Every time I read Inamori’s words, I find how powerful the gratitude is.

We were talking about why gratitude can bring so many great result even in businesses.

Especially, over the JAL revival episode, Inamori shared his story: how gratitude worked to drive JAL’s miracle recovery. The gratitude can be fallen into the following five directions.

1 Gratitude for our lives

2 Gratitude for others (altruism)

3 Gratitude for clients

4 Gratitude for partners

5 Gratitude for changing our lives

 

We will explain 4 and 5

4 Gratitude for partners

When Inamori was about to complete his mission in JAL, his wife told him about an episode that happened three years ago. She went to her doctor and asked him to give her preventive remedies as she should not be ill for the next three years. The doctor did not know the background but promised her to provide his utmost support on her health. She, without any intention, shared this with Inamori and he found this story very beautiful and he was very impressed. He appreciated again the continuous support that his wife had been giving him through all his career as a business management.

 

 

To encounter such a wonderful partner is one of the keys to fulfill our lives.

5 Gratitude for changing our lives

Inamori told once again, what was the key driver for JAL’s miracle recovery. “JAL’s bankruptcy has been the largest default in Japan’s history. Such a miserable company has successfully recovered in only three years and has also become one of the top airline companies in terms of its profitability ratio. What happened to JAL? Did I change all the human resources? No, JAL’s recovery was made by only the staff who decided to live with JAL in its bankruptcy. So, did we install advanced machineries? No, we decided to keep using old ones with careful repair and maintenance. So what was the key driver? I am confident to tell you that only the people’s mindset has pushed such an excellent performance. People focused on purifying their mindset, so that they could change their behavior and consequently, they achieved their goals. I am sure with such a mindset, JAL keeps growing and improving its corporate culture as well as its performance. ”

In Japan, there is a phrase “Do my best by changing my mind.” What we have seen in JAL’s recovery has exactly been an example of this changing mind. If we can change our mindset and behave as if we were completely different people, we would be able to deliver such an amazing goal.

 

 

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

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