One Million. That’s how many ideas Toyota implements each year. Do the math: 3000 ideas a day. That number, more than anything else, explains why Toyota appears to be in a league all their own, playing offense on a field of innovation, while their competitors remain caught in a crossfire of cost-cutting. Here’s the thing: it’s not about the cars. It’s about ideas. And the people with those ideas.
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I believe the best definition of innovation is the one given by David Neeleman, founder and CEO of JetBlue: “Innovation is trying to figure out a way to do something better than it’s ever been done before.” Thomas Edison would agree. Asked his philosophy, he said: “There’s a way to do it better—find it.”