Kaizen
Japanese for 'change for the better' or 'continuous improvement'
A Japanese business philosophy of continuous incremental improvement involving all employees, from executives to assembly line workers. Small, ongoing positive changes that accumulate to major improvements.
Used in the Books
This term appears in 4 chapters:
"This required training every worker to be a quality inspector - massive cultural and skills investment. Continuous improvement (Kaizen): Workers were expected to suggest improvements - hundreds of suggestions per employee per year. Management was expected to implement them rapidly...."
"...eams formed, bringing together Toyota engineers, production workers, and supplier engineers to collaborate on part design before manufacturing began. Kaizen (continuous improvement - the practice of making small, incremental improvements constantly) became formalized across the ecosystem. A true ecosyste..."
"...t internal experts (legal, security, compliance, design) who influence decisions through advice, not formal approval authority Example: Toyota's kaizen (continuous improvement) - any worker can stop production line if they detect quality issue. Temporary leadership (frontline worker making critical d..."
"...cost reduction, quality improvement, process optimization) - Emphasize reliability and consistency over novelty - Incremental continuous improvement (kaizen) rather than breakthroughs For balanced environments: - Dual operating systems (core business optimized for exploitation, innovation teams optim..."
Biological Context
Kaizen parallels evolutionary adaptation through small mutations. Rather than dramatic reorganization, organisms improve gradually through accumulated small changes. Natural selection is kaizen at the species level—continuous incremental improvement over generations.
Business Application
Kaizen culture empowers everyone to identify and implement improvements. Small daily improvements compound dramatically over years, often outperforming occasional dramatic changes.