Competency Oriented

Inamori has been sharing with Seiwajuk workshop members one of Kyocera principles, –competency oriented- What Inamori said is quoted with “”.

“The most important thing in business administration is whether or not each organization is headed by a truly capable person. Most competent and capable people are respected and trusted as leaders and are willing to devote themselves for the team/ staff. They also lead the development of a corporate culture under which people can realize their fulfillment in both mental and material conditions. If an organization is managed under such a principle, it would be empowered and create a positive energy circulation among staff. In Kyocera, it’s not about seniority or career, but the highly trusted personality as a leader has been valued in our working environment.”

In bringing this motto to our workplaces, we should keep in mind the following two points : 1 What is leadership competency, 2 Avoiding nepotism.

Let me explain one by one.

1 What is the leadership competency,

Inamori said as follows.

“ Even though we bring a family-like atmosphere in our corporate culture, the head of the organization must be competent enough to perform his duties humbly. He must also be respectable and trustworthy as a human being. Having people with such abilities enables team members to look in the same direction and the team can ultimately achieve its business goals. If an incompetent person oversees a team simply due to his working years, the organization will sooner or later collapse. Most of the staff must have suffered from the hardship.”

→　Highly competent people are generally ruthless and force others to overestimate their contribution and value their capabilities. Additionally, a smart guy always tends to survive competition to be screened as a winner by using strategies and tactics. An elite who graduated from a good university and works for a blue-chip company tends to be too egoistic and protect his personal interests from the work outcome. This is the type of person Mr. Inamori described as “fake intelligentsia” and never brought such a guy to Inamori’s team no matter how brilliant a career he demonstrates.

Even if they are competent, they should not be leaders. So, what is “competence”? We must think about this. I think that people who devote themselves to aligning the vectors of their colleagues and do their best for the fulfillment of all employees both physically and mentally, are said to have good personalities.

2 Avoid nepotism.

Inamori continued.

“ Kyocera has a motto: family-like corporate culture. This does not necessarily mean putting an incapable person in a management position simply due to his working years. Be careful in selecting the best person as the top management. If you make mistakes in this decision, the entire company will definitely face the risk of collapse. This can be the same as all of your family members having a very hard time surviving. I believe that no one wants to put your family under such risks. So we must avoid such a disaster. “

This kind of seniority-based evaluation and nepotism are rampant not only in Japan, but all over the world. Nepotism easily causes fraud and corruption. Under such an environment, people get less motivated and do not want to commit themselves to working hard. However, even under such an unpleasant environment, we must avoid getting spoiled as do other colleagues surrounding us. We must take the so-called “the High Road”. Despite nepotism, we must keep the following in our mind and work hard.

・ Strive ourselves much harder than anyone else.

・ Always be bright and positive, work with honest and open minds as well as with dreams and hopes.

・ Have courage against injustice, illegality, and dishonesty.

・ Respect and follow the rules of the universe.

・ Do the right things as a human being

・ Harmonize with the will of the universe.

Capability oriented evaluation is quite important. However, we should deliver the maximum output in business by integrating all the energies of our staff. Thus, we evaluate leaders based on personality and develop a corporate culture where people spontaneously work hard to achieve our goals: realizing the all-staff’s fulfillment in mental and material.