Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know About How Artists Work

Artful Management Signposts

We’ve mentioned that Toyota has long permitted execu-

tives from other companies to tour its plants, to see its famous

production system in action, without much fear that they will

usefully copy the system. They know that the tendency in

business is to take the easy way—to copy the surface features

of a method and proclaim success, rather than do the hard

work of real mastery. Indeed, few outside Toyota have mas-

tered the Toyota Production System.

A similar principle applies to artful making. You won’t

succeed at it by making the easy choice, or by converting it

into terms with which you are

already familiar and comfort-