Chain of Learning: Empowering Continuous Improvement and Lean Change Leaders 47| Develop Leaders the Toyota Way: Lessons from Kan-Pro [with Isao Yoshino]
A global economic crisis is dragging down sales.
Departments are working in silos and leaders at all levels are arguing about priorities.
Managers are too busy to coach their teams.
You might think this describes your organization today—and it was the exact situation Toyota faced nearly 50 years ago.
This challenge sparked one of the most ambitious and influential—and least known outside Japan—leadership development programs in Toyota’s history: the Kanri Nouryoku Program, or Kan-Pro for short. “Kanri” meaning management, and “Nouryoku” meaning capability.
Kan-Pro helped establish the people-centered learning culture Toyota is famous for today and embedded A3 thinking as a foundational process for problem-solving, communication, and leadership development.
I invited Isao Yoshino—a 40-year Toyota leader who was one of the key team members who helped create and lead the program—to share his experience in two pivotal moments in Toyota’s evolution and how he learned to lead cultural leadership transformation from a place of influence, not authority.
Join me and Mr. Yoshino—also the subject of my Shingo-award winning book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn — as we celebrate its 5-year anniversary this month!
YOU’LL LEARN:
- The problem Toyota was trying to solve—and how Kan-Pro emerged as the countermeasure
- The leadership styles of Masao Nemoto vs. Taiichi Ohno—and how both shaped Toyota’s culture through the development of Toyota Way management culture and the Toyota Production System
- How Mr. Yoshino learned to coach and develop more senior executives as a mid-level internal change leader
- The process that established A3 thinking as the standard for leadership development, communication, and problem-solving across Toyota
- Critical leadership behaviors that led to Toyota’s success—which have come to be known as “lean management”
Stay tuned for Episode 50 where Mr. Yoshino shares his major assignment to “change the culture”—how he and his team, including Lean Global Network Chairman John Shook, led the training and transformation of frontline American leaders at NUMMI, the GM–Toyota joint venture in the 1980s.
ABOUT MY GUEST:
Isao Yoshino, worked at Toyota Motor Corporation for over 40 years—from the late 1960s to the early 2000s—and played an important role in the development of Toyota’s people-centered learning culture it’s now famous for. He was a key part of Kan-Pro senior leadership development program, which embedded A3 thinking as the process for problem-solving, communication, and leadership development across the organization—and has deep expertise in the practice of hoshin-kanri—Toyota’s strategy deployment process.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
- Full episode show notes: ChainOfLearning.com/47
- My website with resources and ways to work with me KBJAnderson.com
- Follow me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kbjanderson
- Download my free KATALYST™ Change Leader Self-Assessment: KBJAnderson.com/katalyst
- Learn more about the Japan Leadership Experience: kbjanderson.com/japantrip
- My book featuring lessons from Isao Yoshino’s 40 years of Toyota Leadership: LearningToLeadLeadingToLearn.com
TIMESTAMPS FOR THIS EPISODE:
03:51 The leadership shift behind the Toyota Way towards a people centered approach
06:03 How Taiichi Ohno shaped the Toyota Production System and Masao Nemoto shaped Toyota Way style leadership
07:41 Closing Toyota’s leadership gap and how Kan-Pro emerged as a countermeasure
12:41 Why committed top-down leadership ownership is essential to creating organizational culture
14:46 How seriousness and patience sets Toyota apart
15:17 Why Toyota created Kan-Pro to 're-tighten the belt' on leadership capabilities and why they need to refocus on leadership capabilities every generation
18:55 The leader’s role in setting direction and providing support to their people
20:40 The mindset shift in top management to not to fake it
21:17 Mr. Yoshino’s experience coaching senior leaders through hands-on A3 learning
25:38 Key influence skills Mr. Yoshino learned from great Toyota managers
28:12 The importance of respect by senior leaders even when there’s resistance to change
28:58 Being a Yes-Minded Persuader – a key KATALYST™ Chang Leader competency – in bringing leaders along in change
31:25 Lessons from coaching senior leaders using A3 thinking during Kan-Pro
35:45 The positive shift when leaders prepare the A3 themselves
37:48 Importance of handwritten A3s to senior executives
41:13 The significance of a leader stamping their hanko on an A3 document
43:35 Why an A3 at Toyota is different compared to most companies
45:16 Mr. Yoshino’s highlights in participating in Katie’s Japan Leadership Experience lean management tours
48:29 Leading change involves empathy, patience, and helping others change themselves
48:50 Questions to reflect on as a change agent in your organization
Apply for the Nov 2025 or May 2026 Japan Leadership Experience
https://kbjanderson.com/japantrip/