The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership

Achieving and Sustaining Excellence Through Leadership Development

By: Jeffrey Liker, Gary L. Convis

Narrated by: Jim Meskimen

Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

The missing link to long-term Lean success! Despite the fact that companies worldwide have adopted Lean production, none has sustained the same levels of excellence as Toyota. Why? Leadership. In The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership, Jeffrey Liker and Gary L. Convis, a former executive V.P. and managing officer of Toyota, help executives and senior managers get employees to refocus their efforts - from simply performing their singular function to continuously improving in collaboration across the organization.

Case studies from Toyota clearly illustrate the methods that create powerful, effective Lean leadership. Jeffrey Liker, author of the popular Toyota Way books, is the acknowledged expert on Toyota processes. He is professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan. After his executive leadership at Toyota, Gary L. Convis became the CEO of Dana Holding Corporation, a $6.1 billion supplier to the global automotive, commercial vehicle, and off-highway markets, and helped lead it to a successful turnaround from bankruptcy.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2011 Jeffrey Liker, Gary L. Convis (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Disappointing. Here is a summary

I have just got to chapter 7 (out of 10) and can't take it anymore. Quitting.
Here is what I have learned so far:
- Toyota is the best. Even when it fails, it's still the best.
- Nobody really understands the Toyota Way (Toyota Production System or TPS)
- TPS is hard and takes a long time to figure out.
- Even if somebody figured it out, it would still not work for them, because it's very individual. Even what works at one Toyota factory, it won't work at another. And you actually need to figure it out on your own.
- There are no shortcuts in TPS. It takes a long time. Toyota has figured it out and it works for Toyota, but you probably won't understand anyway.

THAT'S IT. No details. No practical tips. Just self-accolades and cryptic messages. Soft of philosophy, but no practice whatsoever. So far, I have not learned anything. No practical insight. Only constant repetition that Toyota is great and it does something very deep and meaningful, but no explanation what it is and how it works.

Maybe there will be more substance in the remaining three chapters, but I can't take it anymore.

It Isn't What You Migh Think

Everyone is familiar with Toyota as a brand. Some are aware of the Toyota manufacturing process. Being aware of the process is not being familiar and being familiar does not imply one is conversant with how it really works. Along comes Jeffrey Liker (The Toyota Way) and Gary Convis with The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership filling any gaps in our understanding. Importantly, Liker and Convis use a narrative approach to presenting their material. They use multiple examples and anecdotes to illustrate the concepts they are reporting. Their use of vignettes to describe how lead leadership works, certainly nourishes the reader’s understanding. Readers interested in manufacturing, Japanese culture, leadership, adult education, and other related topics will find this volume most informative. There is no need to be an engineer, Liker and Convis make the topic readily available to the general reader. The narration of Jim Meskimen is very good.

Well worth the cost!

Valuable insight into the workings of Toyota, and the quality of this audiobook is one of the best I have heard. That makes sense since TPS is about quality and would have been ironic if the audiobook discussing it was itself of a low quality. Puts into perspective the application of quality improvement tools like Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, etc. in how they relate to culture of Toyota that focuses on continuous improve via leader development on TPS.

Love it

TPS goes deep and the authors flesh it out as much as practical in one volume. Recommend read for leaders especially manufacturing leaders.

So many takeaways to follow

It is a bible about best practices that you maybe have already read but the example and tips are great!

how to turn around and become better

If you could sum up The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership in three words, what would they be?

Think simple, think in the customer and how they use your product.

What did you like best about this story?

the way Toyota saw a problem and how they use that to change or innovate their way of thinking

What does Jim Meskimen bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Jim brings the right tone of importance and motivation to the book.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

transforming the present, developing a better future

Good listen

This is Toyota's story from one insider. So it is a singular point of view. But a very detailed point of view.

I look forward to listening to this again!

I've always been interested in kaizen and intended to read "The Machine that Changed the World" but havn't had the opportunity. This book came up as one of the Audible 2 for 1 deals and I jumped on the chance. Over all I've been very happy. Even when talking about the mundane parts of management I was engaged and enjoyed it. I really recommend this for anyone that is interested in business, business history, management or just enjoys a well put together book.

Amazing Leadership Book

awesome book with interesting narrating style, very inspiring and gives you great ideas in managing people and improve your management style. I read it many times and every time I learn new things

Thanks

Amazing Book About Organizational Change

I would recommend this book for anyone looking to begin Change and transformation in any organization. The book has great examples and does a good job of discussing the concepts. I found myself loving that they constantly reiterated what each acronym meant. It’s a small thing, but I noticed it.

Very general content

What would have made The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership better?

This book is riding on the success of Toyota and the Lean Leadership but it does not offer many practical and actionable insights or advices if that is what you are looking for.

Great book, but...

... The Lean Start up is a better version of this one. Less story & more useful content

not bad but was glad when it finally finished

maybe not suited to an audiobook. the information is good but a somewhat tedious and uninspiring listen

interesting

quite comprehensive...if one wants to learn how Toyota works.
Also interesting to see how things are supposed to be and how they actually are in most of the other organisations.

Personal application of the Toyota way

The most amazing part of this book was that it acts as your own sensai and that it is about a lifestyle of learning. Nd evolution. Being committed to constant improvement especially in a time of crisis helps you to progress more rapidly and to be a true leader your commitment to lifelong self development is critical. I recognise that I’ve been living the Toyota way all my life and that I’m now even more inspired to leverage the principles even better in my life and new roles at work. Thank you to Jeff and Gary I’m deeply grateful for your sharing these insights and wisdom with me and the rest of the world.

mmm

Average listen, difficult to stay focused for longer periods of time as an audio book

Truly Inspirational!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely! This is a must read book for anyone in any managerial position and/or anyone who wants to understand how business is run efficiently and why it is important to spend 'quality time' on the floor with the employees.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The founder of Toyota -

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The whole book was very interesting and it was full of insightful information from the very beginning to the end. Listened to it twice in a row!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

n/a

Any additional comments?

Brilliant book full of brilliant ideas!

Inspiring book filled with inspiring stories

Developing people is probably the most important, honorable and gratifying act of empathy a true leader could ever hope to perform. This book describes the path Toyota founder walked towards his ideal of creating a culture where leaders are sense's, also responsible for developing the next generations of leaders.

Great insights, a bit self promoting and dry

Overall a very solid listen and great management book. It made me appreciate Toyota more as a company and what they stand for. Not your average management book and this company and people actually walked the talk.

It did come across as too much self-promotional at times, sure the book admits that Toyota and Gary made mistakes and have room for improvement, but the glorious achievements greatly overshadow much of these claims. The book also is a bit dry, it does contain some practical examples but they are few and far between. That makes it a bit hard to go through the book and it is by no means a light read (or listen).

The narrator did an excellent job. Overall I would recommend to those that are looking to improve themselves or the organization that they work in. This book sets the benchmark for what continuous improvement and true north leadership should be.

great story but impractical

this was a great story and it's nice to know how Toyota works. but in reality you need to be so senior to make this happen, that I'll never seen a transformation to this way of working in my lifetime