The Andon Spirit – The Courage to Stop

Most companies worship speed.
“Move fast, break things.”

But Toyota did something different.
They built a system that said, “Move smart. Fix things.”

Back in the 1950s, their factories were chaos wrapped in success.
The line never stopped.
Cars kept rolling, but so did the mistakes.
Each defect was like a small snowball that later turned into an avalanche.

Then came Taiichi Ohno, the visionary behind the Toyota Production System.

He looked at the madness and said, “Let’s give power to the people closest to the work.”

So he introduced the Andon cord.
A simple rope that anyone could pull when something felt wrong.
The moment it was pulled, the entire line stopped.

Managers were terrified.
They thought production would crash.

But Ohno knew something deeper.
Speed without reflection is chaos.
Quality comes from courage. The courage to pause.

And when they did, magic happened.
Defects dropped. Productivity rose.
People stopped hiding problems and started solving them.

Because the pause wasn’t the problem.
It was the cure.

***

That’s the Andon spirit.
The courage to stop.
To reflect.
To fix what matters before moving again.

Maybe we need our own Andon cords too.
Moments when we whisper to ourselves, “Something’s off.”
Moments to pull the invisible cord.

To stop. Breathe. Reflect.
Then go again. Cleaner, wiser, faster.

In life, it could be a moment of honesty.
To notice the habit, the tension, the quiet sadness we’ve ignored.

In chess, it could be a pause before buying the next book.
To notice the same mistakes repeating in our games, or our openings where we keep getting crushed.

Because sometimes progress isn’t one more step forward.
It’s one honest pause.

And just like Toyota, you’ll move faster later…
by having the courage to stop now.

The Missed Andon 
When I think of Danya, one thought keeps coming back.
Maybe the tragedy could’ve been stopped…
if some people, lost in their own storms, had paused instead of pushing further and had pulled the Andon earlier?

And now, with all the pain and anger flowing through social media…
maybe what we need most is…
to pull the Andon?
At least for a day?
And only then, decide the next move?

With best wishes and love,
For your growth and fun journey,
GM Avetik (or Avo, as my friends call me)

You agree or disagree, or have thoughts you want to share, you’re always welcome to do so in the comments.

P. S. I’m just a FedEx guy, delivering lessons from my teachers to you.

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Thank you for reading, for growing, and for helping someone else along the way. 🙏