The problem is that we get married to the routines, bad habits, bureaucracy, and so on — not because we think that they’re actually serving our needs, but because we don’t think about them at all. We derive emotional stability from continuing to do it the way we’ve been doing it.

Often, it takes a Gerstner-like leader to snap us out of that fog. The real challenge is to snap *ourselves* out of it.

There is a problem when we act on autopilot. Yes, that’s useful when trying to do something that requires a high degree of manual skill — making a golf putt, for example — but when we slavishly and unthinkingly adhere to bad habits, well, that leads to all the productivity problems we both see.

I think that’s the most impressive aspect of the Toyota production system: the company teaches and institutionalizes a mindset that leads people to question everything to see if there might be a better way. Maintaining that mindset in the wake of incredible success is just remarkable.