Toyota Production System. There are a lot of myths about productivity. Simply stated: trust the individual to generate ideas; keep the solution within the correct context; focus on incremental and small improvements that have big impacts; and reduce the complexity organization to facility better cooperation and communication. Fight bureaucracy structures that stifle creativity and innovation. Competing for the future means creating the right solutions that bring satisfaction and improvement to the lives of those that use it.

Powerful innovation goes where the action resides; workers take the responsibility too solves everyday problems and generate ideas to improve the company; context is a essential part of the process and solving the right problem brings value and customer satisfaction (focus-solve the task at hand); creating a 1,000 bright ideas is less affective than solve one problem that is impacting the process efficiency (solutions surface when processes are understood at the place of work – go where the action is occurring); elegant solutions are the product of continuous, incremental and evolutionary improvement (leave open to individual interpretation how to best add value); perfection requires discipline like a scientist and creativity like an artist; perfection focuses on incremental improvements that have huge impacts. “Toyota is not immune to the political ales afflicting big companies. And bureaucracy can indeed kill ideas.” “People need some way to thing about their work, a perspective that enables them to manage the mounting tension between their ability to innovate and the ever-increasing demands placed on them. They need a way to get a better sense of control over their work and life.” Remove from the organization the fear that: “our culture is too bureaucratic. My ideas don’t count. I don’t get the resources I need” and watch employees gain control over work and life.

Ask five whys to pursuit and inquiry of knowledge about a process; knowledge of the process or system is essential to understand how to improve the process; and compete for ingenuity.

1. Without perfection the gap between the idea and the application is so wide that people don’t get it.

2. Most of the so-called revolutionary breakthroughs are in reality smaller ideas combined, synthesized, and adapted to application.

3. Perfection is work. If you want big leaps, then take small steps.

4. Perfection must be a creative core to the daily work of everyone in the company. It must be universally understood to become a path to the future that everyone has a stake in.

5. Perfection is not about the company, it is about the individual and the value the individual can contribute.

6. Go to the place of work and gain understanding: “assemble the team”, “identify the target”, “understand the process”, and “understand the customer”.

7. Harmonize the tensions of the group, push harder, move across invisible lines in the organization, cut across departments and divisions creating better communication, coordination, and cooperation which will lead to success. Gain through compromise and cooperation, complementary designs that will benefit everyone.

8. Great innovation provides meaningful improvement in the lives of others. It serves the needs of society.

9. “What separates inventors from innovators is the ability to think through all the conditions and connections required to allow a solution to fit seamlessly into the everyday beat of those who will use it.” Build what people will use.

10. Great innovation is great in large measure because of context. Context helps explain why some ideas take off and others don’t. Solving problems within the correct context brings satisfaction. The innovation fits the situation and context is shaped and governed by the prevailing systems and structures surrounding your ideas. “Thinking outside the box” is an impotent platitude. Thinking within context is genius!