“When I got into JAL management as the chairman, one of the tough parts is ‘educating top management.’ In other words, how to implement the business philosophy to them. The majority of philosophy consists of the ethical values and disciplines. They are somehow like words and phrases that mothers tell their children. So those top leaders with excellent educational backgrounds tend to look down on those philosophies and they did not want to conduct those practices.” Mr. Inamori*, the honorary chairman of Kyocera, shared his experiences with Seiwajuku members.
Nick, who used to be a member of the Kyocera management board, shared the episode of Mr. Inamori. Those stories tell how to train and educate those elite staffs and how to orient them to spontaneously conduct business philosophies.
The fundamental tips are as follows:
1 Understanding the justice (value standards) of that staffs
2 Helping the staff to release his emotions
3 Communicating your feelings instead of blaming him
4 Never fail to give compliment for the good performance
Let me explain one by one. I would like to refer to Nick’s words with “”.
1 Understanding the justice (value standards) of that staffs
“… Mr. Inamori completely helped to change my value standard and mindset that were formed in the environment in which I grew up. …I realize that ‘Interactions I had with Inamori actually changed my mindset’. With close friends or colleagues, we tend to have arguments and disagreements. What I am sticking to is the justice which is justified only under my self-consciousness. It is self-consciousness to insist that my argument is correct. Thus, we may naturally tend to stick with the ideas “That should be like this” or “I am totally correct”. I don’t want to get my self-consciousness hurt, so everyone sticks to their opinions. Everyone defends his sense of justice. We sometimes learn compromise, flexibility, and respecting others. I learned such an attitude while working with Mr. Inamori.
>>> different from the dictatorship, in Kyocera there have been opportunities where staff demonstrate their opinions. At least, we can assume there has been a mood where people exchange their ideas. Nick said when he joined Kyocera, every day after 5:00 pm, Inamori spent his time talking with Nick over what Nick did, how he felt and what he believed to be justified. This is very important to develop mutual trust and have elite staff be open to leaders’ opinions.
2 Helping the staff to release his emotions
When Nick was told by the company that he didn’t have to come to the office anymore …
“I was surprised, but I thought it couldn’t be helped, but my adoptive father asked Mr. Inamori ,’Please do not lose my face.’ Mr. Inamori understood and called me again. When he asked, “Would you like to come back, Nick?”, I answered, “I want to do my best,” but Mr. Inamori was not convinced with my words. I knew I hadn’t changed yet. Then we talked a lot. In the end, I said, “Thank you for thinking about me so much.” Then I shed tears. At that time, Mr. Inamori said, “OK, Nick, you should come back.”
>>> To release emotions, it is good to shed tears. Emotional release is actually undertaken with tears. A staff sticks to his prejudices because when his pride is hurt, he feels sad, regrettable, miserable, anxious, and scared. By releasing all of those emotions, the staff can realize the truth. The truth is that neither the president nor anyone else in the company intends to hurt Nick. Everyone thinks of and cares Nick. Everything starts with releasing emotions. First the staff looks at his internal minds, faces himself and notices his feelings.
Further queries or doubts, please email to ytomizuka@abrilsjp.com
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- Tags
- elite, engagement, Inamori Kazuo, Kyocera
