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.

Steve Bera, Reflections On Working at NUMMI And Lean, Part 2

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Today's episode #259 is Part 2 of a discussion I started with Steve Bera in episode #256. Steve was one of the original 16 "NUMMI...

Deming (Past) and Toyota (Today) Recognize Employees Are Unique Individuals

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I'm always happy to hear current-day Toyota leaders (like Jamie Bonini) or recent  Toyota leaders (like Gary Convis) share perspectives on leadership. It's not that...

Steve Bera on NUMMI: Leadership Lessons From Toyota and the Birth...

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I'm really excited to have Steve Bera as my guest for episode #256 of the podcast. I read about him as he was featured...

GM Spent $90 Billion on Automation — Toyota’s Advantage Was Management

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TL;DR: In the 1980s and '90s, GM spent roughly $90 billion trying to automate its way to competitiveness. Toyota took a different path--focusing on...

Why Lean Hospitals Should Learn from Toyota About Staffing and Layoffs

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I've written before about the subject of hospitals "flexing" nurses and employees. I've criticized flexing (or the practice of sending employees home early because patient census is low) and I've pointed out that it's not keeping with "Lean" principles to "save money" by sending people home early.

Podcast #251 – Jim Huntzinger & Russ Scaffede on Lean Leadership

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Episode #251 is a bit different in that it's audio shared by the good folks at Lean Frontiers. They recently hosted a webinar where...

#TBT: Toyota Helps Another Food Bank

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Back in 2013, I blogged about Toyota helping the NYC Food Bank... not helping as in giving money, but helping as in sharing their...

NEJM Authors Double Down on Their Claim That #Lean & TPS...

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You might remember the hubbub (and my earlier blog post) about this article that somehow appeared in the NEJM: "Medical Taylorism." It's sad and frustrating...

#TBT: Looking Back at Taiichi Ohno’s Book: Lean, Layoffs, Henry Ford,...

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Thanks to my Amazon Kindle app on my iPad, I get to carry much of my book collection with me. Sometimes, while on the road,...

Dr. John Toussaint Responds to the NEJM Piece: What Lean Really...

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Regular readers will remember my post about the New England Journal of Medicine piece on Lean by Pamela Hartzband, M.D., and Jerome Groopman, M.D....

From a Patient Safety Tragedy to Lean & Baldrige Success in...

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As Patient Safety Awareness Week continues, thanks to all of you who shared this PBS News Hour story with me via email or Twitter....

Why Donald Trump’s “Do What I Say” Definition of Leadership Is...

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I generally avoid politics here on the blog... In October, I broached the subject when I blogged about a company that uses Lean principles...
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