“I don’t know if it’s male versus female, but I am told my management style is more inclusive,” says Lagarde. It has to do with forming a team’s view, having a consensual approach, “‘wasting time’ on occasion” to build consensus so that “you will not need to waste it in convincing people to implement.”

> Kaizen (改善^?), Japanese for “improvement”, or “change for the better” refers to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, and business management. It has been applied in healthcare,^[1] psychotherapy,^[2] life-coaching, government, banking, and other industries. When used in the business sense and applied to the workplace, kaizen refers to activities that continually improve all functions, and involves all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. It also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organizational boundaries into the supply chain.^[3] By improving standardized activities and processes, kaizen aims to eliminate waste (see lean manufacturing). Kaizen was first implemented in several Japanese businesses after the Second World War, influenced in part by American business and quality management teachers who visited the country. It has since spread throughout the world^[4] and is now being implemented in many other venues besides just business and productivity.

Read more on Wikipedia site.  

> Read about Mr. Maasaki Imai and the Kaizen Institute:

http://www.kaizen.com/about-us/masaaki-imai-kaizen-founder-biography.html

> Discover more ways this term is used and described in business: http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_kaizen.html

> Kaizen applied to the education of school children: http://www.thelearningweb.net/kaizen.html