Lean Blog Interviews - Healthcare, Manufacturing, Business, and Leadership

Lesa Nichols: Reflecting on Hajime Oba and Her Toyota Experience

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Lesa is the founder of Lesa Nichols Consulting.

Show notes: http://www.leanblog.org/399

My guest for Episode #399 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Lesa Nichols, a former Toyota and TSSC employer who now works with organizations through her company, Lesa Nichols Consulting.

Today, Lesa shares reflections on working closely with the late Hajime Oba. This is the third podcast in a mini series, following my conversations with Steve Spear and with Hide Oba.

In the episode, we talk about topics including:

  • Lisa's non-traditional path to TPS: From public relations to the shop floor
  • Working with plant president (and future company chairman) Fujio Cho
  • Choosing between being a "technical scientist" or a "social scientist" of TPS
  • Meeting Mr. Oba and working with TSSC
  • Helping find American expertise to learn from
  • Becoming a powertrain production manager
  • Key lessons from working with Mr. Oba:
    • "Managers must fight to have floor time"
  • "Safety is an assumed thing?" -- what does this mean?
  • Don't look for waste, look for overburden (both physical and mental)
  • Why is openly admitting mistakes such an important thing at Toyota
  • Why Toyota's "soul is around manufacturing"

    • Lesa was also a contributor of a chapter to the anthology book Practicing Lean.

    The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.

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    Lean Blog Interviews - Healthcare, Manufacturing, Business, and LeadershipBy Mark Graban
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