ABSTRACT
Problem identification, the first step in making improvements, involves the following concepts: never accept the status quo; find problems where one thinks none exist; work is more than people in motion; and perceiving and thinking are not the same. People who are satisfied with the way things are can never achieve improvement or progress. Indeed, the first step in improvement is dissatisfaction with the status quo; it means always asking why productivity can't be increased, why stocks are necessary, or whether there are not better ways to do things. In the Japanese writing system, the character for work is composed of two elements, meaning, respectively, person and move. The function of the temporal lobe is to remember things or to perceive, whereas the function of the frontal lobe is to think of new things. The most prominent feature of humans in comparison to other animals, then, is their superior ability to think.
