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.

Lean Factories and Lean Hospitals Are Safer and They’re Better Listeners

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When we introduce the idea of Lean to healthcare organizations, it's very common for somebody (often a senior physician) to say something like, "But we...

10 Ways Lean Respects and Supports Healthcare Staff

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Lean provides a philosophy and a management model that should be nothing but good for staff and patients. The idea of “respect for people” might sound nice in principle, but what does it mean in a practical sense...

Why don’t we do what we know we’re supposed to do?...

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It's easy to point fingers at others who don't do what they know they're supposed to do. Why don't those nurses and doctors properly clean...

Why Telling Employees to “Check Their Brains at the Door” Destroys...

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Here's my latest cartoon collaboration with a skilled artist (and medical assistant), Carrie Schurman. You can see the whole series via this link. A Common Workplace Message:...

The Patriots, Coach Belichick, Aspects of Lean Thinking, and Dr. Deming

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Earlier this month, for the College Football Playoff championship game, I wrote about "Lessons from the Football Coaching and Leadership Styles of the Oregon...

Visiting and Touring the Toyota Tsutsumi Plant, Part 2

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Last week, I wrote a post (part 1) looking back at our visit to the Toyota Tsutsumi factory that was part of our Japan tour that took...

My Visit to the Toyota Tsutsumi Plant, Part 1

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I've been overdue in writing more posts about our Japan tour that took place two months ago now. See previous posts in this series....

Putting Up Signs and Shooting Down Ideas

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A friend sent me a link to this article, "7 cultural concepts we don't have in the U.S.," and he told me to check...

What’s Up With Neckties in Healthcare?

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It's a simple question: what's up with so many men wearing ties in healthcare? Are you / they wearing them because you like to,...

Why ‘Don’t Bring Me Problems, Bring Me Solutions’ Is Bad Leadership

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It's a bit of a modern management cliché to say, "Don't bring problems! Bring me solutions!" I think what it's meant to mean is, "Don't...

A Hotel, Time Quotas, Systemic Problems, and Employees Not Having the...

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I travel a lot and, thanks to my work, I'm pretty well attuned to the idea of not blaming individuals for systemic problems in...

Words vs. Simple Visuals; A Secret About Japanese Hospitals

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This tweet and photo made me chuckle the other day... If it's "your right" or "your left" as you're going up or down the stairs,...
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