Whatever I Do Is Never Good Enough!

Sort of the theme story of my life: Whatever I do is never good enough. Not good enough to please my teachers, my parents, my wives, my friends, my business associates.

I have always felt bad about not being able to please others.

From first grade through ninth, I never received an “A,” not even for gym or shop. Imagine how I felt about myself. Frankly, I hated school. I don’t remember one teacher through those first nine years who liked me.

I was afraid of bringing home my report card to my parents’ displeasure and scorn. And yet somehow I survived. Somehow I must have learned something for I ended up starting a few companies, publishing hundreds of books and eventually writing and editing four of my own books.

However, although I managed a big publishing, training and consulting company, met hundreds of amazing people, visited over 50 countries, I still never felt fully gratified; something always seemed to be missing.

Oh sure, I had moments of glory, plaudits and lots of temporary successes, but the feeling of inadequacy always lingered.

That feeling persisted until a revelation I had recently during my early meditation. While sitting there, I realized what a divine gift it is to feel unfulfilled.

I thought about how almost every manager who ever worked for Mr. Taiichi Ohno, vice president of Toyota and co-creator of the Toyota Production System (JIT and Lean), cowered in his presence for he always challenged them to do something drastic, such as “reduce costs 20%.” The managers would slink away, utterly confused over how to follow Ohno’s instructions.

After suffering and struggling, the managers would slowly but surely find ways to reduce costs, without eliminating or laying people off.  They found ways to reduce their costs by 20%. When they did, they would come back proudly but cautiously to tell Mr. Ohno of their success. Mr. Ohno simply looked at them and without giving any praise or recognition, told them to go back and reduce costs another 20%.

Mr. Ohno’s relentless drive, along with similar teaching and pressure from Dr. Shigeo Shingo, transformed Toyota from a producer of junk in 1950 to the world’s largest, most successful automotive company. Even in this most difficult of economic times, Toyota still has over $23 billion in the bank and $119 billion in stockholder equity – surely enough to weather this current economic storm.

I looked at never being good enough as negative, something that made me unhappy, without recognizing how valuable that feeling has been in my life. It has driven me to continuously grow, change and reach out to find new ways of succeeding. If I had felt content, I might never have tried to improve. I would have been satisfied with what I had – drank my glass of beer, looked forward to retirement, threw out my fishing line, read a few books, watched some television, relaxed and waited for the “end.”

I am now 76 years old and look forward to my next trip to Japan, my 72nd trip, eagerly anticipating finding something new and exciting to share with you. My last trip was gangbusters, discovering new and exciting tools used by Toyota and Canon that will in the near future move them light years ahead of their competitors. Those of you who know a little bit about me know of the miracles that keep falling into my lap.

Only through my struggles and journeys did I find Hoshin Kanri, JIT, TPM, quick changeovers, 5S, QCC, cellular manufacturing, value-stream mapping, the kaizen blitz, etc. On my last trip, I found new ways to eliminate and measure waste and to foster continuous improvement through video analysis, mistake boards and most notably, Canon’s super meister system; it will make Canon the most envied company in the world.

We all talk about continuous improvement – bringing dynamic change to our organizations every single day, but often we get stuck.  I will help you change that.  Come to Japan with me this fall - call (360)-737-1883 or send me an email at bodek@pcspress.com. I guarantee it will be an incredible learning experience. I will share with all what I have discovered, and I am positive we will find new things that will give us a competitive advantage in these difficult times. Believe me, you are worth your company’s investment. How else will you discover new ways for your organization to succeed?

You cannot afford to let this recession hold you back from discovering new and exciting innovations. Now is the time to invest in your organization’s future. Of course, Japan is also in a recession, but in many ways they are far ahead of us. We thought it was such a good idea to close our plants and send the work overseas, when we should have been developing our people to be masters of their trade.

The question I ask now is, “Why didn’t my teachers, my parents, my wives, my friends, my business associates tell me that it was great to feel not good enough?” I am so grateful for this divine energy that has never let me down and continues to move me forward. I’m finally aware of this invaluable gift and appreciate not being good enough.