Back in the 1970s, workers at Toyota Motor Corp. were taught to never turn down an order because good times couldn't be counted on to last forever. These days, Toyota cars are in such demand workers are exhausted just keeping up.

"My mentors didn't teach me how to solve this problem," President Fujio Cho said, adding that he looks forward to confronting them at the Gates of Heaven about today's challenges, including ways to spend money as good corporate citizens -- not just rake in profits.

"But I already know what they're going to say. They're going to say, 'You idiot, go figure it out yourself,' " Cho said recently in Tokyo as he received the 2004 Asian Business Leader of the Year award from Fortune magazine.