Ruthlessness creates resilience

Inamori explained that we should never use flattering to motivate staff since it never works in that objective rather spoil trainees. What Inamori said is quoted with “”.

“I believe that the basis of interpersonal relationships is love. But this should not be the one like blindly trusting one party. In the relationship between a boss and a subordinate, a boss who accepts everything raised by his staff looks compassionate, but at the end of the day, he just merely spoils that staff. We call this fake virtue. It is said that ” a fake virtue resembles a principal sin”. Such superficial affection makes the staff unhappy. Conversely, a boss who has convictions and gives strict guidance to his staff may be found to be a nasty guy but in the long term, his subordinates will improve a lot in various areas. We call this a great virtue. True love is a rigorous determination of what is really good for the other person. “

It’s actually hard to conduct such a great virtue in our daily business practice. However, if you pay attention to the following, for example, I think we could easily deliver great virtue in our business scenes.

1 Rebuke exactly when the bad practice is seen

2 Consider the universal laws, reasons and senses

3 Reflect yourself everyday

I would like to elaborate a bit more while quoting Mr. Inamori’s words.

1 Rebuke exactly when the bad practice is seen

Mr. Inamori rebuked so harshly that his staff could not even stand on his foot. Inamori also reiterated do not wait to rebuke your guys until you have a quiet moment with those who committed poor business practice. Sometimes, people avoid rebuking staff in front of others but this never works. It seems that Mr. Inamori kept rebuking staff on site and on the spot, not putting “the rebuking” later, even though he had to push another schedule back. Presumably, this is because Inamori always believes that guiding that staff is the most important thing to do for that staff to be a better person.

Inamori also said as follows.

“On the other hand, it goes ’good guidance resembles ruthless action. This means that giving a severe guidance looks superficially like being harsh to the other. However, over the long term, such severeness allows that person to mature in many ways. Other proverbs say, ` if you love your children, send them out into the world‘, or ‘A lion pushes cubs into the valley, and raises only those that crawl up from the bottom.’ Even though the actions look cruel, they work over the long term to train and educate people. Actions that can be seen as ruthless are eventually turned into great guidance.”

I assume that Mr. Inamori reiterated to his people why it was fundamentally wrong. Inamori also carefully gave guidance taking into account the lifetime career of his staff.

2 Consider universal laws, reasons, and senses

Mr. Inamori mentioned why rebuking staff is so important by referring to the corporate principles of IBM. They used an example of wild ducks to explain the importance of rigorously training employees. Wild ducks must survive the winter by feeding themselves. However, because they relied on humans to be fed, they were not able to find enough food to survive and starved to death. IBM referred to this episode to demonstrate how to train their staff.

Under the laws of the universe, it is obvious that parents die before their children.
Those born first die first. Given this law, I think the goal of raising children is to have them survive by themselves. Of course, children can survive by stealing others. However, stealing never mentally fulfills them. As a parent, you need to think about how your child can be fulfilled and completed in both mental and material. I think parents must think about what is necessary for that goal. Therefore, parents need support to develop the mental resilience in their children. Thus, it is important to tell them how to manage their egoistic desires and to overcome hardships.

Mr. Inamori said as follows.

“I thought I had to treat my employees with compassion, but sometimes I had to harshly rebuke them. I tell myself that I should never allow those who damage the company where diligent and honest staff have been committed to the growth. Lack of courage in top leaders may lead the company to bankruptcy. Pretending to be a compassionate leader and letting those bad guys exploit the important corporate resources may definitely lead to disaster. When you need to rebuke, you should immediately take action. Consider what is the right action to be taken based on the long-term view. I have been telling this to myself”

Thinking about the laws and mechanisms of the universe and acting along with those laws may allow leaders to make the right decisions.

3 Reflect

Leaders need to severely rebuke employees but on the other hand, they may be aware of themselves blaming “Look at you, are you sure to be a good person to blame your staff? ” Therefore, I believe that Mr. Inamori parallelly stresses the importance of self-reflections. “Reflect on what you have done, while continuing to endeavor to be a better person.” Inamori has been telling this to business leaders.

In summary, rebuking staff at the moment when the bad practice was found, thinking about the laws of universe, and always reflecting on yourself, I think those attitudes are good guidance for leaders to make the best decisions.