Our Team

First Principles Leadership is a team of transformation advisors and operational leaders dedicated to building thriving, resilient organizations through people-centric improvement and first-principles thinking.

Craig Stritar

Transformation Advisor, Founder

Dr. Karem Roitman

Mark Rosenthal

Friend of “First Principles Leadership.” Frequent collaborator on Lean transformation, 3P, “Kata,” and scientific thinking.

Craig brings leadership experience from high-velocity teams in military special operations, as well as organizations in healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, and education. He combines this with a foundation in continuous improvement, shaped by close collaboration with manufacturing leaders from Danaher, healthcare innovator and MIT professor Steven Spear, and Fortune 500 CEO and Deming protégé Joseph S. Hood. His approach is rooted in people-centric systems thinking and a passion for developing high-performing, resilient teams.

Craig is internationally recognized for uncovering the true origins of “takt time,” a concept widely but mistakenly believed to have originated in Germany. Through research and translation of early scientific management works, he demonstrated that takt time was first developed in late 19th-century Poland as a means to harmonize human-to-human and human-to-machine interactions. In his own work, Craig has shown that lasting organizational excellence comes from aligning rhythm, teamwork, and human well-being, making harmony a foundational principle for improvement. This focus on harmony continues to shape Craig’s unique approach, where operational flow and human flourishing go hand in hand.

Craig is one of the very few practitioners to have led a measurable, lasting, organization-wide transformation in healthcare, creating a daily learning and improvement culture that continued to thrive long after major leadership turnover. The systems and practices he established, including daily rounding and kata experimentation cycles, are now cited as benchmarks across the Lean and continuous improvement community. In addition, through collaborative work with MIT professor Steven Spear, Craig was the first to test the See2Solve real-time issue-tracking system in a healthcare environment, empowering teams to quickly surface, track, and address operational problems.

Karem is a global leader in organizational learning, leadership development, curriculum design, and social inclusion, igniting curiosity and creativity in education and business. With a DPhil in International Development from the University of Oxford, she has transformed systems across five continents, empowering teams to solve problems collaboratively and thrive in dynamic environments.

Karem designs learning experiences that blend rigorous scholarship with a spirit of playful exploration, fostering environments where innovation flourishes. She authored Oxford University Press’ Global Skills curriculum, implemented in over 100 schools worldwide, and trained 5,000+ educators to cultivate critical thinking through real-world challenges. As founder of Thinkers Meet Up, a virtual learning community for gifted students, she creates programs that nurture creativity and curiosity. Her forthcoming book, Seeking the Perfect World: A Critical Discussion of Global Challenges for the Bright and Curious (Routledge, 2024), inspires young leaders to tackle global issues with intellectual clarity and human connection.

A sought-after speaker, Karem translates complex ideas into practical strategies for educators, leaders, and organizations. Her first-principles approach—rooted in harmonizing human potential with systemic goals—has driven measurable impact in diverse contexts, from Latin America to Asia and Africa. Exploring a new venture to amplify this impact, Karem is dedicated to building inclusive, learning-driven systems where individuals and teams reach their full potential.

Mark is a seasoned transformation coach and lean thinker with decades of experience guiding organizations across sectors—including aerospace, healthcare, consumer goods, and industrial supply chains. As the founder of Novayama Consulting and The Lean Thinker blog, Mark specializes in embedding daily coaching routines and Toyota Kata into organizational culture, helping teams move beyond tools into sustainable, people-led improvement.

Mark’s “Don’t Deploy, Diffuse” philosophy, featured in keynote talks at KataCon, Lean Frontiers, and international conferences, has reshaped how organizations approach continuous improvement. Acknowledged in Mike Rother’s Toyota Kata Practice Guide for his thought partnership, Mark has co-authored influential works, including “Don’t Start with Tools” (with Craig Stritar), and is published by AME Target Magazine and Lean.org. His insights on scientific thinking, leadership, and system design are widely adopted to teach teams how to learn, adapt, and thrive.

A master facilitator of 3P (Production Preparation Process) and kata coaching, Mark has driven measurable transformations, from slashing lead times in manufacturing to enhancing patient flow in healthcare. His approach—rooted in first-principles thinking and human-centric leadership—creates systems where collaboration and curiosity sustain improvement long after consultants depart. Mark’s passion for coaching leaders to foster learning organizations continues to inspire the global Lean community.