Planet Lean: The Official online magazine of the Lean Global Network
What Toyota and the Green Berets have in common

What Toyota and the Green Berets have in common

Sam MacPherson
•
April 9, 2015

INTERVIEW - What do the United States Army’s Special Forces unit and Toyota have in common? To find out, we spoke to the Green Berets’ former Director of Training at the LEI summit in New Orleans.


Interviewee: Sam MacPherson, Lean Enterprise Transformation Leader at the Lean Leadership Academy and former Director of Training of the United States Army’s Special Forces unit.



THE INTERVIEWEE

Sam MacPherson photograph
Sam MacPherson is a lean enterprise transformation leader and has dedicated over 28 years to developing organizational leaders, senior leadership teams, and designing lean enterprise management systems

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How we secured a future for employees at Toyota Australia
March 14, 2018
How we secured a future for employees at Toyota Australia
Toyota Australia Altona closure lean thinking

FEATURE – Last year’s shut-down of Toyota’s Altona plant in Australia moved us all. Here, the former Divisional Manager of Manufacturing offers a first-hand account of how the company made the most of a terrible situation.

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Coaching is necessary to establish a problem solving culture
April 5, 2016
Coaching is necessary to establish a problem solving culture

FEATURE - All too often, A3 thinking is perceived as a prescriptive approach rather than a series of questions that progressively deepen our understanding of a situation. So what is problem solving really about? And how do we ensure it takes root across the organization?

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Can we still learn from Toyota suppliers in Japan?
June 14, 2023
Can we still learn from Toyota suppliers in Japan?

FEATURE – Fresh of a study tour in Japan, the authors wonder if there is anything left to learn from Toyota’s network of suppliers in the age of AI and digital. Hint: it’s a rethorical question.

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Can healthcare learn from software firm Menlo Innovations?
June 2, 2015
Can healthcare learn from software firm Menlo Innovations?

FEATURE – Menlo Innovations has proved there is a different, more "joyful" way of running a software development company – could those same lessons be applied to the healthcare industry?

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