ABSTRACT
A Daring New Path Gary Kaplan, Mike Rona, and a few senior leaders had studied the Toyota Production System carefully enough so that by March 2001, several months after …rst meeting with John Black, they were ready to introduce the concept to physician chiefs and vice presidents at Virginia Mason. Presenting the Toyota approach would take some time. us, Kaplan scheduled a two-day meeting, and participants were asked to prepare by reading Black’s book (an economical ninety-six pages). Speakers for the session included Black, Boeing executive Carolyn Corvi, and leaders from Genie in Seattle and Wiremold in Hartford, two other companies employing the Toyota method. Kaplan knew there would be a certain amount of skepticism within the group, and he wanted to make a strong enough initial case for the Toyota approach to prevent minds from re©exively snapping shut.
