Dan Coughlin - "Schedule Thinking Time"

George Lucas on his "Creative Process"

Director George Lucas Shares His Visionary Process

Legendary director George Lucas opens up to Oprah about his movie-making process for films like American Graffiti and Star Wars. Plus, they talk about the importance of following your passion.

Create It - Implementation at Toyota

Yes I know Toyota has had problems in the last couple of years. But I'm not taking them off my list of great companies. We still own 3 Camrys in our family and I don't really plan a change.

Most of us have worked in some organization large or small that has trouble implementing 1 or 2 new ideas a year. Toyota implements 1 million each year!

ONE MILLION!

Selah... (A Hebrew term meaning "think about it")

I didn't say they came up with a million ideas a year. I didn't say they received a million ideas in there little suggestion box. I said they implement 1 million ideas a year.

These ideas don't come from the C Suite, a think tank, or some outside consultant. They come from every level of the organization. At Toyota everyone is expected to be creative.

Matthew E. May in his book, The Elegant Solution says "this is why their nearly $150 billion-plus market value outstrips GM, Ford, Daimler-Chryler, Honda, and Volkswagen put together. It's the reason they're one of the planet's 10 most valuable companies. It's why they make well over twice as much money as any other carmaker, and with under 15% of the market. It's why their systems, processes and procedures are the envy of the world."

Too many organizations think of creativity as some nice little superfluous concept. But creative implementation is the heart of improvement. And improvement is the heart of profits.