Even minor excuse never be allowed: Philosophy “Maintain the fair play spirit2”

This time, Inamori* spoke about the above motto in Kyocera philosophy.

What Inamori said is quoted with “”.

“ A company consists of various people, so even though some people know that it is not a good thing to speak ill of others, there are those who want to dominate others by speaking ill of them to justify themselves or simply just to be heroes. Some outrageous people spread baseless rumors to put others down, even though they have not done anything wrong.

Unfortunately, we sometimes find such malicious people. Therefore, it is easy to spread an atmosphere where people are afraid of pointing out frauds by thinking, “I don’t want to lose my trust or get involved in trouble by speaking ill of others.” Because of this, people are discouraged to point out the misconduct. “

This is not easy to carry out in a company however, Inamori said the following three must be well conducted.

Let me elaborate one by one.

1. No slander is allowed

“ So, how do we figure out whether such criticism is legitimate or simply insults to bring someone down? For example, if a subordinate points out the wrongdoing of a superior, you can see whether it is merely a personal criticism or slander, or whether it is a constructive opinion as an employee to make our company better.

In other words, instead of simply slandering someone by saying, “That manager is outrageous,” if the person is making a constructive suggestion, such as, ‘Mr. XX is doing this, but isn’t that a problem for our company? I would like him to correct it,’ then that should be listened to. “

→ There are many good things about the development of social media, but the bad thing is that there are people who take advantage of the fact that their true identities are not revealed so they can make terrible slander. There are also people who take videos of internal information and distribute them, or spread information that is not true, simply because the content is funny and they can get good attention from audiences.

I think it is necessary to take strict measures against such misconduct. Of course, it is necessary to thoroughly investigate slander before pointing it out, and so-called false accusations should never happen. However, I think that behavior that is questionable as a human being needs to be dealt with severely.

2. Younger staff’s voice must be heard

“ If there is genuine injustice or contradiction and you point it out constructively, your opinion should be welcomed no matter how low-ranking your position is, and your superiors should be willing to listen to it. I would like you to create this kind of atmosphere in your company. “

→ Especially during the Showa era, we were familiar with the culture where what the superior said was absolutely right, and even if a young new employee said something, he/she would be told to “keep quiet because you don’t understand anything.” Recently, there has been a shortage of workers, and young people are quitting quickly, so the society tends to spoil those young staff, “not nag young people.” Therefore, many companies have a corporate culture that actively listens to the opinions of young people.

However, on the other hand, people also hesitate to scold young people or condone their unjustifiable behaviors. It is necessary to clarify the purpose and objectives of the company and create a corporate culture where everyone is sensitive to injustice.

3. Be always honest, no lies and secrets

“ Also, even if it doesn’t go as far as fraud, irregular and unjustifiable issues sometimes happen within the company. Even if you notice it, if you tell your boss, ‘That employee’s behavior looks unjustifiable,’ it becomes tattling. You may be afraid that people around you will think, ‘He tries to be a whistleblower to please our boss’ so even though you think it’s unjustifiable, you turn a blind eye. Therefore, unless the problem becomes complicated and becomes quite big, it doesn’t reach the top. “

→ It is important for the top to not lie. In reality, you simply forgot something, but you can come up with excuses, “XX didn’t come up… I thought it would be a bother to XX… I’m sorry for the late contact.” You make such a plausible excuse. Wise people understand you lied and what you said is simply just an excuse. Even so, when the staff see you trying to cover up like this, they will think that it’s justified to lie like this too.

My previous boss was Dutch, but he said, “Lying is not good,” and didn’t think of excuses or expedients. He could have politely refused by saying that he had other plans. But he didn’t refuse and attended the dinner, which was, I feel, not enjoyable for him. This is very important for building trust in work relationships. No matter what country you are from, if you are someone who does not hesitate to lie, sooner or later people will leave you and only people like you (liars) will be left. You will start to lie and cheat each other. It is very important not to lie and to be honest.

* Mr. Kazuo Inamori, the founder of Kyocera, KDDI (one of the top tele communication companies in Japan) and the top of revitalization project of JAL. As a well-known Japanese entrepreneur, he has been sharing his experiences and management know-how with managements of small to middle companies in Japan.

Further queries or doubts, please email to ytomizuka@abrilsjp.com

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