Preface Flashcards
What are the two definitions of Kaizen?
- Using very small steps to improve a habit, a process, or product.
- Using very small moments to inspire new products and inventions.
Myth # 1: Change Is Hard. What is the Kaizen response to prolonged sedentary periods?
Simply standing from a sitting position doubles your metabolic rate. Go for even a short walk and you have more than doubled the rate again. The moral of the story: The solution to the health risks posed by excessive sitting is not huge and unmanageable—i.e., a full hour at the gym each day—but rather small and doable.
Myth #2: The Size of the Step Determines the Size of the Result, So Take Big Steps for Big Results. What is the kaizen take-away in regards to exercise?
While more exercise is better than less, small amounts make a difference. A Taiwanese study of 416,000 adults found that those who exercised 15 minutes a day lived three years longer than those who exercised less. And those 15 minutes do not have to be done all at once! Exercising for 3 minutes at a time, adding up to 15 minutes or more, can have clear and dramatic health benefits.
Myth #3: Kaizen Is Slow; Innovation Is Quicker. Which company suffered a crisis after abandoning its core kaizen principles to become the biggest car company in the world?
Toyota.
Since the crisis, Toyota has slowed down production, given local managers in the U.S. more responsibility for quality control, and trained new workers in the kaizen culture.
Toyota has returned to focusing on quality, not quantity, as its mission, with an emphasis on correcting defects in production while they are small and easily fixed.
And Toyota’s reputation for quality has been restored.
What are two elements of the spiritual side of kaizen?
- Service
2. Gratitude
What is each employee in a business that has adopted a kaizen culture asked to do?
Look each day for ways to improve the process or product: lowering cost, increasing quality, and always—I repeat, always—in the service of the customer.
Kaizen demands that every small change be to the _______.
benefit of the customer
Gratitude: Innovation vs Kaizen
Innovation calls for financial gains, promotions, and possessions to stoke the fires of gratitude. But kaizen invites us to be grateful for health, for our next breath, for the moments with a friend or colleague.
Who said “I long to accomplish a great and noble task but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble”?
Helen Keller
Who said “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value”?
Albert Einstein
Who said “I would rather have it said, ‘He lived usefully’ than ‘He died rich.’”?
Benjamin Franklin
