doing business the “The Toyota Way”
Lora Nielsen experienced a number of memorable insights while obtaining her MBA in the SOM's 18-month program, but none bigger than the one she experienced in her Operations class. "I learned about the Toyota Production System or 'The Toyota Way,' as they call it there. It's core to everything they do in their business of manufacturing cars. The system was fascinating, and their approach really resonated with me. I knew that to fully learn the Toyota Way, I needed to be there on the ground and live it day after day."
Sounds easy enough, right? Simply secure an externship with Toyota and experience the Toyota Way personally. But other than some undergraduate engineering co-ops, Toyota had never hosted an externship for MBA grads. Until now that is.
As a post-graduate extern with Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Kentucky, Nielsen is indeed experiencing the Toyota Way up close and personal. It's a "professional dream" come true, and she credits the SOM for making it happen.
"During my winter semester, I learned that some of our professors had toured a Toyota manufacturing site and were cultivating a relationship with the company. I quickly jumped on board and worked with them to pitch the externship idea. It took several months, but after two Toyota executives attended the SOM's annual Leadership Conference and learned more about the school's Executive Education program, our efforts gained momentum. I'm now coordinating a strategic leadership development program for mid-level assembly managers at Toyota."
Nielsen says the perspective she is gaining from this externship will surely inform how she approaches all her work going forward. "Being here has been a productive transition from the classroom to my next job. I have the advantage that I am focused on a singular project rather than having multiple responsibilities that come with a typical job, so I get this special period of time to take my academic experience to a deeper level of learning. It works both ways; I am integrating so much of the material we covered in classes while also getting to practice and integrate the unique Toyota principles - working those two bodies of knowledge back and forth to build some solid new expertise into my own portfolio. I'm grateful to have that and I know it will be exciting to put into practice everywhere I go."