Be always challenging! Self-encouragement of your challenge.

This time, Mr. Inamori talks as follows in “Kyocera Philosophy” under the title of having a spirit of challenge. The words in brackets are Mr. Inamori’s words.

“Generally speaking, people are reluctant to challenge new things. They are happy with the status quo. However, this can be interpreted as the commencement of the retreat.”

“Challenge means setting high goals and constantly creating something new while breaking the status quo. The word ‘challenge’ pleasantly implies courage, but it sometimes requires evidence as well. In other words, challenge is always accompanied by difficulties, perseverance and hard work. For example, Kyocera has overcome a lot of difficulties and accomplished creating new technologies which people believed that Kyocera could never achieve. So, such challenging spirits have driven Kyocera as we are today.”

It is important to have a challenging spirit. However, people can hardly have it. For us to always have a challenging spirit, I think the following mottos are important.

Let me explain one by one.

1 Support those who are challenging

Mr. Inamori further talks about the challenge as follows.

“It sounds cool to say that we are going to challenge project A. However, it means we are about to fight with a spirit similar to martial arts. We, like a boxer who is about to challenge the title match, must devote ourselves to perseverance and effort, no matter how hard our training would be. ”

→ Obviously, not all people can keep such devotion. But please bear in mind that we can support those who are pushing hard themselves like top athletes. By looking around, we can easily find someone who is always striving hard and taking on various challenges. While supporting those hard workers, we might spontaneously be able to share their mentality, and challenge spirit would naturally be transmitted to us as well. Thus, sending enthusiastic ale to our friends would also allow us to cheer us up to get ready for new challenges as well.
Let me tell you about the episode of Egashira 2:50, an eccentric Japanese comedian. He made a welcome speech at the new year opening ceremony of Yoyogi animation school. Even though his challenges had looked so silly and ridiculous, students found Egashira’s speech to be poignant. After all, I learned from this episode, earnestness and sincerity definitely move people and we can for sure have supporters who encourage our challenges.

2 Learn the art of falling safely-rolling- in martial arts: ukemi

Mr. Inamori talks about challenges and failures.

“Trying without any preparation may lead you to a huge failure, so unless you are the type of person who will overcome any obstacles and keep trying, don’t take on the challenge.”

→ Mr. Mitsuo Aida, a calligrapher, described ukemi-falling- in judo as `the practice of falling down in front of others.’ So the practice of falling down can be embarrassing or even humiliating for athletes. However, you can prevent injuries by practicing ukemi. You can also learn the flexibility to follow your counterpart. Furthermore, Ukemi allows your mentality to get stronger. It is no exaggeration to say that ukemi is everything in Japanese martial arts. I think that this will grow through falling practice. The practice of falling would definitely train our body and mind to overcome any difficulties.

3 Get rid of our pride

Mr. Inamori also talks about the challenge.

“A challenge is something like a struggle, and I think you can also describe it as barbarism. Sophisticated and well-educated people may not take on any challenges, to avoid any failures. However, when those well-educated and barbarians fight each other, from a cultural view point, I think the educated ones would win due to knowledge they had already acquired. But in fact barbarians are stronger because they have a more fighting spirit. We need fighting spirits and desire for victory as do those barbarians.”

→ Top leaders must keep in their mind not to stay cool, smart, and clever. Those who are respected most are the ones who can endure the negative comments or criticism towards them, in order for them to protect their employees or customers. ‘ I don’t care how people see . I don’t pay any attention to how ugly I do look’

The reason why leaders can’t take on challenges is the fear of failures. They would lose their pride, trust, and popularity in case the challenges end up unsuccessful. If that’s the case, I think it’s important to realize that they would never lose anything even when they fail. Supporting others, learning, falling, and getting rid of prides may work to empower leaders’ minds even under the worst-case scenarios.

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

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