"Being president of Toyota is lonely." President Koji Sato received this piece of advice from Chairman Akio Toyoda when he was offered the position. What has Toyota's new leadership team inherited?
What future are carmakers creating?
Our live Toyota Times broadcast announcing the leadership change in January closed with the following words from President Sato.
“I will give my all to bringing us one step closer to a future of mobility that only carmakers can create.”
With every message shared since, the new leadership team has emphasized its commitment to a future created by carmakers.
The final question of the annual meeting sought to find out more about this vision for the future.
President Sato bowed deeply before replying.
President Sato
Our new team has been able to hit the ground running thanks to Chairman Toyoda’s 14 years of rigorous management, which established Toyota’s solid foundations.
Our new team's theme is “Inheritance and Evolution.” What we inherit is the Toyota way built up by Akio.
It is important to pass this on through thoughts and values, rather than as ways and means.
When offering me this position, Akio gave me a piece of advice. “Being president of Toyota is lonely. It’s really tough.”
“But I don’t want to pass on management in the way I had to endure,” he told me. “You have a lot of people around you. You don’t have to carry it alone. You can be the captain and manage it as a team.”
Like myself, many members of our team have come to share those values by making cars under Akio Toyoda. That’s what enables us to lead the company in this way.
You may think that team management slows down implementation and that it takes time to harmonize all our views.
But to me, sharing the same core values means that instead of all of us chasing one ball, we can chase 10 different balls with 10 people. I believe Toyota is now capable of that sort of fast-paced management.
Personally, few of my conversations with Akio took place in the president’s office. They were always in the genba, always in cars.
It was through such conversations that I grasped the Toyota way. In the genba, I learned that management philosophy is reflected in products, and how to put carmaking at the core of the company.
Carmaking truly brings constant challenges, and things rarely go well.
A cherished phrase at Toyota, from the words of Sakichi Toyoda, is hyaku-setsu futou (indefatigability).
No matter how many times you fail, never stop taking the challenge. That is the core leadership value I learned from Akio Toyoda in the genba.
Success lies beyond 100 failures. I believe this and want Toyota to be a company that continues to tackle new challenges.
I myself really love cars. I love making cars. There are many different car lovers at Toyota.
BEV-loving car-lovers. Car lovers that love the sound of the engine. Because of this diversity, Toyota can create a diverse future for cars.
You asked, “What is the future of cars?” That cars are forever fun, connected to society, and prove to be even more useful to the world. To develop it into something safe and secure. I want to create that sort of future.
In order to do that, we must sweat and take things on at the genba, work with our partners and inherit what is unique to Toyota and create a new Toyota from that.
We are prepared to give everything we have to inherit and evolve Toyota.
As the applause died down, Chairman Toyoda added a brief comment.
“All of Toyota, including myself, will continue to assist President Sato.”
Akio’s ideal handover
At the 2019 shareholders’ meeting, when asked about his ideal successor Akio responded as follows.
“Regardless of the name of the next president, whether it’s a Toyoda or not, what is important is that we do not lose sight of our founding principles, and focus on what we can do to achieve smiles on people’s faces, just as a tree ring grows.
“With regard to passing down our founding principles to the next generation, I see each and every one of the Toyota executives here and team members in the whole company as successors.”
Instead of attempting to tie up all loose ends during his term, Akio explained that his duty, and of all who followed, was to pass on Toyota’s philosophy, skills, and conduct while changing with the times.
He was determined to hand over a business with balanced foundations.
To use a farming analogy, the loss-making Toyota that Akio inherited 14 years ago was a barren field, its crops harvested and the soil stripped of nutrients.
Together with Toyota’s 370,000 global members, he set about tilling that soil and nurturing the seeds in the ground. He set up the next generation with fields in different stages of development, finely balanced for sustainable growth. This seems to have been the mindset with which he ran the Toyota farm for 14 years.
Akio also told President Sato to take over management as a team. While the role of president may still be a lonely existence, Sato has many people with him—including Akio himself, who has experienced that loneliness firsthand.
In saying that “all of Toyota will continue to assist President Sato,” Akio wanted to ensure that his successor would not struggle alone.