This time, Inamori* spoke about the above motto in Kyocera philosophy.
What Inamori said is quoted with “”.
“ When making a decision, even the slightest selfishness leads you to the wrong outcome. People unintentionally think about their own benefits or interests first. If everyone forgets to be considerate of others and behaves egoistically, there is no harmony and we would not work and collaborate together. This egoism will also lower the morale of the group and undermine its efficiency.
In our daily work, we must overcome our selfishness and make decisions while constantly asking ourselves whether we are doing the right thing as human beings and whether we are minimizing our egoism to create harmony in our workplace. “
We, human being can hardly behave selfless however, I think the following are particularly important to make selfless decisions:
1. Live each day to the fullest
2. Leave attachments toward something
3. Find what ultimately fulfills us
Let me elaborate one by one.
1. Live each day to the fullest
“ However, when we are spontaneously occupied with selfishness or self interests, we prioritize what makes us rich in terms of materials. Therefore, humans have an instinct to protect themselves. “
→ If we have the instinct to protect ourselves, we will spontaneously be conservative. When there are several options for what we can do, if we feel a strong desire to protect ourselves, we will take the action that is the least risky for us. So, the next question comes to my mind.
” If today were the last day of my life, what would I do? “
If we always think about this, I think the only thing we can do is live each day to the fullest so that we have no regrets. If today were the last day of my life, would I want to live it without regrets? If we ask ourselves this every day, I think the instinct to choose the safest option and protect ourselves will probably disappear.
2. Leave attachments toward something
“ When we must make a decision, we spontaneously start thinking and unintentionally we are always driven by our instinct. This instinct drives us egotistically simply for us to survive. Those decisions always work only for the decision makers. “
→Takamori Saigo, the patriot warrior of Meij revolution, used to say, “The most troublesome guy is the one who does not care about life, name, title, or even money. “ These words mean that we have nothing to cling to. Leaving so-called attachment towards something is the state of “emptiness,” “void,” and “zero” that is preached in the Heart Sutra.
When we are enlightened enough to achieve that mental status, I think people are free from their own selfish desires and seriously think about, “What can I do to the world to pay back a lot of the help, consideration and love that I have received from those around me?” Thus, what we have to do is learn Zen and achieve such mental status.
3. Find what ultimately fulfills us
“ Until now, you have only thought about what is convenient for you, with the sole desire to avoid losses and problems that have been entangled with the other person’s intentions and have not been able to be solved, but when you think about them without your selfishness, you can easily find the best solution that will fulfill both the other person and yourself. When making decisions, please try to make your decisions without selfish minds. “
→ I think it is important to always think about what fulfills you. Of course, it fulfills you to feel that you are part of a great cycle of love, to value your reason to be, and to get your preliminary desires fulfilled. However, I think that the ultimate fulfillment of humans must be found in relationships with others.
In these situations, I think that people value your existence a lot, or you realize that you can fulfill your beloved ones in some way, and you can ultimately enjoy creating such fulfillment. If you consider, from time to time, what ultimately fulfills you, you would be able to eliminate your egoism.
In summary, it is very important for leaders to make the right decisions. To achieve this, I think we must live each day to the fullest as if it were the last day in our lives, leave our instinctive desires, and learn through experience what ultimately fulfills us.
* 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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