Coming from most people, we would just smile and say what a lovely and
completely unrealistic thought. But Jim Press meant it. He believes it. And as
one of the top Toyota executives in North America, he can influence an awful
lot of people based on that belief.
If returning a dividend to shareholders and paying fat bonuses to key exec-
utives was the only purpose of the company, there would be no reason to strive
to become a lean enterprise. There would be no reason to invest in a learning
community. Even lean systems would amount to short-term cost reduction
through slash-and-burn lean. So the philosophy interrelates everything. And
without all of the pieces, the 4P pyramid collapses.
23
TIP
Developing a lean system is similar to saving money for retire-
ment. Effort and sacrifice must be made in the near term in order
to reap the benefit in the future. The implementation process will
require the sacrifice of time and resources now for the potential
gains in the future. Like investing, the key to success is to start
early and to make contributions regularly.Creating Your Philosophy
Unfortunately, simply writing down Toyota’s philosophy will not get you there.
It is a bit like trying to get the benefits of Toyota Production System (TPS) by
imitating a kanban system or replicating a cell you saw at a Toyota supplier. It
comes to life in the Toyota Way culture. So the hard work still remains. You
must develop your own philosophy.
Certainly you do not have to start from scratch. You can build on what you have
learned about Toyota—a superb role model. And there are many other companies
and organizations you can learn from. But just as watching a great tennis player
does not make you a great tennis player, what counts is what you do and the skills
you develop. It is about how you behave every day... and what you learn.
A starting point is to get together and take stock of the current situation.
This is always the basis of any Toyota improvement process. What is our cul-
ture today? What are its roots? The principle of genchi genbutsu says you must
go and see for yourself and understand the actual situation. So some legwork is
required. You have to go and see and talk to employees and managers. What is
our real culture? How does it match our stated philosophy? There will be a gap.
There is a gap at Toyota—we suspect smaller than most.
Now, what is the future state vision? What do you want your philosophy to
look like? What is your way? The four-box model in Figure 2-1 can help you
Chapter 2. Define Your Company Purpose and Begin to Live It