is the foremost expert in the world on this topic which Norman called the people side of Lean. The Harada Method.  has been the topic of many talks by George. He even spoke in Baltimore in early 2016 and shared with everyone in the audience that Shohei Ohtani – not yet in the major leagues – was a student of the Harada Method. George suggested he would be the next George “Babe” Ruth. Six years later this has became a reality with almost everyone in baseball comparing him to The Babe.
Other than speaking at conferences, writing books, and creating online courses, George consults to stay current and grounded. He was asked by Perry Thompson to consult with Parson’s Electric over five years ago. Parsons is a trade partner to the construction industry. By 2022, George and Perry co-authored a book describing the great success achieved over those five years implementing Lean. Lean Construction Leaders: A Trade Partner’s Guide was published to share that success with other trade partners looking to become Lean ready!

George’s next project is called Shingo Leadership with Ritsuo Shingo, the son of Shigeo Shingo. George recorded Ritsuo during two visits to Japan, two leadership summits he personally hosted in Santorini, Greece, events in Chicago, Washington, and many online coaching sessions with executives from around the globe. These recordings will be made into an online course about Ritsuo Shingo’s life and experiences by 2025.

George is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable people alive in the Lean world today, and his focus has changed from Lean, to operational excellence to leadership excellence. It has always been about leadership and leading by example. Connect with George today to address your leadership development needs.

George Trachilis, P.Eng. lives in Canada.

He is co-founder of the Lean Leadership Institute, an online coaching network he co-founded with Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker. They collaborated to produce an online course called The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership which later became the book, Developing Lean Leaders at All Levels, that won the Shingo Research Award.

George also authored the book OEM Principles of Lean Thinking which was based on an online course he produced for the Government of Canada in 2006. This course and book educated over 300 organizations on the Principles of Lean Thinking. The course later went global  and educated 100,000 students from 60 different countries.

In 2011, George figured out that he was more likely to predict the future by stating a goal and executing towards it. He ran the experiment.  Four years later, his goal was met and he travelled the world sharing with others how he did it. Luckily he shared his vision on Youtube; To travel the world consulting over the internet.

Today, George is writing a new book called Lean Construction Leaders. He  recruits, speaks, and coaches executives online. However, he enjoys consulting with organizations that respect their people by building them up to the highest standards possible.

Courses

DEVELOPING LEAN LEADERS AT ALL LEVELS

Our Leadership Development Model (LDM) will help you break through development plateaus, with tailored coaching to guide you at each step.

THE 5S SYSTEM

The Complete 5S System for Workplace Organization, Standardization, Sanitizing, and Sterilization.

BE A LEAN CONSTRUCTION LEADER

This course was designed by a trade partner for trade partners. Learn about what Parsons Electric has done to be hugely successful in partnering with general contractors.

The FIVE PRINCIPLES OF LEAN THINKING

George Trachilis uses Mural to take teams through the interlocking block simulation. Multiples of 8 (eight) can join a four-hour workshop explaining the basics of Lean Thinking.

Book Your Meeting with Me