One Toyota executive stated the sentiment well, “Team members are the only appreciating asset we have. Everything else starts depreciating from the m… - Jeffrey K. Liker

The act of deeply thinking through problems, energizing people, and aligning them toward a common goal is the only way to practice and develop real leadership ability.

Toyota’s success, in short, is not rooted in its application of a standard “lean” methodology to manufacturing, nor can it be found in any internally implemented equivalent of Six Sigma. Instead, it is rooted in its leaders. More specifically, it can be found in the approach that a Toyota leader takes, seeing self-development and training others as the only possible path, not only for finding the right solution for the problem at hand, but for constantly and consistently improving performance day after day.

TPS starts with the customer. Always ask, “What value are we adding from the customer’s perspective?” Because the only thing that adds value in any type of process — be it a manufacturing, service, or development process — is the physical or information transformation of that product, service, or activity into something the customer wants.