Saturday, October 25, 2008

Toyota's creative innovations

Reading the "The Knowledge-Creating Company," I was reminded of visiting Toyota Corporation in while studying abroad in Japan. I was particularly intrigued by the idea of using metaphors as a way to communicate implicit knowledge into explicit knowledge, and the use of teams to create competition and dialogue among various perspectives to invent the most innovative product.

Here are some links showing Toyota's most recent innovations which I thought that you might enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQmoTJFScMY
I was actually lucky enough to see this 'band' perform when I visited the corporation!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs_vL9g4IYk&feature=related

As energy-efficiency becomes an important part of the economic and political dialogue in our country, I wonder what policies could be made on the government and local levels which could encourage corporations to incorporate knowledge-creating management styles within their organizations to pursue energy sustainability. I wonder if it would be more effective for our government or a company to pursue the creative innovations which would lead to a more sustainable future. The culture of a company is important in encouraging creative innovation. Does the type (state or corporation) also matter?

Presidential Leadership Debate?

So, I don't know whether we decided to have a discussion about the leadership styles of the presidential candidates this Wednesday or not. As I have been a super nerd about following the campaign, I thought that I would share some information that I found regarding what others are saying about Obama and McCain's leadership styles. I hope that this will help get the brain juices flowing for the discussion, if we decide to have it. :)

An article about a speech Obama made at Northwestern's graduation regarding his leadership lessons (this article is done in 3 parts, so you have to click on the link on the left if you want to read all 3 parts)
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976823779
Obama's leadership lessons outlined:
1. The world doesn't just revolve around you. Have empathy
2. Challenge yourself. Take some risks in your life.
3. Perseverance. Making a mark on this world is hard. It takes patience and perseverance, and failure is part of the job description. but you have to keep on plugging at it.

A comparison of Obama and McCain's leadership styles: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-assess20-2008sep20,0,7459654.story

An analysis of the candidates' personality types according to Myers Brigg's personality test (there is also an analysis according to personality of Gore and Bush from 2004 linked on the same page, which i found interesting): http://www.slate.com/id/2184696/pagenum/all/