When asked what happened at Toyota that led to the massive recall of cars with known safety issues, the president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, James Lentz, said, “we lost sight of our customers”. A company built on a culture of quality, Toyota’s growth over the last few years eroded the values that had made it solid and strong. They stopped living the values that would have told them the right things to do when safety problems first came to light within the company.
Pamela Ostrom has 20+ years of consulting experience in the field of leadership and management development, working with Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and non-profit organizations in a variety of industries. She enjoys applying her consulting expertise, corporate management experience and human resources professional knowledge to help clients create vibrant organizations that are customer-centered and productive with high levels of employee engagement.
Can Toyota recover? Time will tell. But, in the words of one of their own executives, it’s clear that they ended up in the wrong place because they didn’t walk their talk. They didn’t deliver on their promises of quality and reliability to their customers.
It’s easy to point fingers but there’s a lesson here for all of us.
Each of us is the leader of our own life.
Some of us are leaders in the business world and in our communities. As parents and grandparents, many of us are leaders within our families.
Are we honoring those values that build strong healthy lives, families, communities and businesses?
It’s easy to let them slip away under the pressures of earning a living, building a successful career and raising a family. Regular examination of our lives is needed to keep us on track. Keep us grounded in what matters. We need to continually ask the question: In what ways am I living by the values that I say I care about? Most of us will find that we can do more — and we can be better at being who we really want to be. Walking our talk is definitely an exercise in building character!
I once heard someone say, “quality is caring”. Isn’t that beautifully simple?
Caring. We must have and be caring to build a life of quality.
Care about and for ourselves, our loved ones, our businesses, our communities and our planet. Sometimes caring is as simple as turning off the television to spend time with a child or attend a community service event. Or seeking out the local farmer’s market for fresh veggies. Maybe cutting back on buying the latest “gadget” and making a donation to a cause we support. Caring can be easy and it can be fun. That’s the best part of walking our talk, it brings us pleasure. It’s life-affirming to live our values and we feel it!
How about you? Are you walking your talk?
It’s always a good day to continue on that journey.
About Pamela Ostrom
….Trust – We know that building trust in the relationships with the individuals in our care is vital to their successful outcomes to be more independent and self-reliant.
I think no matter what we should be honest with other people because sooner or later truth will come out on top. Once you have told a lie then quite often this leads to spinning a complete web of lies. Always you can remember the truth but lie and you will forget what you said anyway and then get caught out.
Sometimes we as human beings fails to understand the meaning between Truth and Trick. A trick has an end final no matter how long the captivity period it will take to its revelation. But see truth is Pure a soul that is truthful knows for real and just that the soul itself is in fear of the creator of the being. Truth is sure and never shaming, Trick results to shame and vile. In the world today individual who realize the urgency to make change happen undergo alot of hardships , Evil people who have ever exploited others are not on our judgment but we leave it to Jah. The Evils they may have painted on others christ will rub it away and wash away the tears of many. Yes let us all teach the children the fear of God, The clarity and purpose of living and the direct to the goal and not side goaling . Lets teach our children the truth and every questioned they ask be answered. Blessed Love !
You always speak wise words Mike. Truth is a pure soul, sure and never shaming… people know the way forward now and many are taking those steps to make sure they stand by their values in life and business too.
Just to underline Pamela’s wise words:
“…In what ways am I living by the values that I say I care about? ”
Rather than just let that thought slip away, it could be intriguing to actually sit down and write (or re-write) those values out to remind ourself of what we stand for as well as the *how*.
What stops you?
:-)
Steve
that’s a very interesting idea Steve. I would imagine that many of us would find it quite difficult to do. As you say its easy to say WHY we stand for something but to actually reconcile that with HOW are we going to achieve it is another matter. Good food for thought many thanks
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