James Surowiecki (put his book The Wisdom of Crowds on your list ), devotes this week's New Yorker Financial Page to examining why Toyota is poised to overtake General Motors as the auto industry's sales leader. His article is less about cars, however, than it is about culture. There's no question that Toyota is an innovative company; what's worth noting is the company's definition of innovation. It's not driven by lightning strikes, but rather by consistent, if sometimes glacial, testing and adaptation of ideas that can come from anywhere within the company.

Obviously successful, Toyota's thinking is antithetical to the strategy of so many businesses. Many seek "silver bullet" solutions that revolutionize processes and get profits rolling. This thinking, however, whether applied to making Camrys or building an organizational identity, is showing its flaws. Consider Surowiecki's explanation of Toyota's triumph:

. . . defining innovation as an incremental process, in which the goal is not to make huge, sudden leaps but, rather, to make things better on a daily basis. (The principle is often known by its Japanese name, kaizen—continuous improvement.) Instead of trying to throw long touchdown passes, as it were, Toyota moves down the field by means of short and steady gains.

For us, kaizen works as well for an organization's communications as it can for production. Consistent examination and refinement of any strategy matches the right effort to the immediate need. Sure, there are flashes of brilliance and major breakthroughs, but don't let those come at the expense of consistent marketing management.

Read everything Surowiecki has to say about kaizen here.