One of the great challenges in effecting a Lean transformation in American business is accounting for the enormous cultural differences between Japan and the U.S.A. Among those differences, and probably the most difficult to overcome, is the culture of self-examination, or “hansei”, which is so important in Japan, and the culture of self-esteem, which has become so common and so destructive in the United States.
The concept of hansei (pronounced hahn-say) is not nearly as well-known in the U.S.A as kaizen, but it’s arguably much more important. You can’t have kaizen – virtuous change – without hansei, without self examination.
“Hansei” is usually translated as reflection, but that doesn’t catch the essence of the term. In The Toyota Way, Jeffrey Liker has a much better explanation: “Hansei is really much deeper than reflection. It is really being honest about your own weaknesses. If you are talking about only your strengths, you are bragging. If you are recognizing your weaknesses with sincerity, it is a high level of strength.” Recognizing your weaknesses can lead to the insight or wisdom that is an essential part of kaizen. (Here is an excellent article about how hansei works in Japanese business.)
The dictionary definition of “reflect” is something like “to think deeply or carefully about.” In my experience most Americans aren’t brought up or taught in school to think deeply about much of anything (maybe it’s the part of the country I live in). Instead, they are indoctrinated with the right positions to hold, and many, if they are challenged on those positions, become really angry. A suggestion that there is room for improvement in the business is often seen as just such a challenge. Even if “reflection” is a useful translation, many Americans simply aren’t capable of deep, careful thought or reasoning, so they can’t even get to the first part of Liker’s description of hansei.
On the other hand, if we consider hansei to be self-examination, well, what does it mean to “examine”? To examine is to scrutinize carefully, to test knowledge or qualification, to interrogate. Hansei, self-examination, then, becomes self-scrutiny, self-testing, self-interrogation. Most Americans aren’t going to do that, either. And that’s the problem.
Here we have a fundamental difference between Japanese culture and American culture. While Japanese parents and Japanese schools are endeavoring to teach children to self-examine, to scrutinize, and to correct their own behavior, American parents and schools all too often are teaching children to think very highly of themselves, regardless of effort, behavior, or accomplishment.
High self-esteem associated with great accomplishment may not be problematic, but it’s also not common, simply because great accomplishment is not common. What is common is this idea that I should have a high opinion of myself, and others should share that opinion, regardless of effort or actual accomplishment. The person who internalizes this idea, for whom it becomes a part of the personality, is deeply problematic. He is a narcissist.
The defining characteristic of the narcissist is a lack of empathy — that is, the lack of an ability to understand and share the feelings of another. This inability to understand the feelings of others translates into particular behaviors and attitudes that are destructive to the business and to the individual.
There are many behaviors and attitudes that are characteristic of narcissists and problematic for the business, but the narcissist harms the Lean organization far more than the mass production organization because narcissism is ultimately a failure of relationships. The narcissist is so self-centered and so self-absorbed that he is unable to maintain normal, healthy relationships with others.
This is important because, as I have written before, I believe Lean is built not on Toyota’s tools, but on sets of relationships between suppliers and customers, and the things that flow from that relationship. Most of Toyota’s tools help us only after we understand what we must do to meet the needs of the customer. It is the relationship between customer and supplier that informs us what we as a supplier must do to help the customer thrive. Thriving customers and thriving suppliers (who are, after all, customers of somebody else) make the business and the community thrive.
In addition to the inability to maintain real relationships, the narcissist believes he already knows everything worth knowing. If you already know everything, there is no point in surveying customers to learn their needs. What’s more, the narcissist believes he is perfect. If you are already perfect, if you already know everything, if there is no room for improvement, and you simply aren’t going to fit in a Lean operation. A job in a mass production operation would be a much better fit. All the Toyota tools in the world can’t make up for that.
Narcissism has exploded in the U.S.A. in the last four decades. In my opinion, has become a huge problem in the workplace, and narcissists are deeply problematic for a Lean transformation. It’s surprising to me that business schools seem to make no mention of this huge problem.
Is there anything to be done about the wreckage of this idiotic self-esteem movement? Yes, actually, but while it isn’t all that hard, it isn’t fast, either. You must learn how to spot these people, and either put them someplace they can do no harm, not hire them in the first place, or fire them for the problems they inevitably create. I could do a whole series of posts on spotting narcissism, but for the moment here are some useful links from the experts:
A good overview from the authors of The Narcissism Epidemic — Living In The Age Of Entitlement.
The first of two entertaining and informative interviews with W. Keith Campbell, Ph.D., co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic. The second one is here.
A more technical treatment of identifying and dealing with narcissists, from the Australian Institute of Professional Counselors.
An interesting article on Toyota trying to teach Americans hansei.
Copyright 2015 by Paul G. Spring. All rights reserved.