This time, Inamori* spoke about the above motto in Kyocera philosophy.
What Inamori said is quoted with “”.
“ Concentrating your mind seriously with a purpose is called “purposeful attention.” We must do this at any time, in any environment, and even for the smallest items and topics. This looks very difficult at first, but if you do this consciously every day, you can spontaneously demonstrate this capability. So once a problem has occurred, you will be able to immediately grasp what the fundamental issue is and come up with the best solution.
We must get used to paying our full attention to even the smallest things in our daily lives. This “purposeful attention” means “paying attention with intention” or “paying attention consciously.” The antonym is “unintentional attention,” which refers to using your consciousness in a way that, for example, when you hear a sound somewhere and you suddenly turn around reflexively. Instead of focusing your mind in this way, actively concentrating your mind as hard as you can is what the word “purposeful attention” means. “
The reasons why Mr. Inamori said above are as follows.
1. To make the right decision
2. To make the decision as quick as possible
3. To confront with issues
Let me elaborate one by one.
1. To make the right decision
“ There are companies of all sizes in the world, from those runs by just two or three employees to those with tens of thousands of employees. What may seem like a trivial event to a large company can have a significant impact on a small or medium-sized company that could change the future of that company…. I also wondered how such judgments with fullest attention could be made.
“Is it impossible to do such a thing unless you are born with a sharp sense or excellent ability? If so, someone like me who is not considered to be that outstanding may not be able to make the right decision no matter how hard I work.” While worrying about this, I thought about what I could do, and made up my mind, “I think seriously with my fullest attention about even the smallest things so that I could make the right decision for every topic.” Since then, I have been thinking with my fullest attention for every single issue. “
→ Small decisions pile up and lead to big results. We can find a lot of hints for improvement in management in small things such as hiring people, checking the work outputs, how staff interact with customers, and how to write daily work reports. I have reflected that I should have paid more attention to improve the outcomes.
2. To make the decision as quick as possible
“ On the other hand, people who think seriously about even the most trivial things have sharp senses, so they are always able to make quick and accurate decisions. Therefore, the moment they hear a problem, they know, “Oh, to solve this, you should do this.”
This is not because they have had a similar experience in the past, but because their problem analysis system in their mind works at an incredible speed and they can come up with the best solution. This is possible because they get used to think seriously about even the most trivial things, regardless of how smart they are. “
→ The presidents of a small or medium-sized company are constantly making decisions. In fact, they would like to think slowly, but in most cases, there is no time to do so. Furthermore, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity may come tomorrow, or it may come in 10 years. However, there is no time to develop their decision-making skills under the time frame of 10 years. I was reminded that I must always concentrate seriously on the things in front of me and keep improving my decision-making skills.
3. To conduct the greatest good for a staff
“ However, most top leaders tend to dismiss issues that are not particularly important by saying, “This is fine,” or, in extreme cases, by saying, “I’ll leave it to you,” and entrusting the decision to their subordinates. If you behave like this on a daily basis, when a major problem that could affect the fate of the company occurs, you would definitely fail in making an accurate decision.
Even if you think, “Now it’s the time to consider with my fullest attention,” you have not acquired how to do “full concentration” in decision making, so you will inevitably only come up with shallow and superficial solutions. “
→ People unconsciously avoid criticism that is painful to them and problems that they are aware of subconsciously. This is because if you accept that criticism, you will have to change yourself. I don’t think there are many people who can demonstrate perfect managerial skills from day one. I think most top leaders have managed entities without clear guidelines. Therefore, they tend to fail in facing the issues they need to solve. I would like to have an open mind, face problems, and have the attitude of accepting changes, including improving my personality.
In summary, leaders must always fully concentrate and think seriously about even the smallest problems. Through this, I would like to be a leader who makes correct and accurate decisions and constantly improves my personality as a leader.
* 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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