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The Patriots are like Toyota?
October 6, 2007
Unbeaten Patriots see room for improvement - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
The above headline blew me away this morning. The Patriots have basically been perfect this year. Tom Brady is completing 80% of his passes. They've won every game by about 3 touchdowns. Experts think they will 16-0.
Yet the coach says:
"It could be better."
Is that the key to their success? Do they have an attitude that pushes them toward the pursuit of perfection?
Isn't this very Toyota-like? Recognize, "yeah, we're good," but never rest on that, always try to get better.
That was the story my GM plant manager told us in 1996 -- we are going to get better with Lean (I mean "competitive manufacturing," don't say Lean!!), but Toyota is still getting better. They have the lead. We have to improve faster than they are improving, if we're going to catch them.
Toyota never stops improving. They are their own harshest critics. Pretty amazing, huh? They aren't perfect, they are first to admit that, if you listen to their executives.
I think that attitude is one of the hardest things to copy when we're trying to get Lean.
Posted by Mark Graban on October 6, 2007 | Comments (0)
