Kaizen in the Stars

One of the working titles for my new book was “The DNA of Kaizen.” We decided to go with the more straightforward title, “True Kaizen,” but I think that the symbolism of Kaizen in terms of biology is worth some thought. Kaizen is about “evolutionary change,” meaning the cumulative effect of many small changes over a long period of time. The concept is easy to understand, but it is difficult to see how it works in detail. 

To understand the root causes behind successful Kaizen, we need to take a deeper look. If Kaizen is an evolutionary process, then we should look at the driving force behind evolution: DNA. Here are a few interesting facts that I have learned about natural and organizational evolution.

An early cover for my book “True Kaizen” with the theme of DNA

In the immortal words of Carl Sagan, “We are all made of star stuff.” What he meant was that everything in the universe is made of the same basic material that has existed since the dawn of time. DNA, therefore, doesn’t really create anything new. It simply rearranges what was already there, but in doing so, it creates the incredible diversity of life. This is an important lesson when it comes to Kaizen vs simple improvement. When people try to improve, their first instinct may be to spend money to buy new facilities and equipment, or to hire new staff. Kaizen is different. It means using what you have to do something that better fits your needs. 

DNA is not perfect. The transformative power of DNA is actually the result of mistakes. DNA doesn’t always get copied perfectly to the next generation, and this results in changes in the form of mutations. Most of us don’t want to think of changes in the workplace as mutations. When it comes to biology, mutations can have a negative impact on the individual organism. But in the long run, these negative mutations don’t matter, because the smaller number of beneficial mutations are the only ones that survive and last. Over time, these mutations lead to steady change that allows organism to adapt.

Replicating DNA is no easy task, and mistakes do happen, but that is how nature learns.

The key lesson here for Kaizen is that you should never be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes are the only way to differentiate between bad ideas and good ideas. We can only recognize solutions when we recognize problems. Here comes one of my favorite Taiichi Ohno quotes again: “Having no problems is the biggest problem of all.”

There is a big difference between saying “Only the strong survive!” and saying “survival of the fittest.” The fittest is not always the strongest and the strongest don’t always survive. That’s why the common earthworm is still here while the tyrannosaurus-rex is long gone. If only large apex predators survived, they would eventually wipe out their prey. The result? The predators would die from starvation.

What can this teach us about Kaizen? Your success in the moment does not determine your success in the future. The tyrannosaurus was very successful in its time. So were Toys R Us, Sears, and Blockbuster. The biggest don’t always survive because big complex entities require increasingly specific environments in which to thrive. When the environments changes, it can lead to disaster for those that don’t adapt. Kaizen is not about continuous growth. In many circumstances, Kaizen might mean getting smaller, or leaner as the case may be; just ask the birds.

Nothing lasts forever...

There is a big lesson here, which Toshihiko Miura and I discuss at length in our book, “True Kaizen.” The lesson is that Kaizen and improvement are two very different concepts which emerged out of very different environments. There was a time when buying machines to produce as much as possible was a profitable business model, and still in some markets this is the answer, but it is not the future. The climate has changed for many of us, and mass production and division of labor have gone the way of the dinosaurs for many markets. This speaks to the heart of what people describe as “lean.” Bigger is not always better. 

You can only be as big as your environment will permit, and organizations who can quickly change based on new needs and challenges will have the greatest chance to survive and thrive for their future customers and communities.

Preview True Kaizen to learn more about the natural development of a strong workplace culture.