Welcome Problems, Find Success

Toyota's production system is the most studied management system in the world. But how do you build a Toyota-style culture outside of Japan—in a factory with American unions, different customs, different expectations, and a completely different labor history?

Nate Furuta was there. He was the first Toyota employee on the shop floor at both NUMMI and Georgetown. *Welcome Problems, Find Success* is his story—and it’s one that no one else could tell.

What will you learn in *Welcome Problems, Find Success*?

This book takes you through Nate Furuta’s decades of experience as a Toyota manager during the most intense period of globalization in Toyota’s history: from the early 1980s to the present day. Furuta describes how, together with leaders such as Taiichi Ohno and Fujio Cho, he built Toyota cultures in environments far removed from the Japanese factory floor.

The book’s central insight is both simple and profound: successful organizations embrace problems rather than hiding them. Not because problems are pleasant, but because bringing problems to light and solving them is the only reliable path to organizational development. Furuta demonstrates how this principle—“welcome problems”— is the driving force behind Toyota’s ability to achieve its goals while simultaneously building organizational capacity.

The book is explicitly not about HR policies or procedures. It describes how senior leaders at Toyota deeply internalize HRM issues, develop business strategy, and simultaneously build organizational capability—as an inseparable part of the same leadership. Furuta illustrates this through the stories and lessons of NUMMI, Georgetown, and other iconic Toyota facilities, with details that only he can share.

Why should I read *Welcome Problems, Find Success*?

Most books on Toyota culture have been written by researchers observing from the outside. Furuta writes from the inside: as a Toyota manager with direct responsibility for shaping the company’s culture at pivotal moments in Toyota’s history. His perspective is unique, not only because he was there, but because he made the decisions and bore the consequences.

What sets this book apart is its combination of concrete stories and a clear, systems-oriented framework. Furuta demonstrates what Toyota’s general management systems mean in practice, how leaders develop problem-solving capabilities within their organizations, and why the willingness to embrace problems is not just a cultural slogan but a daily leadership practice.

For anyone who wants to understand Lean not just as a set of tools but as a way of leading and organizing, this is one of the most authentic and insightful books available.

Who is *Welcome Problems, Find Success* written for?

• Executives and senior managers responsible for fostering a Lean culture within their organization
• Lean Master Black Belts and Lean coaches who want to deepen their understanding of the human and leadership aspects of Lean
• Anyone who is fascinated by Toyota's history and wants to understand how its culture was established outside of Japan
• Professionals who have read *The Toyota Way of Managing to Learn* and are looking for a deeper, more personal perspective

What do fellow writers think of this book?

"Furuta tells the story of Toyota's globalization as only he can, from the inside, capturing all its complexity and humanity. This book is a rare first in the Lean literature." — Jim Womack, founder of the Lean Enterprise Institute

"Welcome Problems, Find Success shows what Lean leadership really requires: not the application of tools, but the building of an organization that welcomes problems and grows stronger as a result." — Jeffrey K. Liker, author of The Toyota Way

Additional Information

About the author

Nate Furuta is a former senior manager at Toyota whose career spans the most crucial period of Toyota’s international expansion. He was the first Toyota employee on site at NUMMI—the groundbreaking joint venture with General Motors in California—where he was directly involved in the creation of the most revolutionary labor agreement in the history of the American auto industry.

He subsequently became the first Toyota employee in Georgetown, Kentucky, at Toyota’s first full-scale production facility outside Japan, where he worked alongside President Fujio Cho to establish Toyota’s management systems and culture. Later, he became Chairman and CEO of Toyota Boshoku America Inc. His book is a personal account of what he learned over those decades about how Toyota culture—embracing challenges as a path to success—is truly built, outside of Japan and around the world.