The Elegant Solution
Book

The Elegant Solution

Toyota's Formula for Mastering Innovation

Matthew May
Free Press, 2006
Buy book or audiobook

Read offline

Amazon Kindle

Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Matthew E. May is so enthusiastic that he makes the case for innovation sound a bit too simple, easy and risk-free. He sounds, in other words, like what he is: essentially a committed convert to a specific perspective, an approach that has brought a great deal of genuine value to his life. As a result, getAbstract recommends his book to readers who can take it with a grain of salt. With that bit of leveling understood, let's hope he attracts many such readers, because his points about innovation and value creation are salient and important. He cuts through a lot of the overtheorized verbiage that the subject of innovation has generated, and he provides a clear, broadly applicable action plan. Whether your business is building cars, like Toyota - which provides many, but not all of the examples here - selling hats or even writing fiction, you'll find ample good suggestions about how to apply continual improvement to create innovative, elegant solutions.

Summary

Toyota's Principles of Innovation

Today, innovation is crucial, but difficult. Toyota rises to the challenge, coming up with a million ideas each year that its managers can apply to their process. How? The company innovates at every level, and so should yours. Get everyone in your organization to be devoted to coming up with new ways to do things and serve customers better. Think like Toyota: don't seek the single big idea that changes everything. Instead, look for "the elegant solution - the singular and deceptively simple idea with huge impact." Such ideas cut through the complexities that blind people to new opportunities, reframing problems in new, productive ways.

Toyota's quest for elegant solutions started in the nineteenth century when Japan's Sakichi Toyoda found ways to improve the weaving process. His work led to Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, which eventually became the Toyota Motor Company. Toyoda did not seek new "gadgets" or technological frills. Instead, he sought "ingenuity in craft," ways to perfect his work and make his innovations fit their social context, so he could manufacture things that people wanted. That's elegance, and to achieve it you have...

About the Author

Matthew May has been an advisor at the University of Toyota for more than eight years. He founded a Los Angeles firm specializing in innovation.

Comment on this summary or Начать обсуждение