Steven J. Spear Remembers the Incredible Hajime Oba of Toyota

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Joining me again for Episode #386 is Steve Spear, who reached out to share recollections of one of his most influential teachers and mentors, Hajime Oba, who passed away earlier this month at 75.

Hajime Oba and Steve Spear

I never had the chance to learn directly from Mr. Oba, but he is legendary in Lean circles and I know many people who were deeply influenced by Mr. Oba. I hope to interview more of them in the near future. My deepest condolences go out to Mr. Oba's family, friends, and colleagues.

Here is a classic 2001 WSJ article that features him:

“How Does Toyota Maintain Quality? Mr. Oba's Hair Dryer Offers a Clue”

In today's episode, Steve talks about meeting Mr. Oba and how he learned from him as a doctoral student. One story that Steve shares was about sitting at his desk, thinking about a problem, and Mr. Oba told him:

“Don't think — do!” 

Hajime Oba

You'll hear more from Steve talking about the need to learn by doing and to test changes in an experimental fashion. It's not just “do” — it's Plan Do Check Act (or Plan Do Study Adjust or even Plan Test Study Adjust).

I hope you enjoy the conversation like I did. You can listen to the audio or watch the video, below.


Streaming Audio Player:



Video of the Episode:


For a link to this episode, refer people to www.leanblog.org/386.


Thanks for listening or watching!


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Mark Graban
Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker, and podcaster with experience in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. Mark's new book is The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. He is also the author of Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, and the anthology Practicing Lean. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.

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