What is the High Road? -authenticity, goodness and beauty-

Inamori spent some time demonstrating to Seiwajuku workshop members the principle, -respect and follow the universal rules-. His words were referred with “”.

“Since its foundation, Kyocera has made all decisions according to principles that come from the high road. If the top management of a company is not logical and does something unethical, the company would sooner or later be exposed to the risk of survival. We do not rely on so-called common senses or prevailing benchmarks or practices in the industry which we belong to. Guys, be cautious of so called common senses or prevailing mindset: this is standardized practice in our industry. “

This is a quite important message. For us to conduct this principle in our daily business practices, I feel we may keep in mind the following two steps.

1 Abandon boilerplates

2 Figure out universal rules

Let me elaborate on those points.

1 Abandon boilerplates

People have been taught so-called answers and approaches that we should take when it comes to problem-solving. We call such attitudes “boilerplates”.

Master Yamaguchi of Aikido, the master of Okinawa Aikikai says,

　“Don’t seek manuals or formats.”

At school, children are taught manuals, guides, and ‘answers’.
But manuals and answers don’t work if they face a challenge that they’ve never encountered before. What we rely on is the laws of the universe.
That is the principle we find in nature where water flows from the high to the low.
It is important to learn such natural laws and make our bodies flexible.

Such an appropriate response cannot be learned over the QA sessions provided by schools.
That’s why it’s important to abandon manuals or formats that we have acquired so far.
What Mr. Inamori mentioned we must be careful about is the common sense of the world, the prevailing practices in the industry. We call it “boilerplate”. When we get used to learning those boilerplates, we unintentionally seek answers and patterns in our daily life. We may end up using those old-fashioned boilerplates to the situation where no one has sought the solution. Master Yamaguchi says, ” We got stuck in finding a solution as we were so obsessed with implementing manuals and templates that we are familiar with.”
So, if we realize that so-called boilerplates never work, what should we do?
Inamori shared the compass that he has relied on in his business administration. This is the principle of the universe, in other words, the law of nature, that we are going to explain as the second point.

2 Figure out universal rules

Mr. Inamori said as follows.
“Whether it is organizational management, financial strategy, or the distribution of profits, regardless of the domain where your business belongs to, as long as we make decisions based on the natural laws, we will never be misled. Even under an environment which is totally new to us, we can for sure make the right and correct decisions. Given the impact of our decision, top leaders never make wrong decisions. Leaders must make judgments based on the criteria “What is the right thing to do as a human being?”. This is what I call following and respecting the natural law. This is exactly the same as the Kyocera Philosophy itself. Our philosophy is precisely a fundamental principle and therefore, that has been applied for decades over many countries. ” , Inamori said.

‘Doing the right thing as a human being’ is an action that a human being performs with a clear mind and purified heart.
A clear mind is the one that resonates with the will of the universe.
The will of the universe is full of love, sincerity and harmony.

It is represented by “authenticity, goodness, and beauty.”
This means that those which are in accord with the will of the universe are always genuine, good and beautiful.

Therefore, everything that fits these laws of the universe must have the following features: no false, full of good intentions, and something to move and impress people with aesthetic values.
In the Kyocera Philosophy, Mr. Inamori repeatedly stresses the importance of the spirit and mindset. I think he wants to share the fundamental attitudes towards successful business administration.

In summary, it is important to make decisions based on the natural laws. To do this, first forget the so-called boilerplates then, look at issues from the standpoint of authenticity, goodness, and beauty. Those are keys to making the right decision.