文/ 姜汝祥
藝術與商業歷來涇渭分明，但在這看似風牛馬不相及的關係背後，卻存在著莫大的聯繫，那就是人性的精神與力量。沒有對人性精神的恪守與極致追求，就沒有企業生生不息、基業長青的動力源。同樣，沒有對人性精神的積澱與弘揚，就沒有畫作的傳世與藝術的繁榮。
那麼，藝術應該如何向商業學習？豐田在二者之間建立一棟橋梁，在創造豐田70年長盛不衰的豐田模式中，蘊含著大量的藝術智慧。藝術家可以在豐田模式中尋找經驗和智慧。
藝術家為何要向豐田學習？豐田弘揚人性、彰顯個人價值的力量
自人類進入工業時代以來，當物質財富以我們不可想像的速度增長時，我們應該感謝工業文明帶給我們的一切。但是，不可否認的是，我們的人性精神也漸漸被侵蝕。相信，我們可以從多年前的電影《摩登時代》中卓別林的滑稽動作感受到。在一切都工業化與規範化的追求中，作為主體的人被物化了，人的情感、需求等心理成了工業社會遺忘的角落。正是這個背景推動了現代藝術的發展，作為一種反映自我、反映人性覺醒的方式，藝術需要、也必須彌補工業的空洞與缺陷，去弘揚人性、去激發人性的覺醒。顯然，在工業時代藝術更加重要。
事物的演化之流永遠不會停息，工業文明自身的反思帶來了人性的回歸。豐田正是這場進步的一個典範，豐田用它的成功證明了一件事：人性可以與工業化完美的結合。豐田之道的支柱是什麼？是尊重員工，是通過持續的改善來彰顯每一個人的智慧與價值。
我們可以從豐田與通用聯合經營的工廠中一位原通用的工人的講述中體會到：“如果沒有豐田，再過100萬年我也不會覺得我的工作富有創造性。豐田教會我們如何解決問題，這就把我們解放出來了！豐田認為我可以讓這個體系變得更好。這個想法改變了我的人生。突然間，我開始尋找解決問題、改進生産的辦法了！我的辦法就是消除一切愚蠢的事物，消除浪費，讓操作變得更加完美。突然間，我開始運用我的大腦了！現在我就是專家，我可以創造新的工藝流程！我猜這是一種藝術，這種藝術可以為我找回一些驕傲和尊嚴。”
這值得任何藝術的關注。試想：豐田通過枯燥的、甚至可以説是反人性的工業生産，賦予了人的驕傲與尊嚴，釋放了人性的光輝，那麼作為一種審美愉悅的藝術，如果想弘揚人性，賦予人生意義和價值，還難嗎？藝術家應當向豐田取經。
藝術家向豐田學習什麼？尋找藝術生命力、競爭力與出路
那麼，應該從哪些角度學習豐田呢？包括三個層面：
一、沒有準宗教精神基因的注入，就沒有豐田的代代相傳。藝術家可以從豐田模式中尋找獲得藝術生命力的方式。
我們發現，在豐田發展的征程中，豐田家族在大部分時間裏，都是經營活動的主角。時值豐田的首次虧損，豐田家族的第四代豐田章男接過經營傳遞棒，更是被賦予“大政奉還”的意義。
豐田家族的傳承，都歸功於豐田佐吉在創建豐田之初，就為豐田注入了準宗教一樣的精神基因。從始祖豐田佐吉“豐田綱領”，到豐田復興之祖石田退三的“豐田經營成功的七條原則”，再到《豐田模式2001》中以“尊重員工，持續改善”為支柱的創始人哲學，豐田一直在豐田佐吉設定的道路上前進。而今面對危機，豐田更是投入鉅資，以重新概括豐田模式。
豐田的延續與傳承之道，就是藝術家尋求的藝術生命力源泉。事實上，這已經在藝術領域被證明。很多大畫家都有為宗教作畫的經歷，很多傳世的畫作都是反映宗教生活，這背後是一種精神的力量。
豐田的延續與傳承之道，就是藝術家尋求的藝術生命力源泉。事實上，這已經在藝術領域被證明。很多大畫家都有為宗教作畫的經歷，很多傳世的畫作都是反映宗教生活，這背後是一種精神的力量。
二、豐田真正重要的不是機器與技術，而是人與人的關係，是人性化的改善系統。藝術家可以從豐田模式中尋找藝術競爭力的源泉。
談到豐田模式，我們就會馬上想到準時化、均衡化、標準化等等技術方式。這些都是豐田模式的構成部分，都很重要，也值得學習，但不是最有價值的部分。豐田模式最有價值的部分是人與人的關係，是人性化的改善系統，這才是豐田競爭力的源泉。無人能成功複製豐田，問題就出現在這個地方。
在豐田，對於那些漸進地、微小的改善與進步，員工往往眉飛色舞，在他們看來，那是一件偉大的事情。豐田員工在改善中有了歸屬感，感到人生的意義，工作場變成了一個個人修煉人品的地方。豐田對人性的關注，激活了員工的智慧，員工的智慧轉化成了企業與産品的競爭力。
藝術家更應該關注人性因素，通過畫作幫助人們在不確定的時代找到心靈的安寧，幫助人們找到人生的意義。這樣的畫作怎麼會不具備市場競爭力？藝術價值大而市場競爭力小，藝術價值小而市場競爭力大這樣的困惑還會有嗎？藝術和商業是可以會通的。
三、豐田持續的成長與成功，源於人性傳統與西方管理的雙向合璧。藝術家可以從豐田管理模式尋找中國藝術的出路。
豐田如何能保持70年的長盛不衰，成為世界汽車工業當之無愧的霸主？。任何持續的繁榮與成功，都是建立在人性傳統的基礎上的。豐田的成功，是管理模式的成功。豐田成功地從自身文化傳統和人性特點出發，結合西方的管理制度，形成了獨一無二的管理模式，成為唯一一家向世界輸出管理模式的亞洲公司。
這是當前中國最值得學習的地方。事實上，中國企業的問題不是技術的困境，而是人性的困境。中國企業要成長為世界頂級企業，就必須以傳統文化為精神資源，結合西方的管理制度，發展出中國式管理模式。
中國藝術也面臨同樣的問題，雖然改革開放以來，中國藝術蓬勃發展，但是就像獲得國際大獎的建築師馬岩松説的那樣，“中國正在建設的建築缺乏自己的文化底蘊。”中國藝術更大的成功與出路在於與傳統文化的結合。
當下，藝術家承載著更重要的意義，奈斯比特在《中國大趨勢》對於中國的藝術著墨頗多，讚譽也很多。在他看來，藝術彰顯國家個性，反映社會，“沒有藝術家和知識分子的引領，任何社會都是不會進步的”。藝術家將會成為喚醒人性，弘揚人性，中國崛起的推動力。而這個過程中，除了豐田，還有更好的榜樣嗎？
Convergence of Art and Commerce:
What Can Artists Learn from the Toyota Way?
Text/ Jiang Ruxiang
Despite the clear division between art and commerce, these two worlds that seem to have absolutely nothing in common are closely tied to each other through the human spirit and power. Without unswerving pursuit of human-oriented management, there would be no the unfading and everlasting motive force for the development of enterprise. Likewise, the charm of humanity is the key ingredient in the classical value of paintings and has created the prosperity of art.
But what can artists possibly learn from the commercial enterprise? The answer is the “Toyota way”, which can lead artists to the rich legacy of art and wisdom created by generations of legendary Toyota presidencies in the past 7o years. It is experience and wisdom that art practitioners can draw from the Toyota Way.
Why do artists need to learn from Toyota? Toyota promotes human creativity and gives full scope to the display of personal values.
Owing to the industrial revolution, man’s material wealth has been expanding at an unthinkable rate, but another undeniable truth is industrial civilization has been gradually eroding human nature, which, I believe, has been best acted out by the hilarious character in Charles Chaplin’s film Modern Times. In a general pursuit for industrialization and normalization, man as the subject is constantly being materialized and our emotional needs and psychological aspects have become forsaken territories of the present industrial society. Against this background modern art emerged as a means for expressing the self and affirming the consciousness of humanity. It is both an obligation and innate needs for art to play a role in amending the holes and defects in human world resulted from industrialization and to uphold human value and arouse a humanistic consciousness. This has become more necessary today than ever before.
The stream of evolution of things will never be broken. Criticism over industrial civilization has ushered the return of humanistic concerns. The Toyota Way is considered to be a model of this improvement. The legend of Toyota production system has proved one thing: the perfect marriage of humanity and industrialization does exist. The first principle of the Toyota Way is to respect people working for the organization and give individual intelligence and personal values a full play through encouraging continual improvement.
This principle is well exemplified in the words from a worker who previously worked for GM and now at the joint-venture of Toyota and GM, “If not for the Toyota philosophy, I wouldn’t find creative possibility in my work even after a billion years. The Toyota Way taught us how to solve problems and liberate our minds! I was made to believe that I can practically improve the production system myself. This idea has changed my life. Suddenly I began to use my brain to think how to solve the problems and improve the production line. My solution is to discern pointlessness and waste and perfect operational details. I started thinking! Now I am an expert inventing new production line! I guess this is art, which help me rediscover pride and dignity as a human being.”
This matter deserves interest from every art field. Just try to picture that: through the seemingly mundane and even counter-humanistic Toyota industrial production, man has been crowned with pride and dignity and the humanistic considerations are attended in the process. And art as an advanced aesthetic means will not find it hard to achieve the same goal, which is to affirm human value and endow meaning to life. From this point of view artists need to learn from Toyota.
What can artists learn from Toyota? Creative energy, competitive advantage and even the future.
There are three ways to penetrate into the core of Toyota concept:
I. The pre-religious spirit encoded in the genetic makeup of Toyota family members have transmitted through successive generations. Artists can decipher genetic creativity hidden in the Toyota Way.
Throughout the history of Toyota, considerable influence is still exercised by members of the founding Toyota family. In face of losses for the first time, the company turns to Toyota family member Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the founder. It is considered to be a symbolic and meaningful act of “returning the presidency to the founding family”.
The first cornerstone of Toyota family’s tradition was set up by the founder Sakichi Toyota, who has infused pre-religious spiritual genes into the company’s operation procedure. Since then Toyota has been steadily moving forward on the course designed by Sakichi Toyota: from the Toyota Production System created by the founder, to the “Inside the Mind of Toyota: Management Principles for Enduring Growth” concluded by the father of Toyota renaissance Taizo Ishida, to “The Toyota Way 2001” a founding philosophy centered on “Continuous Improvement and Employee Empowerment”. Today on the wake of crisis Toyota increased capital input to redefine the Toyota philosophy.
Beneath the foundation of Toyota’s long-term success lies the fountain of artistic creativity. In fact this has been well-proved by art history. Driven by the spiritual power of their faith, many artists have painted religious subject matters, or produced works portraying religious life.
II. The heart of Toyota production system is not facility and technology, but the dynamic relation among people and employee empowerment for improving quality. Artists can find the source of competitive advantage in the Toyota Way.
Talking about the Toyota Way, we naturally would think about technical terms, such as punctuality, equalization, standardization, etc. Of course, these are also important dimensions of the Toyota Way and worth a through understanding. But the heart of Toyota and the source of Toyota’s competitive advantage is efficient communication among workers, and the employee empowerment system for improving products. This is the reason why the Toyota Way is difficult for other companies to duplicate.
Toyota employees always find great pleasure in their contribution to the system, no matter how petty it is. At Toyota, through building continual improvement employees feel they belong to a home team and restore the meaning of life by making the workshop into a place for people to cultivate the moral character and nourish the nature. The emphasis on human element activated employees’ creativity, and transformed it into competitive advantage for the enterprise and products.
Artists should give more consideration to human element in their work, helping people living in the time of uncertainty find peace in heart and restoring meaning to our lives. How could paintings with such potential lose their advantage? Is the disproportional relation between the value of art and its competitive advantage going to be a problem in market? In this way, art and commerce have something in common.
III. The continual growth and success of Toyota derives from the perfect union of human tradition and western management. Artists can seek for the future of art through the Toyota Way.
What is the secret behind Toyota’s 70 years of long-term success and the unquestionable leadership in world car companies? As we know, humanistic tradition is the universal foundation for all kinds of continued prosperity and success. The accomplishment of Toyota is established on the renowned management model, which is a perfect example that combines the native cultural tradition and humanistic characteristics with western management system. Thus the company has created a unique system and become the only Asian firm that sets an example for world enterprises on management models.
Toyota’s management system should be learned by Chinese enterprises, which are actually stuck in humanistic predicament instead of technological swamp. To rank among world top firms, Chinese companies should develop a management model with Chinese characteristics that not only draws resources from the spiritual legacy of our traditional culture, also borrows experiences from the western systems.
Art in China is also having the same problem. Despite the blossom of art ever since the reform and opening-up policy in China, “Chinese architectures under development all lack an ingenious cultural heritage.” the architect and world prize winner Yansong Ma says. The future of Chinese art and an even greater success rests with a better union with traditional culture.
In contemporary society artists play a remarkable role as John Naisbitt comments on art of China in a large chapter in his book China’s Megatrends. From his viewpoint, art embodies a nation’s character and society, and a society without guidance of artists and intellectuals will not progress.” Artists’ work can arouse human spirits, uphold humanity and give impetus to the rise of China. On the way to that day, Toyota will be the best example for us to take after.