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# Kaizen spirit by Masaaki Imai
- URL: https://www.pesec.no/kaizen-spirit-by-masaaki-imai/
- Published: 2017-11-17T09:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2020-03-09T05:53:10.000Z
- Description: Masaaki Imai on new definition of kaizen, taming the baratsuki, and Chistopher Columbus' school of management.
- Author: Bruno Pešec
- Tags: Kaizen, Quality Management

Today I had the great honour of meeting Mr. [Masaaki Imai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaaki%5FImai?ref=pesec.no), a figure that should be well known by all those involved with Lean. A quick summary would be: a guy who brought kaizen philosophy outside of Japan, who worked with [Kaoru Ishikawa](https://www.pesec.no/quality-philosophers/) ([TQM](https://www.pesec.no/quality-management-systems/)) and [Taiichi Ohno](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiichi%5FOhno?ref=pesec.no) ([TPS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota%5FProduction%5FSystem?ref=pesec.no)), and still keeps going strong in his late eighties.

His book, [Kaizen: The key to Japan’s competitive success](https://www.amazon.com/Kaizen-Key-Japans-Competitive-Success/dp/007554332X/?ref=pesec.no), and Taiichi Ohno’s book, [Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production](https://www.amazon.com/Toyota-Production-System-Beyond-Large-Scale/dp/0915299143/?ref=pesec.no), have profoundly influenced me and set me off on an amazing journey. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I found out he was coming to Oslo to give a short talk.

Since it was a talk for *the masses*, short time-slot (around 100 minutes), and semi-promotional stint ([Kaizen Institute](https://www.kaizen.com/?ref=pesec.no) arriving in Norway), I didn’t expect to hear something radically different or new from the ideas that Imai already wrote about. Not that I cared about that, I just wanted to see the man in person and share a word or two.

Still, despite my arrogance, I did learn some new things:

**Kaizen redefined.** Imai spoke about how he is not completely satisfied with his original definition of kaizen – change for the better – and he redefined it by adding that it should be done by everybody, everywhere, everyday. This extended definition reminds me of [The Toyota Engagement Equation](https://www.amazon.com/Toyota-Engagement-Equation-Improvement-Organization/dp/1259837424/?ref=pesec.no) by Tracey and Ernie Richardson.

**Tame the baratsuki.** I have to admit I haven’t heard this one before. Imai described it as *it is never exactly the same* and *no one can assume baratsuki*. I understood it as getting variation under control, as much as possible. [Google translate](https://translate.google.com/?ref=pesec.no#auto/en/baratsuki) supports that it indeed means variation. In hiragana it is ばらつき, which can be translated as scatter or dispersion. That also makes sense. I have to study it more.

**Kaizen flag.** Although I’ve known about the Kaizen Institute ever since I first read Kaizen, I haven’t really kept on checking updated Kaizen flag model. Much to my surprise I’ve seen that it recognizes newer approaches to innovation like [Lean Startup](https://www.pesec.no/tag/lean-startup/) and [Design Thinking](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/innovation-continuous-improvement-bruno-fabiano?ref=pesec.no). Again, I shouldn’t have been so surprised. After all, it is kaizen applied to their own business.

All in all, I had a great time, and was very happy to have a chance to speak with Mr. Imai.

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Here are some pictures.

![Bruno Pešec and Masaaki Imai. November 2017.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/72/d5/72d522ba-f2e5-4415-a19c-d8f567c36347/content/images/2020/02/Bruno-Pesec-and-Masaaki-Imai.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/72/d5/72d522ba-f2e5-4415-a19c-d8f567c36347/content/images/2020/02/Tame-the-Baratsuki.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/72/d5/72d522ba-f2e5-4415-a19c-d8f567c36347/content/images/2020/02/Chistopher-Columbus-School-of-Management.jpg)