Page 232 - Toyota Under Fire

LESSONS

From that conclusion, we’ve drawn four specific lessons for
leaders and managers of other companies.

Lesson 1: Your Crisis Response
Started Yesterday

Changing the behavior of a large, multinational company on
short notice isn’t just difficult; it’s impossible. There’s an old saying
that character is what a person does when no one else is looking.
Culture is what a company does when senior management isn’t
looking. Those collective actions that happen outside of a stra-
tegic planning workshop or an annual planning process are far
more important to a company’s direction and fate than anything
that a leader, at whatever level, can say or do. Even when a cri-
sis strikes, those actions are unlikely to change much, or for any
length of time. They are driven by the culture, and culture simply
can’t be changed quickly, even in a crisis.
A company with a culture that places blame or denies re-
sponsibility won’t change just because a senior executive stands
before Congress and accepts responsibility. A company that val-
ues individual achievement won’t work as a team to overcome
a challenge just because that executive delivers an impassioned
speech on the importance of teamwork at an internal meeting.
A company that tolerates disjointed action and large differences
in the approach and capabilities of different functions won’t start
pulling in the same direction just because of a new vision state-
ment or corporate goal. A corporate culture that values short-
term profits over long-term success won’t change quickly even if
the senior leadership team changes the firm’s performance met-
rics. Culture is created over long time frames and can change only
over long time frames.

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