The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership: Achieving and Sustaining Excellence through Leadership Development

The Missing Link to Toyota-Style SuccessLEAN LEADERSHIP

winner of the 2012 shingo research and professional publications award

this great book reveals the secret ingredient to lean success: lean leadership. not only is it a pleasure to read, but it is also deep and enlightening. this book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in lean: its both an eye opener and a game changer.
michael ball, ph.d., coauthor of The Gold Mine and the lean manager

this will immediately be recognized as the most important book ever published to understand and guide true north lean and the goal of perpetual business excellence.
ross e. robson, president and ceo, dnr lean, llc, and the original director of the shingo prize

an excellent book that will shape leadership development for decades to come.
karen martin, principal, karen martin & associates, and author of The Kaizen Event Planner

About the Book:

TOYOTA. The name signifies greatness world-class cars and game-changing business thinking. One key to the Toyota Motor Companys unprecedented success is its famous production system and its lesser-known product development program. These strategies consider the end user at every turn and have become the model for the global lean business movement.

all too often, organizations adopting lean miss the most critical ingredientlean leadership. toyota makes enormous investments in carefully selecting and intensively developing leaders who fit its unique philosophy and culture. thanks to the companys lean leadership approach, explains Toyota Way author Jeffrey Liker and former Toyota executive Gary Convis, the celebrated carmaker has set into motion a drive for continuous improvement at all levels of its business. This has allowed for:

• constant growth: Toyota increased profitability for 58 consecutive yearsslowing down only in the face of 2008s worldwide financial difficulties, the recall crisis, and the worst Japanese earthquake of the century.
• unstoppable inventiveness: Toyotas approach to innovative thinking and problem solving has resulted in top industry ratings and incredible customer satisfaction, while allowing the company to weather these three crises in rapid succession and to come out stronger.
• strong branding and respect: Toyotas reputation was instrumental in the companys ability to withstand the recalls-driven media storm of 2010.

but what looked to some to be a sinking ship is once again running under a full head of steam. perhaps the toyota culture had weakened, but lean leadership was the beacon that showed the way back.

in fact, writes liker, the company is as good and perhaps a better model for lean leadership than it ever has been. of innovation and growth. yet, Industry Week reports that just 2 percent of companies using lean processes can likewise ...