Category Archives: Philosophy

The Opposite of Kaizen:

opposite_kaizen

“Kaizen” is the Japanese word that means “change for good”. Kaizen is probably the most used word in lean today. Kaizen has come to mean many things including “Kaizen events” – a week long group activity to improve a process. In today’s post, I am going to look at kaizen – the simple idea of “change for better” and look at what could be the opposite of kaizen. Kaizen is also translated as “continuous improvement”.

What is the Opposite of Kaizen? – Kaiaku

This is an interesting philosophical question. From a Japanese language standpoint, the opposite of kai-zen is kai-aku. In Japanese, Kai means “to change”, zen means “better” or “good” and aku means “bad” or “evil”. Thus kaizen literally means “change to be better” and kaiaku means “change to be worse”.

From a philosophical viewpoint, I do not agree that kaiaku is the opposite of kaizen. A person engaged in the kaizen mindset learns from failures as well. The fear of failure does not stop him from trial and error. Sometimes this activity can result in terrible failures – kaiaku. However, the mindset of kaizen is still alive. In fact, it is said that one learns the most from failures. Thus, kaiaku cannot be the opposite of kaizen. Failures which result in worse-of scenarios act as an impetus to make things even better.

What is the Opposite of Kaizen? – Kaikaku

Kaikaku translates from Japanese to English as “revolutionary change”. This is generally a large scale transformation. The intent behind kaikaku is that it is not a simple small scale change like kaizen. Toyota achieves improvement through both small scale and large scale improvements. They embrace both types. Toyota also embraces innovation (kakushin). From Toyota’s perspective any change that ultimately makes things better is always good! In this regard, the opposite of kaizen cannot be kaikaku either.

What would Ohno Say?

Taiichi Ohno, father of Toyota Production System, said the following about how to begin kaizen:

“You’ve got to assume that things are a mess.”

Ohno’s point behind this is that if you are happy and satisfied with where you are and what you are doing; you will never want to change. You have to be dissatisfied with what you are doing to motivate yourself in order to improve your process. The opposite of kaizen is complacency!

Being complacent means that you are happy where you are, and your goal is to maintain status-quo. In fact, Merriam Webster defines complacency as follows;

Complacency = self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies

This is the exact opposite of the intent behind kaizen – to improve/make things better. Complacency leads to stagnation, and ultimately this hinders survival. Dr. Deming is often misquoted with “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” His actual quote is;

“Learning is not compulsory; it’s voluntary. Improvement is not compulsory; it’s voluntary. But to survive, we must learn.”(Source: The Age of Stagnation, Satyajit Das)

There is an interesting anecdote in the Harvard Business Review article “What Working for a Japanese Company Taught Me”  by John E Rehfeld. John talked about his friend who was in charge of two factories, one in America and one in Japan. The Japanese factory always outperformed the American factory. His friend’s rationale was as follows:

“They both set the same target, and they both may hit it. But when the Japanese hit it, they keep going, whereas the Americans tend to stop and rest on their laurels before pursuing the next goal. So in the end, the Japanese achieve more.” They continuously strive for perfection with the goal of achieving excellence.

Final Words:

It is my view that although the opposite of kaizen from a linguistic standpoint is kaiaku, from a philosophical standpoint it is complacency. Complacency leads to stagnation, and makes one ignorant of the perils around. I talked about Leonardo da Vinci last time. I will finish off with a quote from him, and an anecdote involving Henry Kissinger and Winston Lord.

davinci

Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. (Source:The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, Richte, 1888)

Winston Lord was working under the then National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger. There were a lot of high priority national security projects going on at that time. Winston Lord was writing a special report for Henry Kissinger. He worked on it for days knowing how picky and critical Kissinger can be. Lord submitted the report to Kissinger. The report was immediately returned to Lord with a notation by Kissinger – “Is this the best you can do?”

Lord rewrote the report and polished it a little more. The report was again submitted, and almost immediately the report was sent back by Kissinger, again with the same question – “Is this the best you can do?”

Lord rewrote the report one more time and the report was again sent back with the same question. This time Lord snapped at Kissinger, “Damn it, yes, it’s the best I can do.”

“Fine. Then I guess I will read it this time”, Kissinger replied back.

Always keep on learning…

In case you missed it, my last post was Qualities of a Lean Leader.

What is my purpose?

purpose

Peter Drucker declared in his 1954 book “The Practice of Management” that the purpose of a business is to create a customer. In today’s post I will talk about purpose, specifically what do I think my purpose is at work? There is of course the utilitarian answer about my purpose at work – to fulfill my job duties/responsibilities. However, fulfilling the job duties/responsibilities does not always complete my purpose.

The purpose is to create/increase value in anything I do:

Peter Drucker in the book “The Practice of Management” talks about understanding customers. He notes that the manufacturer of gas kitchen stoves should not consider himself to be in competition with only other gas kitchen stove manufacturers. The customer is not just buying a stove. The customer is looking for the easiest way to cook food. There are many forms of stoves/utensils available to the customer that are in direct competition. There are several different ways to cook food including microwave ovens, cooking ranges, grills, etc. Ignoring them will result in loss of business. This example may be outdated. However, the core idea is applicable here. If you are simply fulfilling just your basic job duties/responsibilities, you are like the gas stove manufacturer. You will not grow and develop yourself if you just stick to your defined duties/responsibilities and you will eventually get passed by.

Your purpose is to create/increase value in anything you do. From a Toyotayesque philosophy, this is similar to the Continuous Improvement attitude. You are always trying to improve what you are doing. You are expanding your boundaries and you have a responsibility to develop yourself. One of the two pillars for the Toyota Philosophy identified in the Toyota Way 2001 is “Continuous Improvement”. The first key concept for “Continuous Improvement” is the “Spirit of Challenge”. In Jeffrey Liker’s “The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership”, Liker talks about the Spirit of Challenge as follows;

“Like the two founding Toyoda family members, every Toyota leader is expected not just to excel in his current role but to take on the challenges to achieve a bold vision with energy and enthusiasm.”

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The two Toyoda family members are Sakichi Toyoda and Kiichiro Toyoda. I have referenced them in my last two posts. It is likely that Liker meant every Toyota employee when he said Toyota leader. This type of thinking is instilled from an organization standpoint. To quote Peter Drucker again;

“Most people need to feel that they are here for a purpose, and unless an organization can connect to this need to leave something behind that makes this a better world, or at least a different one, it won’t be successful over time.”

Toyota has a core concept of True North. True North is your ideal state. You can never truly achieve this. However, it is your responsibility to strive moving towards your True North.

Final Words and a story on purpose:

I am a firm believer of taking responsibility and authority to do the right thing, and to develop yourself. One must always try to increase/add value in what they do. Increasing value in what you do ultimately increases your value. This is the Spirit of Challenge. This is your inner purpose.

I will finish off with an anecdote, I heard from the Indian author Shiv Khera (in his words).

16 years ago in Singapore I gave a taxi driver a business card to take me to a particular address. At the last point he circled round the building. His meter read 11$ but he took only 10.

I said Henry, your meter reads 11$ how come you are taking only 10.

He said Sir, I am a taxi driver, I am supposed to be bringing you straight to the destination. Since I did not know the last spot, I had to circle around the building. Had I brought you straight here, the meter would have read 10$. Why should you be paying for my ignorance?

He said Sir, legally, I can claim 11$ but ethically I am entitled to only 10. He further added that Singapore is a tourist destination and many people come here for three or four days. After clearing the immigrations and customs, the first experience is always with the taxi driver and if that is not good, the balance three to four days are not pleasant either. He said Sir I am not a taxi driver, I am the Ambassador of Singapore without a diplomatic passport.

In my opinion he probably did not go to school beyond the 8th grade, but to me he was a professional. To me his behavior reflected pride in performance and character. That day I learnt that one needs more than professional qualification to be a professional.

Always keep on learning…

In case you missed it, my last post was Toyota Production System House – Just-in-Time (JIT) and Jidoka (Part 2).