That’s Quotable [John Shook]

"People who join Toyota from other companies, it’s a big shift for
them. They kind of don’t
get it for a while. They’re moving forward,
they’re improving, and they’re looking for a plateau. As long as you’re
looking for that plateau,it seems like a constant struggle. It’s
difficult. If you’re looking for a plateau, you’re going to be
frustrated. There is no ‘solution.’ Once you realize that it’s the process itself–that you’re not
seeking a plateau–you can relax. Doing the task and doing the task
better become one and the same thing. This is what it
means to come to work."

John Shook, a faculty member at the University of Michigan,
a former Toyota manufacturing employee and a widely regarded consultant
on how to use Toyota’s ideas at other companies as quoted in Fast Company (December/January 2007)