I enjoyed the documentary as well as the article, but I don't fully approve of Jiro's teachings and the movie could be grossly misunderstood by bad managers. The lifestyle of Jiro and his employees seem extremely unbalanced: there's no home outside of the restaurant and no family other than the coworkers. The obsession with perfection, while good in some cases, imho has crippled other parts of owner's life, i.e. the relationship with his two sons. I understand his work ethic has also roots in the
zen tradition, but I prefer identity not to be uniquely defined by craftsmanship. However, the way the documentary puts it, Jiro doesn't even understand how to keep living outside of his working space.
Yet, the article picks very good lessons out of Jiro, especially the last one: your suppliers are part of your team is such an important, yet overlooked part in any company's success.