Chain of Learning: Empowering Continuous Improvement and Lean Change Leaders

Apply for the May 2026 Japan Leadership Experience—https://kbjanderson.com/japantrip/

Where is your primary focus as a leader, change practitioner, or organization? 

Getting business results? 

Improving processes? 

Or developing people? 

What if the real key to lasting business success isn’t found in metrics or milestones—but in how you create a culture that nurtures people and their problem-solving capabilities? 

In this episode I explore what it really takes to deliver sustainable organizational success, and why building a people-centered learning culture—one where developing others isn’t an afterthought, but the foundation that enables operational excellence and, ultimately, better business outcomes.

Effective leadership begins when you shift from managing results to developing people—creating the conditions for continuous improvement, engagement, and growth.

When you put people first, results follow.

Whether you are a senior executive, lean practitioner, or team leader, that’s how you build organizations that learn, adapt, and thrive—today and for generations to come.

01:51 What leadership with purpose truly means
02:06 Why Toyota’s motto, “ The only secret to Toyota is its attitude towards learning,” is its secret to success
03:18 Three interrelated qualities that determine lasting business success represented by a pyramid
03:45 [Third level] Results - The outcomes customers see
04:12 [Second level] Process - The technical and operational systems that make the work flow better
04:37 [First level] People - The foundation that nurtures people, problem-solving, and learning
05:28 Why the Western approach is backwards when it comes to people, processes, and results

06:50 The meaning of the quote, “profit is excrement,” that captures the backwardness of the usual business approach to success
07:39 The difference between lean as a transactional toolkit versus a way of nurturing people and problem solving at all levels
07:53 Why putting people first is not just in Japan or for Toyota leaders

08:41 Leaders who put people first as the foundation for success

10:12 The challenge in putting people first
10:38 An example from Gustavo of why our intentions and our actions are aligned
12:29 Gustavo’s realization that he had a people engagement problem
13:20 The positive results in engagement when he focused on people first

14:08 What leadership in action looks like

14:35 What it really means to create a chain of learning across your organization

15:00 The two pillars of the Toyota Way
15:43 Three questions to ask yourself as you reflect on this episode

16:26 Questions to ask your people to create a cycle of reflection and continuous improvement
17:13 How to build organizations and leaders that last