Repeat, value and care, – Aline everyone’s aim in the same vector-

Inamori shared his views with Seiwajuku members with regard to this motto: – Direct everyone’s aim in the same vector-, What Inamori mentioned is quoted with “”.

“Every one’s mindset is different. If each one behaves according to his/her own mindset, there is no harmony, our performance ends up messy. If the direction (vector) of each person’s power is not aligned, the power will be dispersed, and the company’s performance as a whole would be limited. This can be clearly seen by looking at team sports such as baseball and football. There is a clear difference in strength between a team where everyone is united in pursuing the victory and a team where each individual looks at each different objective or pursuing his/her own individual goal. When everyone’s strength is concentrated in the same direction, it becomes many times stronger and produces amazing results. One plus one can be five or ten.”

For us to consider this motto, those three are the tips for how to orient every staff in one direction.

1 Keep persuading
2 Appraise strength of staff
3 Release the mental blocks

Let me explain one by one.

1 Keep persuading

Inamori said as follows.
“ People with such different personalities and mindsets are gathered to form and run a single company. It was the hardest mission for me to obtain the consensus among staff: we should follow one corporate policy. In every single occasion to talk with them, I have been telling them, `Hey guys, this is our company’s policy and we should aim at only this direction!’’ Some staff agreed with me while others scenically criticized, ‘This looks totally unrealistic!’ If I speak to 10 staff and 3 disagree, I was talking to them until they agreed with what I said. “

The third of the twelve Management Principles of Inamori is to “Have such a strong desire in your mind that it penetrates into your subliminal mind.” The human subconscious hates changes. Even if you don’t change, it’s better to keep the status quo for good than to challenge by overcoming pressures.

Therefore, unconsciously, people follow familiar approaches and routines. They unintentionally try to find the manuals that were developed many decades ago. However, there is no progress under such an environment. Therefore, I think it is worth talking to the subconscious minds of staff, repeating them day after day, and injecting the energy of top leaders. If the subconscious of staff changes, their behavior will change, leading to creating a different reality.

２　Appraise strength of staff

The other day, I participated in a seminar where Mr. Fujita, Special Director of JAL, made speech. To implement the philosophy and align everyone’s vectors, it is important to repeatedly convey the first point and to appraise the strengths of the staff as well. The law of the universe says that your counterpart must have the same feeling as you have. For instance,

the management thinks to a staff member, ‘I have been explaining so eagerly but he doesn’t want to listen to it. ‘ The staff, on the other hand, thinks in the same way, ‘I have been working so hard, but my boss has never valued my performance.’ Therefore, if you find the staff’s strength and evaluate them, the staff’s feelings will change from negative to positive. If the staff can feel that they have been understood what they are doing, they may feel, ‘Now my has changed and started valuing me, so I think I can listen to what he says.’, Therefore, first of all, I think it is important to appraise the strengths of the staff.”

3 Release the mental blocks.

Inamori also said the following.
“ A stubborn guy doesn’t want to understand what I said but he demonstrated that he understands my philosophy well from the beginning. He doesn’t want to listen to me because his opinions are completely different. No matter how smart and talented he is, I never allowed such a guy to keep working for Kyocera, if he didn’t fit the vector of the company. In other words, if there is even one person in a small group whose vectors do not match the corporate direction, the other people may misunderstand our corporate culture, `Oh, we don’t have to pretend to fit my mindset to the corporate culture to survive in this company. ‘This is not good. That’s why I’ve been very careful about aligning my employees’ vectors.”

Mr. Inamori’s philosophy is a fundamental value standard for us human beings. It overlaps with the laws of the universe. Therefore, if our mindset becomes open, straight forward, and honest, we can accept them as they are. However, it is difficult for us ordinary people to give away all the mindsets and attitudes that we have acquired over the decades.

People who have such preconceptions and habits cannot see all the phenomena in the world with an open mind. Therefore, getting rid of such mental blocks through therapies sometimes works for us to be aware of the fundamental values. By feeling the emotions which are associated with our mental blocks, our preconceptions and behaviors will gradually change.
In doing so, we will be able to find out the love and compassion spreading in our world. This therapy for the mental block is again quite useful to change people’s mindset.

Thus, in summary, directing the vectors of every staff is very difficult. However, communication with patience, appraising strengths of staff, and eliminating our mental blocks would allow us to open our minds. Most importantly, leaders themselves need to take care of their mindset and mental block as well. Thus, I would humbly like to keep caring for my mental and emotional parts with compassion.