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The Spirit of Kaizen
- Creating Lasting Excellence One Small Step at a Time
- Narrated by: Bob Maurer
- Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins
- Categories: Business & Careers, Career Success
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Summary
The easy-to-implement guide to driving organizational change by applying the proven concept of kaizen
UCLA psychologist and organizational consultant Dr. Robert Maurer provides a simple and proven effective technique for making major changes with minimal disruption. Applying the operational concept of kaizen - small, continual improvements - to common management challenges, managers can drive major improvements with a series of well-planned techniques for boosting quality, innovation, sales, and morale.
What listeners say about The Spirit of Kaizen
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- SteveJJennings
- 28-02-16
The best, most useful book I've read since...
The best, most useful book I've read since The Chimp Paradox. Thank you Bob, I'm going to buy a copy for each of my staff
4 people found this helpful
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- Mr Cy Keogh
- 30-10-16
Kaizen change therapy
Not quite what I expected, but nonetheless excellent. I was familiar with kaizen as an engineer's process improvement tool, or more accurately 'philosophy'. Maurer' background as a clinical psychologist adds a new dimension in explaining WHY kaizen might succeed in helping us to deal with resistance to change, and what we might do to overcome the obstacles. Many useful anecdotal illustrations. His delivery was calm and believable, as one might expect from a doctor.
3 people found this helpful
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- MZ
- 08-04-18
One little step at a time
A good read about the essence of Kaizen. 1 star less for the performance because I was expecting a deeper dive into use of Kaizen in practice. On the other hand it is easy to grasp the idea of Kaizen thanks to a number of examples.
1 person found this helpful
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- Alev Haddadieh
- 30-12-15
Build up incrementally
This is a great book to build up incrementally and apply it on your project.The spirit of Kaizen lives on....
1 person found this helpful
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- Vlad Otrocol
- 13-01-21
really good book
i already knew Bout the concept but going through the book proved very beneficial. it helps you really understand the importance of microsteps and convinces you that small changes are often faster than big changes. life is not q sprint, it is a marathon
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- Mark Campbell
- 03-12-20
Really good explanation of Kaizen and how it works
Quick look into how and why Kaizen works and ideas to get it all started.
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- Natalia
- 25-07-20
Psichology applied to business
Entertaining book with multiple anecdotes and examples, some already described in other books I read. It is more of a self-improvement book than a business one, but nice to listen anyway.
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- Marek
- 23-03-20
Short and sweet !!
Nice and short but with powerful content ! I used it as a reminder of my kaizen training years ago and definitely will come back.
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- Fraser Law
- 04-03-20
Good book for Kaizen philosophy
Good length of read. Could do with more workplace case studies. Worth 4 hours of your time.
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- George
- 27-01-20
Good Read!
Very well written! Advises small incremental changes that can have a big impact! definitely recommend it to any one who seek to improve there performance!
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- Patrick
- 08-01-14
A must for anyone that wants to achieve.
Would you consider the audio edition of The Spirit of Kaizen to be better than the print version?
Yes and No. This is a great book regardless of how you get the information. Most important is to get this information that develops yourself, organization, and your team. Provides endless examples of team approach, how to get the best out of yourself and others, how to prepare for whatever you want to accomplish. This is a well put together book.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
The UltimateTeam for Progress
Any additional comments?
This book applies management 101 principles coupled with science and easy approaches to change the world one incremental change at a time. One of the most structured books i've listened to in a while.
8 people found this helpful
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- Ryan
- 11-03-13
The Why of Kaizen
If you could sum up The Spirit of Kaizen in three words, what would they be?
Why Kaizen works.
What did you like best about this story?
The authors do a great job explaining why Kaizen works and show several ways to implement the concept into daily life.
What about Bob Maurer’s performance did you like?
Easy listening. Well produced.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes.
3 people found this helpful
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- urvois
- 10-07-14
little by little
great book which goes way pass the title, the voice is nice to listen too, and the advices are plentifull, as well as life exemple. A great read, it will be on my 2014 best list for business book.
2 people found this helpful
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- Benedict
- 13-02-14
Financially valuable book...
This is a brief book. It tells the story of how great success can be had simply by making a small, completely inexpensive, change in things to improve the fortunes of your life or your company (or Country?).
I barely was able to finish the book because I was bored, but somewhere along the way I realized I, too, could make a small change in my life and thus save $1,000 to $2,000 per year in after-tax savings/expenses in my own budget.
So a short book, but quite valuable. I recommend it to everyone just to have the principle in mind, for life. One day great dividends can be reaped. This is for CEOs and the rest of us.
2 people found this helpful
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- Danielle
- 22-09-17
Better not in Audiobook format
Any additional comments?
This was really difficult for me to listen too. I kept spacing out and found it extremely difficult to focus. I think this book is better off being read in a traditional format.
1 person found this helpful
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- Izwan Megat
- 01-03-17
Average level story, nothing to compelling
The narraterncan definitely be a bit enthusiastic. I struggled to finish the book, even when I run when listening to it.
1 person found this helpful
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- Mark
- 16-02-17
Help me tremendou with the understanding of Kaizen
Much more enjoyable than I thought it would be I thought it would just be another boring Business book
1 person found this helpful
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- Oliver Nielsen
- 20-04-14
Yadda yadda yadda
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
It's not for me. No actionable advice. Just anecdotes.
What could Bob Maurer and Leigh Ann Hirschman have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
Include some actionable advice. And target it a tad more broadly, so it's not just for leaders of big corporations.
5 people found this helpful
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- Dinesh Pednekar
- 14-09-20
Kaizen for Business
Small steps by Dr. Maurer for business application. Simple application in everyday tasks for folks in any profession. Thanks!
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- Joshua Bergeson
- 19-08-20
Unexpectedly valuable
I got this book to prep for an upcoming interview, but I genuinely plan to start using its lessons in my personal life.
Very simple, streamlined, and realistic approach to solving your problems. It doesn’t come off as preachy or bloated. And I can see how the proposed methods can work without having to employ them.
Definitely recommend. Well worth my time. Will be worth yours.