formally sanctioned rewards and punishments, and they can get a lot done. But
the leader is the person who has a variety of tools available and knows when
and how to use them. When should I use my formal position? When should I
use the hierarchy to threaten punishment? When should I use my personal
charisma to meet with people one-on-one and influence them? When should I
make a speech to the team that leaves them crying? When should I preside over
a formal ceremony and draw on the power of tradition? Effective leaders learn
over time how to use all of these sources of power effectively. Ineffective leaders
are like kids with a loaded gun randomly aiming and firing.
We’ve had many opportunities to see large multinational companies imple-
ment lean as a corporate approach, companies like Ford, General Motors,
Delphi, PPG, Boeing, Northup Grumman, the U.S. Air Force and Navy, United
Technologies, and many more. In all cases there’s a clear trend: Some individual
manufacturing plants take off with lean and get way ahead of the pack, and many
(often most) lag behind and implement lean in ritual and superficial ways. Visit
individual plants and check them out. What’s the difference between them? The
answer is always leadership. In at least 90 percent of the cases where the lean
effort has been successful, there’s a plant manager who believes in lean, has a
vision, and knows how to lead. In the remaining 10 percent, another high-level
manager in the plant—perhaps the manufacturing or assistant plant manager—
has led the charge and the plant manager did not interfere.
Leaders know how to lead, and leading means using power effectively.
How do we teach that? There are many debates about what can and cannot be
taught in business school. We say leadership cannot be taught in business
school. The real question is if it can be taught at all or whether it’s in our gene
structure. In any case, companies can do a number of things to foster leadership,
including:
◆ Carefully selecting leaders
◆ Mentoring potential leaders by effective leaders
◆ Providing opportunities to challenge people to allow leaders to emerge
◆ Providing leaders the support and tools to be effective
These are all things that Toyota does extremely well, from the team leader to
the group leader to the general manager to the chief engineer, and to the executives
of the company. Leaders are carefully groomed and carefully selected. Every
leader knows one of his or her most important jobs is to develop people, and
among those activities is developing future leaders. Everything about the Toyota
Way is designed to challenge people to grow, and in that environment leaders
emerge and blossom. And the tools of the Toyota Production System (TPS), the
culture of the Toyota Way, and the unified management framework of senior exec-
utives, provide a fertile ground for natural leaders to be effective.
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