Katie Anderson created a three-part leadership framework inspired by Mr. Yoshino. These valuable insights came from her first meeting with him at a conference, where he shared stories and mentioned his experience as a manager at Toyota.
The simplicity of leadership
Nick: You also have this incredible three-part framework inspired by Mr. Yoshino on what leadership is. So would you like to share that three-part framework?
Katie: It came from that very first time I met Mr. Yoshino at the conference and saw him on the stage, and he's telling stories, and he made this offhand comment about his role as a manager at Toyota. And, to me, it really was so profound.
And then in later conversations, everything he said, and other Toyota leader said really came back to these three points. So he said, and I'm paraphrasing here the quote, ‘My role as a manager was to give the person whom he was reporting to him a mission or target, and then support him while he figured out how to reach that goal.’
And I was aware of that, as I was developing that person, I was developing myself at the same time, and I just reflected, this is the simplicity of leadership, really, if we can set the direction, then provide the support, create the systems and structures and develop people and develop ourselves.
So set direction, provide support, develop yourself. If you focus on those things, you're going to be more successful. There are gonna be failures along the way, but those are the key components of leadership.
Nick: I only got your book two days ago, and I was sort of flicking through it. And I read that quote, and I was like, wow, I'm gonna sit with this quote, and these three ideas, like set direction, provide support. And you're not just developing the person you're leading, you in the process are developing.
Katie: Right? Like, how do I need to ask questions differently? Or what does this person need from me? Or, I was I was impatient at this time, so I jumped in and gave an answer and maybe that wasn't helpful. And you know, so much, because there's so much we have to overcome. And even if we have a lot of experience, there's always opportunities to be better or do something differently.