Story: Influenced
Who is your influenced person in your life?
e.g. parents, teacher, close friends, etc…
I understand each response. In my case, it is Dr. Kazuo Inamori who is a Japanese philanthropist, entrepreneur and the founder of Kyocera and KDDI. He was the chairman of Japan Airlines.
He passed away on August 24th, 2022.
To be honest, I did not know about Kazuo Inamori when I lived in Japan. I met a person who respects Dr. Kazuo Inamori so much and he introduced his philosophy to me. Since then, I am learning his philosophy, thinking purpose of life and trying to improve work-life fulfillment.
I cannot mention all his philosophies here. It is too deep. I picked up what I am impressed with. If you want to read more, please visit his official website below.
Reference: Official Website of Kazuo Inamori – Kyocera
The Result of Our Life or Work= Attitude×Effort×Ability
This philosophy gives me hope as an ordinary person. I am not smart. I don’t have much ability/talent. However, I can achieve goals if I keep my passion and a good attitude(behavior/thinking).
Attitude/behavior/thinking(-100 to +100) ✕ Effort/passion(0 to 100) ✕ Ability/Talent(0 to 100) = Result of work/life
This formula is elementary school math. Effort/passion and ability count from 0 to 100. Each person has a different ability/talent. Some people may have physical issues. Some people may not be good at studying. These are congenital and count from 0 to 100. We cannot do much about ability, but effort/passion depends on us. In addition, the point is that attitude/behavior/thinking multiplies on top of it. Attitude/behavior/thinking counts from -100 to +100. If a person is negative/evil attitude/behavior/thinking, the result is everything a negative number.
This philosophy was attracted to me when I first time learned about Dr. Inamori.
Always Be Humble, not arrogant, double effort
If I say I am humble, people say, so what? There is no persuasive. This philosophy works for successful people, like mulch millionaires or billionaires. If Dr. Inamori was American, he could be a billionaire. Dr. Inamori is that kind of level, but it rarely happens in Japan.
He was very humble in his life. Because he knew how people fail in their life after people achieved certain success. The person does not realize you become arrogant. Unconscious arrogance is the beginning of life collapsing, he said.
His beliefs/core: The noblest behavior of humanity is for the world, for the people
You may think this is a cliche. We know the words, but we do not act like this. Dr. Inamori dedicated his life to following this motto. Established DDI(KDDI) for Japanese citizens, founded Kyoto awards for researchers, taught philosophy to small business owners for the society, helped JAL without salary for 3 reasons, donated to the universities in the United States and Japan, established a care facility for the children who do not have parents, etc.
His contribution to society is much much more. I don’t surprise even if he is horned the highest citizen award from the Japanese government.
Maintain an Ardent Desire That Permeates Your Subconscious Mind
Simply says, life is what you think/believe. Most successful people say this. Because it is undeniably true. Most people do not succeed. Because they just hope, not strong will. A strong will influences your behavior/choice every single day. You will take action because of will.
For instance, the world’s most well-known entrepreneur, Elon Musk the founder, CEO, and Chief Engineer at SpaceX; angel investor, CEO, and Product Architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; and co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI. How is this situation happen with only 1 person in 20 years? Of course, he is a world-class engineer. Of cause, a lot of talented people are working at these companies. In the beginning, it is only 1 reason/cause, his tremendous strong will.
I have not read it yet, but it mentions the book, Good to Great. Most good people/companies cannot be great. Because they lose desire once they achieve their goal, stop growth, and stop willing. Stay comfort zone. No one can deny Dr. Inamori’s philosophy. Because of his achievements.
Kyocera = $14.353B
KDDI = $49.938B
JAL = $0.68B
*JAL was not founded by Dr. Inamori. He helped JAL after bankrupted in 2010.
The present is made by the past effort. The future will be made by the current effort.
This is related to the previous philosophy, be humble. Once people succeed, they do relax. They don’t do an effort like when they did do so during the early stage of the company. The CEO forgets a sense of urgency. Some CEO changes their attitude after success, such as being rude, misusing the company’s profit, and manipulating accounting. The Subordinate sees the attitude and follows it too. In the end, this behavior spoils the entire organization. We can see this situation in global companies in the world.
Dr. Inamori did not stop effort in life. He did succession the company to the next generation quickly, not to the family, fyi. After the succession, he taught his philosophy to the small business owner as a volunteer. He celebrated researchers who contributed to society’s progress at the Kyoto awards. He built a facility for children who do not have parents or have complex family issues. He donated his fortune to universities to develop the next engineer. He helped the reconstruction of JAL(Japan Airlines) as a volunteer, with no salary for 3 years. Never-ending contribution lists.
Why Dr. Inamori could do it? Because his beliefs/core is the noblest behavior of humanity is for the world, for the people. He sacrificed himself to others without requiring any return. I can see many successful people in the United States, but Dr. Inamori is a quite different successful person. He was the true/noble leader.
Your ability does not your personal belongings
I had never heard these words in my life. Society is made by various people and there is no same person in the world. Everyone is different. I don’t know how to explain it accurately, but some people win and some people lose. It is the rules.
He realized that he has a talent for management, and leadership when Kyocera was growing rapidly. He had confidence in engineering, but there was no experience in management or accounting. So, why me?, Dr. Inamori asked himself.
According to his philosophy, society needs a leader in a certain percentage at each area. God randomly distributed the ability to the people. It might be me, but there is no reason Dr. Inamori had to have an ability. Person A, B, and C, everyone is fine if someone had an ability in the area.
“If I think so, I cannot use my ability for myself. I have to use it for society.”, Dr. Inamori said.
Be thankful
Appreciate what you already have. Human desire is endless. For the benefit, it drives progress in society, but it has contrast. For instance, once you got $1M, you want more money even though you have enough. Then, you forget the ethics.
A small business owner has enough money for the rest of their life. It brakes their business growth. Avoiding paying taxes equals trying to stop business growth. Dr. Inamori had never stopped growth. Because he decided company’s mission in the third year of Kyocera.
Pursue the spiritual and physical well-being of all employees, while contributing to the progress of humanity and society.
He pursued to keep growing for employees, for society, not for himself, in his life. He accomplished it and completed his life with the most beautiful soul that he hoped.
Conclusion: Appreciation
I am lucky Japanese as same as Dr. Kazuo Inamori. I could see him in the very late stage of his business life, in 2014. I participated in his study meeting and I felt that how he was respected by business owners. His philosophy saved a lot of business owners and their employees. I had never felt that kind of atmosphere. This was an unforgettable experience in my life.
In Asia, a lot of people are learning Dr. Inamori’s philosophy beyond nationality. If you don’t know Dr. Inamori, Please visit his website. You may know it, but you may not live what the philosophy says. Let’s keep learning!
