Why do so many organizational strategies end up as posters on walls rather than driving real change? In this episode, Dave and Peter dive deep with Mark Reich, who spent 23 years at Toyota before joining the Lean Enterprise Institute, to examine how Toyota's legendary Hoshin Kanri system transforms strategic thinking into coordinated action.
This week´s takeaways:
Mark explains the fundamental difference between most companies' approach to strategy and Toyota's integrated management system. Unlike conventional top-down cascading goals, Hoshin Kanri creates alignment throughout the organization. The discussion explores practical aspects of strategy execution: separating strategic initiatives from daily management, structuring cross-departmental collaboration, and developing people at all levels. Whether you're struggling with siloed departments, disconnected leadership, or strategies that never fully materialize, this episode offers a blueprint for creating systems that align vision with execution while developing organizational capability.
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