Author Description

The Missing Link to Toyota-Style Success—LEAN 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: it’s both an eye opener and a game changer.” —Michael Ballé, 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 Company’s 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 ingredient—lean leadership. Toyota makes enormous investments in carefully selecting and intensively developing leaders who fit its unique philosophy and culture. Thanks to the company’s 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 years—slowing down only in the face of 2008’s worldwide financial difficulties, the recall crisis, and the worst Japanese earthquake of the century. Unstoppable inventivene