Actions to be a whiz: Philosophy “Value experiences than knowledge”

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

What Inamori said is quoted with “”.

“ ’Knowing’ and “being able to do” are two completely different situations. For example, in predicting the rate of shrinkage when firing ceramics, you need to have actual experiences. Even if you think you are firing under the same conditions based on knowledge obtained from literature or data, the actual results often differ each time.

Knowledge and theories from books are different from the phenomena that occur in experiments. Only your own experiences allow you to obtain reliable outcomes. This can be applied in all the industries, businesses, functions and roles. Through those experiences, what you learned from the books can be implemented. “

The lessons learned from these experiences are very important not only for our businesses but also for our lives. Furthermore, when we learn lessons through experience, we would be able to do the following:

Let me elaborate one by one.

1. Be the whiz in a certain field

“ The same goes for firing. Even though the manual says ” you should fire it at **** degrees Celsius,” if you suddenly put the product in a furnace at that temperature, it will crack and shatter. Start with a low temperature and then gradually increase it. However, books don’t tell you how many degrees to increase and how quickly. You have to think about it, experience it, and proceed on your own. “

→ For example, the master, who has been teaching me about investment, is traveling around the world with the goal of visiting all the countries in the world. When it comes to investment, many people probably start by studying and researching things such as interest rates and option trading from books or materials. Knowledge of macroeconomics is essential to study investment, so you will probably also gain knowledge in this field of economics.

However, the economy is driven by people all over the world. Therefore, to truly understand the world and phenomena, you must explore such dynamism on your own, as your own experience. During your journey, you think about what is happening in a certain place and why such phenomena occur. Only those experiences can allow you to judge what economic commentators say in the media.

The same rule can be applied in the world of real estate appraisal, which I am involved in. I carefully investigate the actual real estate transactions agreed under the market. Then I conduct the actual investigation of the property to analyze and study why this transaction occurred.

I think there are many people in the world who invest in real estate, but I think there are few who analyze and predict the real estate market based on the actual research of such transactions. I think that by doing this kind of practice (experience) that others have never done, we can master the world of investment and economy as a reality.

2. Understand the truth that applies to everything

“ This also can be applied to learning management know-how from a consultant. If you look for an advisor, first check whether the person has a reliable track record or not. A consultant without a track record is meaningless. You don’t have to learn so-called theories or cases from them. In seeking advice, choose someone who knows this field with experience. “

→When we think about the experience, we all encounter the theme of what a human is: hiring, managing, motivating, encouraging, trusting and betraying . How humans create preconceived notions, seek answers and forms, face a new world where lessons learned never work, and how they solve the problem – all of them are the reality.

In the fast-changing and drastic eras ahead, these experiences of success and failure are useful. You will realize that understanding people is the key to success, and success & failure are brought about by humans, learning about people and knowing yourself – these are the secrets of success for the business and our life.

3. Create innovation

“ Everyone is knowledge driven and they believe they can manage everything by theories that they have learned so far. But that’s just an illusion. Such people must justify their theories with practice and experiences. I have always told those knowledge driven guys, ‘If you believe you can sell with your marketing theory, why don’t you sell our products and prove it.’ Then get the theories conducted. They would be able to acquire robust theories supported by reality. “

→ I studied business administration at a business school overseas (MBA – Master of Business Administration -).I feel that the program taught a sort of common language when governing companies in other countries. I may be wrong. But I think it was probably like a sovereign country instilling its own language as a common language in the colonized countries or regions. However, what we can learn from this is why it couldn’t be sustained for many years, and I think that there is a hint for innovation (reform and improvement) there. In real experiences, there are failures, shortcomings, and barriers that could not be overcome. All of these will become hints for innovation in the future.

I also want to give another example. I am helping an IT company. What I feel through my experience of working with them is that the challenge that IT companies cannot overcome is communication among people. People who are originally in this industry are not good at communication. Furthermore, there is almost no corporate culture where people can proactively help each other through dynamic collaboration.

Even if you create wonderful platforms, technologies or systems, the challenge always comes down to how people work together. This is also true for global companies. On the other hand, even if the technology is still under development, if the communication among people is excellent and the company is full of employees who can feel each other, work for others, and devote themselves for others, I think such a company can make a tremendous breakthrough in the world.

* 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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