Tag: Toyota

Toyota Thinking: Leadership, Systems, and Continuous Improvement

Toyota is often cited as the inspiration for Lean, but its success is rooted in leadership behaviors, management systems, and a deep commitment to learning—not tools or slogans. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections on Toyota’s approach to quality, continuous improvement, psychological safety, and respect for people. Many of these posts explore what leaders outside Toyota often misunderstand—and what truly matters if they hope to learn from Toyota rather than copy it.

My Webinar Recording: Standardize What Makes Sense…

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Today at 3 PM, I'm doing a webinar at the invitation of the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council, as part of their "Quality Café" series. Thanks for the invitation! It's open to the public and it's titled: "Standardize What Makes Sense... Then Engage Everybody in Improving What You Standardized" I hope you can join us...

Does Being Giddy With Knowledge About Wine or Lean Cause Problems?

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I enjoy "gemba visits" (of sorts) to wineries and vacations often focus on this walking, tasting, and learning. I usually read the wine column that's...

How to Succeed with Lean for the Long-Term Under Short-Term Pressure

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On Thursday, August 10, I hosted our latest KaiNexus webinar. It's being presented by Warren Stokes, Director of Process Improvement at HonorHealth, a health system...

Texas Rangers’ 3B Adrian Beltre Ejected for 5S or Standardized Work...

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Update: See the end of the post with some photos I took at the game yesterday where Beltre got his 3000th career hit -...

Live Blogging Day 1 of #HCSummit17 – #Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit

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I'm at the 8th annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit in Palm Springs, California. Follow on Twitter using the hashtag #HCSummit2017. If you're here at the event,...

3 Nice Videos About Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) in Various Industries

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There are many helpful videos on YouTube with great illustrations of Kaizen and continuous improvement mindsets and principles. In this post, I'm going to share three...

Easier, Better, Faster, Cheaper — What’s Missing?

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What if "easier" is less safe? Great question. It begs the question of why Safer isn't first in Shingo's list? Is it because safety is assumed to be such a fundamental pre-condition in the Toyota culture or the Lean approach? Safety is such a non-negotiable point that it doesn't need to be said?

A Lesson From Toyota: Thanking Employees for Pointing Out Problems

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Thanks to Lean Frontiers for sharing a story from Mike Hoseus on LinkedIn. Mike is, of course, co-author of the excellent book Toyota Culture: The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way (written with Jeff Liker, who I just learned is retiring from the University of Michigan... more on that soon).

A Psychologist’s Use of Kaizen and What We Can Learn

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Back in 2012, I did a podcast interview (Episode 153) with a psychologist and family therapist, Robert Maurer, PhD. It's been almost five years since the discussion, but I'm often reminded of what I learned from his books and his advice about small change.

Sad Bloomberg BusinessWeek Article on Auto Supplier Safety, Thoughts for Healthcare

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A few of you sent me this article... and you were correct to think I would be interested: "Inside Alabama's Auto Jobs Boom: Cheap Wages, Little Training, Crushed Limbs." What are the parallels and lessons for hospitals?

‘The Rock’ Says Getting Lean is Something Anybody Can Do… If...

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Why did "The Rock" and his movie make me think about Lean? Are many individuals (or organization's) willing to put time into continuous improvement every day for 20 years? If so, the results and "after" picture seem astonishing, right?

Some Great #Lean Videos from the State of Washington (@ResultsWA) on...

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Here are some recorded keynote talks and video presentations from the "Results Washington" annual conference, as part of the state's Lean government efforts. See this post for talks from LEI's Jim Womack and John Shook, Toyota's Jamie Bonini, and many healthcare improvement leaders.
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