Keep trying to be better leader, Philosophy “How Kyocera philosophy was developed?3”

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

What Inamori said is quoted with “”.

“ The outlook on life, philosophy, and way of thinking held by top management determines everything. In the end, a company can be developed suitable to the top leaders’ personality. A crab digs a hole fitting its shell.

So, the company will never grow much larger than the managerial capability of its top leader.

If you want to make your company and your life great, there is no other way than to improve your humanity and keep endeavoring to be a better person. ”

To keep improving our humanitarian values, which we have as a top leader, we may have to keep the following three mottos in our mind.  

Let me explain one by one

1. Strive yourself much harder than anyone else

“ I told the second and third generation leaders, `Since you succeeded such wonderful companies, you must work hard, and make the company larger.’ Many people say, `Yes, I have already been working hard’, I feel he/she does not understand what I meant so I asked him/her again.

’Are you really working much harder than anyone else?’  I feel it is extremely difficult to keep striving yourself much harder than anyone else. “

→ I think this is one of my weaknesses. I am unintentionally convincing myself: this is enough and now you can stop your endeavor. The saying goes: “ What you like you will do well”.

So I would like to bring my passion to love my work until I can seek solutions on my projects even while I am sleeping.

2. Build the trust

“ Kyocera was founded with a capital of 3 million yen, but at the time I only had 15,000 yen. Even that 15,000 yen was necessary to support my family, so I did pay no yen to the capital. The capital of 3 million yen is the fund that I received from people who believed in technology that I had been studying. Those who provided funds at that time told me, `We believe in your technology, and we will invest and create a company. You don’t have to pay a single penny. We will convert your technology into capital,” and gave me the shares. I became the largest shareholder.

But I didn’t buy the stock with my own money. The people who provided the money put my name under the shareholder list, as the largest shareholder. That’s how I raised the initial capital. We didn’t create the company just for seeking profit. “

→ I think ,due to Mr. Inamori’s personality, those who are not very close to Inamori are willing to invest in Kyocera. I think only when we are working so hard , we can get unexpected help from the Gods. I also believe that this kind of additional support can only be obtained when you are honest and work hard for others.

In order to earn this kind of trust as Inamori did, I would like to do my best with the mindset of being humble and not arrogant.”

3. Keep reflecting your behavior

” It is important to always maintain a humble attitude, knowing that something great gives us missions in this world and keeps us alive. By sharing such a mindset, the workplace must be run with high efficiency while aligning the vectors of the group and maintaining a good atmosphere of linkage among our mindsets.

In order to foster this wonderful corporate culture, top leaders themselves must maintain a humble attitude. ”

→ There is a phrase that often appears in the Kyocera Philosophy, “Only those who are humble can be blessed.” When something goes well and you make a profit, you become arrogant and believe you are the most competent. When you become arrogant, you need to objectively look at yourself and say, “Oh, poor you… you are now getting quite arrogant because of the good result of one assignment.”.

We must continue to reflect on it every day. This objective reflection prevents us from getting arrogant.   

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

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