This time, Inamori* spoke about the above motto in Kyocera philosophy.
What Inamori said is quoted with “”.
“ The more material people have, the more selfish, egoistic and aggressive the people become. However, this way of thinking creates conflicts between egos, and it humpers people to conduct so-called teamwork. If you become arrogant and proud of your own abilities and small successes, you won’t either get the cooperation of those around you, or improve your personality.
Therefore, to align the vectors of the group and operate the workplace at the highest level of efficiency while maintaining a good corporate culture, it is important to maintain a humble attitude, recognizing that you can perform well simply because people surrounding you support you. ”
Mr. Inamori said that this is a particularly important motto for business owners.
I think the following things are necessary to acquire humility.
1. Maintain a good mood by yourself.
2. Feel something great : Gods, Buddhism, and nature.
3. See the person who makes you angry as a mirror of yourself.
Let me explain one by one.
1. Maintain a good mood by yourself.
“ For business leaders, this becomes more important as their company grows. Even small and medium-sized business owners become arrogant as soon as they start making a little profit, but we must keep this in our mind: arrogance never brings further development to your company. “
→ Some leaders try to have staff respect towards those leaders. They specifically exaggerate how much they are caring for their staff. “I did this to you, and I also did that to you guys!” Those guys probably wanted affirmation as they are important and respectful leaders for staff.
It’s important to do your best for your employees, but if you do it reluctantly or against your will, what you do may end up simply showing off your generosity: giving staff a pressure to respect you. Your action directly asks your staff to be thankful or demonstrate gratitude.
In case I feel that I am seeking a sort of reward towards what I have been doing, I try to take some time to relax, comforting myself with good food and drink, and saying words of praise to myself to keep me in a good mood. In this way, I can be aware of the behavior that unconsciously forces the staff to recognize my efforts.
2. Feel something great : Gods, Buddhism, and nature.
“ Even though God has made your company profitable and great, if the leader loses his humility and becomes arrogant, your company will quickly start underperforming. Please keep in mind that you must always remain humble. ”
→ Earthquakes and natural disasters cannot be controlled by humans. At the same time, I believe that it is not possible for each individual to greatly influence the world’s economy. Additionally, when you are exposed to nature, you can feel something great which has given lives to everything in this universe.
In this way, I think it is important to constantly feel something great that is beyond our control, to realize that each one of us has no power to dominate the world and to stay away from arrogance.
3. See the person who makes you angry as a mirror of yourself.
” At the same time, we business leaders must encourage our staff to be humble. If section managers and general managers are arrogant or directors are overbearing, there would be no teamwork and the team would never be on the same page.
It is very important that the higher your position is, the more humble you become, get to know your employees, talk to them about your dreams for work, and work hard to create a great corporate culture in the workplace.
When both managers and staff acquire this kind of “humble attitude,” great interpersonal relationships are built within the company, and based on these, the company is sure to achieve their business goals. ”
→ If arrogant leaders or young staff appear in your workplace, you must see him/her as a mirror of yourself. People who bother you have something that stimulates your inferiority complex. I would also like to think carefully about why I get upset with that person.
I would like to face directly whether I have a strong desire to be recognized, or whether I have a fear or anxiety of losing the trust among my staff.
In summary, we, as business leaders, can always look at ourselves objectively and maintain a sense of humility by controlling our own stress, being exposed to nature and Shintoism/ Buddhism, and we must spontaneously see others as our own mirrors. Those are tips to stay away from arrogance.
* Mr. Kazuo Inamori, the founder of Kyocera, KDDI (one of the top tele communication companies in Japan) and the top of revitalization project of JAL. As a well-known Japanese entrepreneur, he has been sharing his experiences and management know-how with managements of small to middle companies in Japan.
Further queries or doubts, please email to ytomizuka@abrilsjp.com
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