????我乘坐一架老舊的波音777客機，枯坐了14個小時才抵達日本。我不清楚此行能有何收獲。豐田確實遭遇了一系列厄運，但我想弄清楚，這家機構臃腫、官僚化嚴重的公司謀求變革的決心到底有多大。

????我在東京逗留了一晚，之后乘坐新干線子彈頭列車來到日本第三大城市名古屋，車程1小時40分鐘。豐田公司在該市有幾棟寫字樓。我拜訪了豐田章男的重要顧問之一、豐田執(zhí)行副總裁布野幸利。布野幸利擁有哥倫比亞大學（Columbia）MBA學位，曾經(jīng)負責過美國市場的銷售業(yè)務。他告訴我，豐田公司已經(jīng)發(fā)生巨變。他通過翻譯告訴我：“（豐田章男）已經(jīng)對公司的管理模式進行了大刀闊斧的改革。他的管理理念主要包含兩點，一是快速，二是靈活。傳統(tǒng)上來講，日本公司的管理模式是‘自下而上’的，降低了決策的速度。觀察其他公司，我們意識到公司需要在一定程度上采取‘自上而下’的模式，提高行動速度。”

????豐田章男將董事會人員縮減了一半，并削減了管理層級。布野幸利還透露了一個更為重要的動向：豐田章男開始每周二早晨與他的五位首席顧問進行非正式會晤，共同探討公司的運作。他們的合作非常緊密，布野幸利稱之為“賽車維修站”式的管理。他們不準備議事日程或者書面報告，而且要在現(xiàn)場做決策。“這六個人私下的交情也很深。所以基本上在會談中不會出現(xiàn)非常情緒化的或者激烈的辯論，因為我們彼此知根知底。”他們的行動很迅速。豐田章男于2010年訪問了位于美國加州的電動汽車制造商特斯拉汽車公司（Tesla Motors），隨后在某次周二晨會上就決定對該公司投資5,000萬美元。之后，豐田公司簽署協(xié)議購買價值6,000千萬美元的特斯拉電池，它們未來將用于豐田全電動新款車型RAV 4 crossover。

????布野幸利還說，豐田章男還對公司的管理模式進行了另一個重要變革。公司的傳統(tǒng)是對其高管進行輪崗，所以銷售專家可能會被分配到采購崗位上，產(chǎn)品工程師也有可能去制造崗位上工作。現(xiàn)在他們都將留在自己的專業(yè)領域內，這樣就能夠充分運用自身的經(jīng)驗。布野幸利用較為保守的語氣評價道：“這是非常美國式的做法，我還不知道他在巴布森（豐田章男曾在巴布森商學院學習）的學習經(jīng)歷對他目前的管理方式有何影響。但他現(xiàn)在的管理方式并不是典型的日本企業(yè)管理模式。” 事實證明，這種說法過于簡單了。

????第二天，我驅車40分鐘去豐田市拜訪豐田公司首席工程師內山田武，他也是每周二晨會的參與者之一。1993年，內山田武接受了公司元老給予的艱巨任務，開發(fā)了能夠省油一半以上的混合動力車型。如今的他可稱作是“豐田普銳斯之父”。自1997年以來，普銳斯混合動力車的銷量已經(jīng)超過300萬輛，并且已經(jīng)發(fā)展成為一個擁有多種車型的子品牌。

????As I fidgeted through a 14-hour flight to Japan in a well-worn Boeing 777, I wondered what I would find. I figured Toyota had gotten some bad breaks, but I wondered about how committed this ponderous and bureaucratic company was to change.

????After overnighting in Tokyo, I moved on to Nagoya, Japan's third-largest city -- one hour and 40 minutes away by Shinkansen bullet train -- where Toyota occupies several office buildings. I met with executive vice president Yukitoshi Funo, one of Akio's key advisers. Funo, who holds an MBA from Columbia and formerly oversaw U.S. sales, told me there had been an upheaval at Toyota. "[Akio] has dramatically changed the way the company is managed," he said through an interpreter. "There are two major pillars to how he manages: First, be fast; and second, be flexible. Usually Japanese companies are based on a 'bottom up' management style, which slows down the pace of decision-making. In looking at other companies, we realized the need for a certain level of 'top down' to move quickly."

????Akio shrank the board of directors by half and took out layers of management. Funo revealed a more significant development: Akio has begun meeting informally with his five top advisers every Tuesday morning to review the company's operations. They work so closely together that Funo called it "pit work" management. No agendas or written reports are allowed, and decisions are made on the spot. "Basically, the six people have a very strong personal bond. So it's not a very emotional or heated debate as we have a very good understanding among each other." They can move quickly. After Akio visited Tesla Motors (TSLA) in California in 2010, the Tuesday morning meeting signed off on a $50 million investment in the electric-car maker. Subsequently Toyota agreed to buy $60 million worth of Tesla batteries to power its all-electric RAV 4 crossover.

????Funo said Akio has made another fundamental change in the way Toyota is managed. Traditionally, Toyota has rotated its top executives, so a sales specialist could be assigned to purchasing, or a product engineer to manufacturing. Now they stay within their specialties so that they can leverage their experience. "It's very American," said Funo. "I'm not really sure how what he learned at Babson [the Boston college where Akio studied business] has affected how he is running the company. But he is not typical Japanese management." That turned out to be an understatement.

????The next day I made the 40-minute car ride to Toyota City to meet with Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota's top engineer and another participant in the Tuesday morning meetings. In 1993, Uchiyamada accepted the challenge of Toyota's elders to develop a car with 50%-better fuel economy; today he's known as the father of the Prius. More than 3 million of the hybrids have been sold since 1997, and it has been expanded into a sub-brand with additional models.