I have on the bookcase in my office a photo book titled "Shift," which charts our journey from 1999, when I first came to Japan, to 2005, which marked the end of the Nissan 180 plan. Copies of "Shift" were distributed worldwide and handed out to all Nissan Motor employees, and it does its best to capture the six years that, as I wrote in the book, forever changed us, as a company and also as leaders. The final photo is especially meaningful: It captures the moment right after we sold our 1 millionth vehicle, reaching our Nissan 180 goal.
The book is an important record of the incredible feat the people of Nissan achieved. But in addition to recording the past, I believed we also needed something to guide us in the future. That something became the "Nissan Way."
