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

What Inamori said is quoted with “”.

 

“This “sharing” is important. Whether it’s your philosophy or business plan, it’s important to share it with your employees, get them to resonate with it, and get their support.”

 

We are now moving from the era of “earth” to the era of “wind.”

The era of “earth” is an era that emphasizes tangible things, and keywords include money, material possessions, accumulation, stability, sense of belonging, organizations, authorities, companies, titles, success, and preconceived notions.

On the other hand, the era of `wind” is an era when we value intangible things such as intelligence, mindset, concepts and information, and the key words are spirit, humanity, knowledge, information, sharing, diversity, borderlessness.

 

Considering this era of wind, I believe that what Mr. Inamori said includes the following points.

 

1. Based on the staffs’ mindset

2. Aim to be the top of the world (set the highest goals)

3. Accept diverse human resources

 

Let me explain one by one

 

1. Based on the staffs’ mindset

“While there is nothing more changeable and unreliable than the staffs’ mindset , I believe that once we are bonded with a strong trust, there is nothing more dependable.”

Through the Kyocera Philosophy, Mr. Inamori has been telling the importance of our mindset, which means what kind of value we must have in our mind. This is why Kyocera continues to grow as a strong and wonderful company, both in the era of earth and wind.

The fact that everyone survived the JAL plane accident at Haneda Airport proves how important it is to implement the business administration based on the philosophy.

 

2. Aim to be the top of the world (set the highest goals)

“The approaches for achieving your goals differ depending on where you want your company to go or what your goals are in life. If you want to build a high-level company or make your life more fulfilling, your way of thinking must be appropriate and worthy of that goal. In other words, depending on where you set your goals, your value standard must be different… Therefore, I had vaguely set a lofty goal of `becoming the best company in the world,’’ and I wanted to work hard toward that goal. To achieve that goal, I wanted to hold a `serious, and slightly stoic value standard‘. However, looking back at what I have done, I realize that this “way of thinking” was absolutely necessary for Kyocera to become a global company.”

The typical leader of the era of Wind is Luffy, the main character of the Japanese cartoon One Piece.

His friends around him follow the goal he raised:  becoming the King of Pirates.

It looks kind of exciting and interesting.

Would my life be completely different?

I want to make my life a wonderful one!

Friends come together by sharing these thoughts and feelings.

I think this is an important idea for the coming era of wind, where leaders themselves set high goals.

 

 

3. Accept diverse human resources

“When I talked about my business plan, I decided not to call on such smart people. Instead, I called so called mood-makers and those who easily agree with my idea by saying, ‘Oh,Mr. Inamori, that sounds really great!!’ without really understanding why. I started gathering people who were super positive, far from intelligent, warm hearted, adventurous, with little academic background, and muscle rather sensitive.”

→I am sure that Kyocera has a diverse workforce. Mr. Inamori was good at allocating a best position to the one who best fits that function.

I believe, in the era of wind, driving companies or entities are the ones with such diverse human resources to exchange ideas and create chemical reactions.

 

In summary, management in the era of wind is based on the staffs’ mindset, raising high goals, and accepting diverse human resources. Kyocera has been growing as they established values applicable for both the era of earth and the wind.

 

* 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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