John Kay has recently written a fantastic book on obliquity.  He shows how businesses that focus on customer value (rather than profits) are often the most commercially successful. We’ve recently been working with the Lean Enterprise Academy, who explained how Toyota’s fortunes have changed with this shift of mindset.  Until 2005 Toyota had an unwavering focus: reducing unnecessary costs and maximising customer value.  This focus took them to the third biggest car company in the world.  In 2005 under the direction of a new CEO, their mission changed: they aimed to become the biggest car company in the world.  That shift (from customer value to business value) has led to decisions that increased commercial pressures, watered down culture, focused on cost per part rather than value of the whole and reduced quality.  The ultimate consequence of this was the recent recall of 8 million cars and substantial damage to the Toyota brand.