Take Cover Detroit
Friday, December 15th, 2006 by Mark | Posted in Business, Entrepreneur, Management, Marketing, Marvelous Marketing, Sales, Unconventional Thinking | Comments
So there is no doubt that Toyota is the premier auto maker in the world. It’s quality numbers are in the stratosphere and its sales juggernaut is number two to GM only because, for political reasons, it wants to impose a slow death on the fat, dying cow from Detroit.
So in the midst of all of this Christmas dream of a success story, what does Toyota’s 64-year old CEO Katsuaki Watanabe think of this his global domination machine?
Well… that it SUCKS.
Extraordinary quality isn’t good enough.
Exceptional productivity is just not acceptable.
Amazing sales are a yawn.
Crazy? Polar opposite? Watanabe is doing the only thing that truly distinguishes the elite, top gun business people from the impostors. He is declaring war on his business not when it is faltering but precisely when it is riding a top of the world crest and virtually everyone else would sit back and marvel at the amazing thing called Toyota.
The factis this guy is an ass kicker. I talk in my book Your Management Sucks about the importance of having Combat Eyes and Serial Skepticism. Do you know how much more valuable this is than a zillion feel good bonding fests?
When we all look at the businesses or departments we run, we have to know that some part or parts of it are in need of war.
Who is your role model:Katsuaki Watanabe or Bill Ford?
Mark Stevens
CEO
What do you think? Leave a comment…
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December 20th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Many thanks for including Flooring The Consumer in your Z-list blogroll. Great ideas, too, to have a Z-list category.
December 20th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
CB,
Thanks! The results of the Z-list are just fabulous! I’m thankful to everyone involved.
Mark Stevens
CEO
December 21st, 2006 at 4:01 pm
Watanabe teaches everyone valuable lessons here; however, you are always there to find these powerful lessons and expose them to us for what they are(good or bad). That is no easy task, and many thanks for highlighting these situations and why they’re important to all of us. Keep it up, everyday as a business owner seems more challenging than the previous and it is of immense help to learn from actual situations and start each day with a fresh outlook. Thats why this is the only blog i read with any kind of regularity.
January 18th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
I wouldnt exactly call 2.2 million recalls quality
October 5th, 2007 at 5:09 am
hmmm.. I wonder who paid for this one-sided, feel-good story…