Lesa is the founder of Lesa Nichols Consulting.
Show notes: http://www.leanblog.org/399
My guest for Episode #399 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Lesa Nichols, a former Toyota and TSSC employer who now works with organizations through her company, Lesa Nichols Consulting.
Today, Lesa shares reflections on working closely with the late Hajime Oba. This is the third podcast in a mini series, following my conversations with Steve Spear and with Hide Oba.
In the episode, we talk about topics including:
Lisa's non-traditional path to TPS: From public relations to the shop floor
Working with plant president (and future company chairman) Fujio Cho
Choosing between being a "technical scientist" or a "social scientist" of TPS
Meeting Mr. Oba and working with TSSC
Helping find American expertise to learn from
Becoming a powertrain production manager
Key lessons from working with Mr. Oba:
"Managers must fight to have floor time"
"Safety is an assumed thing?" -- what does this mean?
Don't look for waste, look for overburden (both physical and mental)


Why is openly admitting mistakes such an important thing at Toyota
Why Toyota's "soul is around manufacturing"

Lesa was also a contributor of a chapter to the anthology book Practicing Lean.
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more.