From Toyota to Tech: Wiring Organizations to Win
Lean Principles for Leaders Navigating AI and Digital Transformation
Dates
November 17, 2025: 2:00pm - 3:00pm ET
Location
Online
Why you should attend
In today’s fast-changing world of AI and digital transformation, organizations must learn to adapt faster than ever. MIT Senior Lecturer Steven Spear and LEI’s Tyson Heaton will share insights from Toyota and other “wired-to-win” companies on how to build systems that connect people, purpose, and performance. Gain practical lessons on using lean principles to strengthen your organization’s ability to learn, innovate, and thrive amid constant change.
Organizations struggle to adapt to changing circumstances, especially with the rate of change increasing. Toyota, too. But, as you can see by studying Toyota and other “lean enterprises,” some are “wired” for adaptation. They maintain clarity of purpose, prioritize full engagement, and enable problem-solving and innovation. The result: sustainable high performance.
Join Steven Spear for a Critical Conversation
MIT Senior Lecturer and author Steven Spear will share insights from Wiring the Winning Organization, the book he co-authored with Gene Kim, our guest for next month’s webinar. He’ll explain the approach, structures, and intentionally built capabilities of “winning” organizations such as Toyota.
It’ll be a timely conversation with LEI Executive Director, Tyson Heaton. Steve and Tyson will be coming off visits to Toyota, GE Appliances, and Summit Polymers the week before during LEI’s Lean Leadership Learning Tour. Join us to hear their reflections!
In this webinar, we’ll explore:
- The organizational design principles that separate high-performers from the rest
- How AI and other externalities are reshaping work—and why lean thinking matters more than ever
- Practical implications for building capability in an ever-changing business world
This isn’t only theory. It’s theory bridged to actionable insight from one of the field’s most respected voices—and a preview of what Steve will bring to the 2026 Lean Summit stage in Houston this March.
Who should attend: Leaders and practitioners navigating transformation, technology adoption, or capability-building in any industry.
Steven Spear
Sr Lecturer, author MIT Sloan School of Management
Steven J. Spear is a Senior Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He is the author of The High Velocity Edge, which received the Philip Crosby Medal from the American Society for Quality (ASQ) in 2011.
An internationally recognized expert in leadership, innovation, and operational excellence, Spear is known for uncovering how leading organizations across technology, manufacturing, healthcare, and services achieve exceptional performance by making improvement and innovation systematic, scalable, and repeatable.
His research has earned five Shingo Prizes and a McKinsey Award from Harvard Business Review. His influential articles—including “Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System” and “Learning to Lead at Toyota”—are foundational works in the lean community. In healthcare, his writing in Annals of Internal Medicine, Academic Medicine, and Harvard Business Review has shaped system-level improvements.
Spear has advised organizations such as Intel, Lockheed Martin, Intuit, Alcoa, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and the U.S. Navy. He helped design the Alcoa Business System, credited with hundreds of millions in savings, and supported the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative in virtually eliminating central line infections, improving outcomes while reducing costs.
Tyson Heaton
Executive Director of LeanTech/AI and Senior Coach
Lean Enterprise Institute
Tyson Heaton is Executive Director of LeanTech/AI and Senior Coach at the Lean Enterprise Institute, where he leads efforts to bridge lean thinking with technology implementation. His background spans manufacturing operations at JBS, Schreiber Foods, and Greencore, followed by leadership roles at O.C. Tanner addressing scalability, legacy system modernization, and supply chain transformation. As a Shingo […]
Read more about Tyson Heaton