In a recent Fortune magazine, somewhere in a story about Toyota, I zero-ed in on this quote from Jeffery Liker out of his book ‘The Toyota Way’…

Is Toyota a conservative company? Yes. Does it seem to be very plodding and slow to make changes? Yes. Is it innovative? Remarkebly so. Go slow, build on the past, and thoroughly consider all implications of decisions, yet move more aggresively to beat the competition to market with exceptional products.’

I’m still not sure what it is, but I’ve been haunted by something in it ever since reading it. Perhaps it’s the call of one of my colleagues that we slow down a little, and at times a lot. We move too fast for him to keep up. Perhaps it’s because I work with another colleague who moves so darn quickly that there are times when none of us can keep up. But I’m becoming more convinced that the speed reference is not what’s got me. It’s the commitment to ‘exceptional products’ and the attitude of aggression in the market place that is suggested.
Perhaps for Toyota achieving that outcome needs the slow, plodding methodical pace. The question for our business is, what is the formula we need to build off of to ensure a similar outcome? I don’t know yet, but I’m working on it…

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