Continuous Improvement In The Executive Suite

HEADNOTE

You can no longer plan for change. Change must be part of your plan.

MANUFACTURING EXECUTIVES AND PUBLIC policy leaders are among the smartest people in the world, but they're not immune to human nature's

powerful resistance to change. One could argue that, for many, there's an inverse relationship: the more successful, the more resistant to change. After all, successful leaders have studied the issues, set the course, and watched the accolades and financial rewards continue to flow. Why change?

Consider today's most obvious example, the U.S.' top automobile makers as compared with Toyota, their steadily advancing competitor. SUVs were the cash cows. Why bother with cars and the possibility that someday the popularity of the SUV might plunge? Surely the executive leadership knew the inevitable day of reckoning would arrive sooner rather than later. Yet their actions suggest that they expected the SUV craze to go on forever.