The ELEGANT Solution - Toyota's Formula for Mastering Innovation

I recently read this book by Matthew E. May regarding Toyota's Mastery over Innovation and would like to quote here some interesting ideas about what innovation really means as explained in this book.

Here's a quote from Thomas Edison.

"There's a way to do it better -- find it."

- Innovation is a core company process. It's not a department. It is everyone's responsibility.

- Innovation isn't about technology or manufacturing. It's about satisfaction & value, and opportunity, and impact.

- If you are not busy with reinvention, you are falling backwards.

- The quest for the elegant solution shapes true innovation.

- Three C's for Innovation - Creativity, Challenge and Courage.

- Innovation is not invention. It is a term in economics rather than technology.

- Elegance = Creativity + Simplicity + Intelligence + Subtlety + Economy + Quality.

- Elegant solution is one in which the optimal or desired effect is achieved with the least amount of effort.

Elegant definition of Innovation by CEO of JetBlue

- Innovation is trying to figure out a way to do something better than it's ever been done before.

Solving the problem of how to do something better than ever.

- It is how to achiveve big leaps through small steps.

- For innovation, the person should have the mindset of an artist and the discipline of a scientist.

Dig your own job !

- Art of Ingenuity - Engagement and Exploration.

Favor getting it right as to getting it out.

- As per Toyota, innovation is the mastery of thinking within the box.

- 3 underlying principles:-

Ingenuiy in craft - applied creativity

pursuit of perfection &

fit with soceity

- Elegance is the simplicity found on the far side of complexity.

- Elegance is about finding the "aha" solution to a problem with the greatest parsimony of effort and expense.

- Being first and fast in the short run isn't necessarily optimal in the long run.

- It takes system thinking - Ability to think well through cause and effect and entails understanding context.

Business is about marketing and innovation.

The Rule of four :

• Strategy - idea's person, thoughtstarter
• Tactics - action person, playmaker
• Logistics - process person, taskmaster
• Diplomacy - people person, peacekeeper

Questioning and answering upto 5 times - Why is that important ? can help to reach the root cause of a problem.

- Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution.

- The vast majority of ideas considered revolutionary are actually much more evolutionary than you might think.

- Innovative thinking: What's blocking perfection ? instead of what can we improve ?

- Winning is not always the barometer of geting better.

- If you want big leaps, take small steps.

- Imperfection drives all innovations.

- what separates inventors from innovators is the ability ot hink through all the conditions and connections required to allow a solution to fit seamlessly into hte everyday beat of those who will use it.

- Systems thinking is the ability to provide solutions within the current contect or providing a new one along with the solution.

- Systems thinking is looking into the cause - effect. having a good foresight as well as insight.

- Every solution has 3 governing dimensions:-

solid structure - policies, procedures, physical environment

strong systems - input, output, processes, patterns

social significance - purposes, principles, people

- Learning disabilities hinder 360 deg innovation. Make learning the job. Integrate it into the daily work as the one true way to innovate. Learnership is the foremost practice.

- 4 phase cycle of learning experience - Questioning, solving, experimenting, reflecting.

- Toyota's standard for problem-solving and continuous improvement - PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act)

IDEA loops (Investigate, Design, Execute, Adjust)

- Hansei (Japanese word for reflection) - introspection, performed regularly irrespective of performance.

AAR ( After Action Review) - i. what was supposed to happen ? ii. What actually happened ? iii. Why were there differences ?

-I in IDEA: gather the facts, get into the customer's mind

Genichi Genbutsu - Go and see - go to the source to find the facts to make correct decisions, build consensus and achieve goals at the best speed

3 ways to fully grasp the situtation:-

1. Observe - watch the customer, 2. infiltrate - become the customer, 3. collaborate - involve the customer

- Don't try to innovate for the future. - Peter Drucker

- Great innovation needs a father; great timing

- Design dangers :- Creating a future need, Confusing need with lead time

- Act today for tomorrow.

- Toyota's Design Principles:- 1. Balance Today & tomorrow, 2. keep it real and resonant 3. blend creativity and competition

- innovation - design for today - today's problems, tomorrow's solution.

- Getting the big picture requires a big picture.

- Five dimensions of downside risk that people perceive every time they engage in a purchase experience :- economic, functional, social, physical, psychological

- intangible figures into the calculation of the monthly consumer Price Index (CPI). Hedonics is a way of taking into account product improvements when tracking price movements.

- Innovation demands exploiting limits, not ignoring them. Exploiting limitations drives breakthrough thinking.
Stretch goals are a prime tool for innovation.

- A well stretch goal is aligned, audacious, articulate and arduous.

- We generally don't know what our potential is until we put our capacity on trial.

- Purpose of business it create a customer, so, its two functions are marketing and innovation. - Peter Drucker

- Breakthrough thinking comes from breaking the mental barriers created by obvious solutions.

- Great innovation is born of the ability to harmonize opposing tensions

- Elegant solutions are discovered by elegant framing
- To become a great problem framer, focus on asking the right question, not seeking the right answer.

- Don't just blink, think ! always do the math.

- Innovation runs counter to convention and intuition.

- Kaizen - Japanese word for continuous improvement, its about idea submission, not acceptance.
- 3 steps of Kaizen: Create a standard, follow it and find a better way.

- Standard is simply an established best-known method or practice followed until a better way is discovered, tested or accepted. It prevents mistakes from being made twice.

- We can rob creative power from people by attaching a financial award to ideas.
- Kaizen aims to draw the natural curiosity and creativity within people and guide it towards adding value for customers.
- Kaizen does not attempt to light a fire under people. It lights the fire within them.
- Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. - Leonardo da Vinci

- Complexity destroys value which is what matters most to the customer. Think lean.
- Lean - doing more of what matters by eliminating what doesn't.
- Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

- Lean requires a precise understanding of the value: the who, when, where, what, why and how of the customer's need. Requires Innovative thinking, not cost cutting.
- In lean, customers pull compelling value from you effortlessly.

- 3 elements of complexity: inconsistency, overlad and waste
- The beginning is the chiefest part of any work. - Plato
- Innovation must happen at every level of the company.

- Abilene Paradox: Team follows a single person's thoughts to stay in team.
- Key to avoiding Abilene is understanding that team-based innovation is not about team-building.

- Leaders make meaning. 3 basic qualities:- Integrity, Vision & guidance

Who says elephants can't dance ? Louis V. Gerstner Jr. & IBM

I have quoted here some of the good management learnings from the book, "Who says elephants can't dance ?" about the life of Louis V. Gerstner and IBM. This book is widely referred to management students.
In this book, by elephants, Louis is referring to big corporations/companies such as IBM. People have a feeling that small companies are better than big companies as there is excessive bureaucracy in big companies and decision making is as a result a lengthy process. Louis denies this misconception and believes that even elephants (meaning big corporations) can dance and if they get to the dance floor, ant (meaning small companies) will have to leave the dance floor.

• The success factors of an industry - Decentralized decision making balanced by central strategy and strong customer focus.
• People always do what you inspect and not what you expect.
• There are four kinds of people in the world -

1. Those who make things happen

2. Those to whom things happen

3. Those who watch things happen

4. Those who don't even know things are happening

MADE IN JAPAN - Akio Morita and SONY

I have quoted here some of the good management learnings from the book, "Made in Japan" about the life of Akio Morita and Sony. This book is widely referred to management students.

• A senior employee in Sony had a difference of opinion with Akio Morita which led to regular conflicts between the two. One day, he declared to Akio that he was going to quit the job since they both could not stay in the company and have different opinions. Akio calmly and cleverly responded that if both of them had the same ideas then both of them were not required in the company and that either of them should resign. It was due to such difference in ideas that the company ran a lower risk of comitting mistakes. I was overwhelmed after learning about such a great example of lateral mangement thinking.


• Every year Akio Morita addresses all the fresh graduates out of school that join Sony and explains them the difference between a school and a company. In his speech he awakens the freshers to make them realize their responsibility and expected loyalty towards the company. He provides an example that in school, if they do not do well in their exams, they would at most get a zero. On the other side in a business they have to appear for an exam every day and if they commit a mistake, they would not simply get a zero but would get negative points to any extent and if they excel in work they could get not just 100 points but even thousands or more.


• It is not just the top management in a company that decides the fate of the company but it is rather the most recent employee on a company's payroll who decides its fate. Who can tell the company management better how to structure the work than the people who are doing it ? It is such thoughts of Akio Morita that helped to blend a feeling of a being in a family in the employees of Sony.


• In the event of a loss or mistake, the company should not pin-point and hold anyone responsible for it as it would lower the morale of the people. Rather, the mistake should be made public and everybody should try and understand the reasons behind the occurrence of the mistake and learn from it so as to prevent its reoccurrence. I perfectly agree to it. That's why in many companies the classical mistakes are recorded for later reference by employees.


• Money is not the only way to compensate a person for his work. People should be happy and proud in what they are working on. Job satisafaction is as important as wages. Providing the exployees challenging jobs to boost their development and ultimately appreciting the job that they have done and giving due recognition is also equally important.


• The primary function of management is decision-making and thta means professional knowledge of technology and the ability to forsee the future direction or trends of technology. Consultants should be able to do valuable information gathering and market analysis. Sometimes while working with people, logic has to take a backseat to understanding.