TL;DR: In a 1993 speech, Toyota leader Fujio Cho said organizations can create their own Lean systems, but success depends on three principles: leaders going to the gemba, asking “why” to learn from problems, and respecting and motivating people — not copying Lean tools.
One reason Lean gets misunderstood is that people look for the Lean system, as if Toyota discovered a formula that can simply be copied and installed elsewhere.
Fujio Cho warned against that thinking more than 30 years ago.
In a 1993 speech to the Bluegrass Automotive Manufacturers Association (BAMA), Cho — then President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing (and later, the honorary chairman of Toyota) — made a point that still matters:
“Every organization must develop its own Lean system.”
That's direct quote.
But in doing so, leaders must not lose sight of three fundamentals that actually make improvement possible.
I no longer remember exactly who first shared this document (the transcript of his remarks) with me years ago, but I believe it came from a former Toyota leader who understood its importance and wanted the lessons to be learned from, not forgotten. The document offers a rare, unfiltered look at how Toyota leaders explained Lean thinking at the time.
Those fundamentals, he said, are not optional. And they are not tools.
“Develop Your Own Lean System” — With a Warning
Late in the speech, Cho said:
“I recognize that your production process may differ greatly from Toyota. It is okay to develop your own lean manufacturing system. You can even give it your own name.”
That sentence probably gets people nodding.
But he immediately adds the caution:
“However, whatever you do as senior management please don't lose sight of the three key elements I have defined.”
Customize, yes. Rename it, fine. But do not drop the principles that make Lean work.
So what were those three elements?
The Three Things Leaders Must Not Delegate
Cho summarizes the three key points he wanted leaders to remember:
“First, the importance of senior management spending time on the manufacturing floor.
Second, the daily use of the ‘Why?' technique.
And finally, the respect for and motivation of your most important resource — your employees.”
These ideas show up throughout the speech as expectations of leadership behavior, not slogans. They also explain why many Lean efforts stall when organizations adopt methods but quietly stop doing these things.
1. Spending Time Where the Work Happens
Cho emphasizes that learning does not happen through reports.
He describes how Taiichi Ohno largely ignored written documentation and instead spent his time observing work directly on the shop floor. Leaders worried that Ohno was not paying attention, missing the point entirely.
“His real intent was, of course, to emphasize the importance of being on the manufacturing floor as much as possible.”
This was not symbolic. Leaders who are not present cannot see waste, understand problems, or grasp the reality of the system they are responsible for.
2. Asking “Why” as a Discipline
The second principle is the disciplined use of questioning.
Cho describes Ohno noticing large inventories and asking a simple question:
“Why is all this inventory necessary?”
What followed was not blame, but learning. Asking why repeatedly exposed mismatched production rates and system constraints, ultimately leading to flow and kanban improvements.
Cho stresses that this approach does not require special expertise:
“You don't need a series of fancy ‘Why?' questions or years of manufacturing experience to use this approach. All you need is desire to find and eliminate muda everywhere within your organization.”
Asking why was not a tool. It was a habit, made possible by being close to the work.
3. Respecting and Motivating People — by Design
Cho does not describe motivation as something leaders add. He describes it as something that gets removed unfortunately.
He lists common reasons people lose motivation:
- they are not involved
- they cannot participate in decisions
- they are not given important information
- they have no responsibility or authority
This closely echoes Deming's question about why people lose pride in workmanship. The issue is not attitude. It is system design.
Cho ties this directly to Toyota's philosophy:
“The Toyota Production System is based on the philosophy of respecting human dignity.”
Tools like stopping the line and standardized work were meant to support people, not control them.
A Note About “Lean,” “The Machine,” and Labels
One detail in the speech is especially interesting in hindsight.
Cho explicitly references The Machine That Changed the World, the book by Womack, Jones, and Roos that popularized the term “Lean Manufacturing” or “Lean Production.” He speaks positively about it and does not object to the term itself.
Cho was not worried about labels. He was concerned about interpretation.
In the same context, he emphasizes that competitive advantage does not come from machines or automation alone, but from the human side of manufacturing — how people are respected, developed, and engaged in improvement.
Call it Lean. Call it TPS. Create your own system. Cho's message was consistent: do not confuse emulation with imitation, or tools with thinking.
When These Get Lost, Lean Fails
Taken together, Cho's message is straightforward.
You can design your own Lean system. You can adapt practices to your context. You can choose different tools.
But if leaders stop going to where the work happens, stop asking why problems exist, or design systems that strip people of involvement and authority, the system will fail — regardless of what it is called.
Lean does not succeed because of machines. It succeeds because of management behavior.
That was true in 1993. It is still true today.
A Question for Leaders Today
If Fujio Cho were visiting our organization today, which of these three principles would he say we have quietly deprioritized?
That question matters more than whether we use the right Lean vocabulary.
Because as Cho warned, you can create your own Lean system. But you cannot create a successful one if you let go of the fundamentals that make improvement possible in the first place.
Scanned PDF of the Document:
With my underlining and markup:
If you’re working to build a culture where people feel safe to speak up, solve problems, and improve every day, I’d be glad to help. Let’s talk about how to strengthen Psychological Safety and Continuous Improvement in your organization.
