Continuing the Conversation: Managing on Purpose

In a July 2025 COE webinar, Mark Reich explored how to use hoshin kanri to develop strategy, align teams, grow leaders, and innovate at the enterprise level. Drawing from decades of experience working at Toyota and coaching lean leaders across industries, Mark shared insights on what sets hoshin kanri apart from traditional strategy and what key practices and leader behaviors create high performance and sustainable results.

In this blog, Mark continues the conversation, tackling unanswered audience questions from the webinar Q&A. 

Is it ever possible to have a successful hoshin kanri deployment if you don’t start with the senior leadership of your organization or work unit? Why or why not?

As I recommend in Managing on Purpose, you can apply this methodology in a part of the company as a pilot – a business unit, a plant, a department. That doesn’t mean the CEO needs to be involved from the start, but the top leader in that area of the business must be involved and leading the effort. So, without that person it cannot be successful. 

Let me turn the question around. What is the job of a leader? If it isn’t to define the vision and strategy of the organization and define a methodology to execute on it, what is the job?

One note – a strategy group or CI group can be very helpful here in getting things started. That was my job when I was in Corporate Strategy in Toyota. But this is leaders’ work. They own it.

What is your recommendation on how or where to start implementing hoshin kanri for a global company?

Start with a business unit and pilot it there. That will engage the right leadership and not put attention of the entire global corporation on something the company is testing. Picking the right area of the business is important though, and there are some criteria for that. This is further explained in my book. 

I sometimes see silos develop at my organization when input from frontline associates isn’t incorporated into strategy. What’s your advice for breaking down silos?

As I mentioned during the webinar, you need concurrence of leadership to align to strategic objectives and a mechanism in place to do horizontal and vertical catchball in the organization. Horizontal catchball builds alignment across the organization on the priorities, and vertical catchball builds capabilities to break down problems so people up and down the organization can understand how to contribute to the higher-level objectives. 

Now, as work gets broken down, more catchball is required across the organization among middle management. A3s can be helpful for defining and getting alignment to shared problems.  All of these mechanics are explained in Managing on Purpose.

Research on organizational behavior, such as the GLOBE study, suggests that the US is more of an individualistic culture, while Japan is a more of a collectivist culture. In your career, have you noticed this cultural difference in lean transformations? Does this impact hoshin kanri?

I’m not so familiar with the GLOBE study, but I did spend eight formative years of my career in Japan and worked for a global Japanese corporation in both Japan and the US. So, my experience is that yes, in general, in Japan, teamwork is a valued concept. In fact, I’ve worked closely with organizations in Thailand, Vietnam, India, and Indonesia, and the focus on teamwork is not unique to Japan but seems like a common attribute of Asian culture. 

 Having said all that, I have not experienced that this is an impediment to progress on hoshin kanri in the US. Most of the successes I’ve seen utilizing hoshin kanri are in the US in US companies. 

Of course, we can look at the success of Toyota in the US. Toyota did not sacrifice its teamwork-based culture when it came to the US. I’ve seen other US companies large and small embrace hoshin kanri and the teamwork it creates.

Leaders make culture in organizations. Plus, how people are incentivized plays a huge role.