Facts on the Floor Not Reports in the Office

“There's only one office in the factory that is always empty, that of Leonardo. He's never at his desk. You can understand it even now, peering inside his ground floor room, that place is not lived in. It is tidy and clean, with old technological tools from the Eighties, a model of his first private airplane, a huge television turned off, a couple of framed photographs. It's clear at first glance that it's not a usual workplace. The office is not for him.”

“"I don't have my own office, I'm always in those of others, around the factory, and I talk directly with everyone, explaining why and how we do things this way. I go to my department heads and ask them as well: 'Why do we do it this way?' That way they learn and know how to pass it on."”

““In practice, I conducted my questioning in the tone of friendly conversation by saying: ‘How are you going to do that? — Why can’t you do it differently? — Isn’t there another way?’” “I explained these questions to the worker, asking if he encountered any difficulties in the execution that I had not anticipated. “I noticed that even when I knew the issue quite well, this friendly conversation was extremely useful for gathering facts. “There are things that the man who handles the material for eight hours a day knows, while his boss, who is necessarily occupied with multiple issues, may be unaware of them.””

“8° The permanent cultural revolution. It is the safeguard against vanity and superiority complexes. “The truth,” teaches Michelin, “is fluid and no one has a monopoly on it.” Or again: The truth in industrial matters always has a date. To have the sense of this relativity, one must live in tune with the facts, “facts that are always right and that are the arbiter of all discussions.” Golden rule: observe, measure, watch, inquire, listen by going into the field to meet those who have “first-hand knowledge” of reality. The facts invite constant questioning and constant modesty. “Anyone who can originate true progress has the right to be right against anyone.” Non-commissioned officers deserve to be listened to as much as marshals. A worker or engineer, a draftsman or an accountant can call the Boss directly. And the Boss himself goes into the field[35](private://read/01jkqdqdgs7t399cyecbezrhj0/#ftn_fn35).”