when death comes, we have to abandon the position, reputation and property we have earned in this life, and we can only embark on a new journey with our "soul".

in my opinion, the purpose of life is nothing but to make the innate soul better after the baptism and tempering of the worldly storms.

Let the soul at the time of death be more beautiful than the soul at the time of birth, and embark on a new journey with a more beautiful soul. This is my outlook on life.

-kazuo inamori

On July 5, 27, Mr. Lin Yongning, general manager of Tianjin Yiqing Group, a state-owned enterprise, initiated a forum entitled "Sino-Japanese Entrepreneur Exchange Forum-Building a Harmonious Enterprise", and kazuo inamori gave a keynote speech on "Managing with Morality as the Theme".

The full text is more than 8,1 words, and the reading time is expected to be 2 minutes. It is based on the translation by Teacher Yao Xiaoyun, with slight modifications and no deletion.

Reference book: Entrepreneurship, by kazuo inamori, published by Huazhang Company, Machinery Industry Press.

1

Sun Yat-sen's "kingly way" and "overbearing"

Today, I want to talk about my own business experience for half a century with the theme of "business based on morality".

how to govern an organization exists as well as in the political and diplomatic fields. "Governing by strength" and? Two methods of "ruling by virtue" In other words, there are two ways to govern and manage the group: "kingly way" based on morality and "overbearing" based on strength.

The words "kingly way" and "overbearing" were expounded by Sun Wen, the father of China's democratic revolution, when he visited Kobe in 1924. At that time, Japan won the Russo-Japanese War, and then in World War I, the allies to which Japan belongs won again. Japan began to adopt an imperialist national policy.

At that time, in China, Sun Wen was determined to launch a revolution, overthrow the Manchu dynasty, establish a new China, and visit Japan for assistance. Sun Wen asked the Japanese this question:

"The western material civilization is a scientific civilization, but now it has evolved into a military civilization to oppress Asia. This practice, in the old saying of China, is a "hegemonic" culture. We have a' kingly way' culture in East Asia that is superior to hegemonic culture. The essence of kingly way culture is morality, benevolence and righteousness. "

"You Japanese people have the essence of Asian kingly culture while absorbing the hegemonic culture of Europe and America. In the future, Japan will face the future of world culture, whether it will act as a watchdog of western hegemony or become a defender of oriental kingcraft depends on your serious thinking and careful choice. "

unfortunately, Japan did not listen to Sun Wen's advice, and as a result, it plunged into a thousand miles, stuck in a hegemonic position, and continued its national policy of "enriching Qiang Bing" and launched a war of aggression against China and Asian countries, which not only brought great harm to Asian people, but also made many of its own people victims. Most of its land was reduced to ruins and plunged into a tragic situation, and finally it surrendered unconditionally in 1945.

what does Sun Wen mean by "kingly way"? The national policy of "taking morality as the foundation". The so-called "virtue" has been expressed by China since ancient times with the words "benevolence", "righteousness" and "courtesy". "Benevolence" refers to compassion, "righteousness" refers to reasonableness, and "courtesy" refers to knowing etiquette.

A person who has both benevolence, righteousness and propriety is called a virtuous person. "Ruling by virtue" means ruling and managing the group by virtue of noble personality.

2

There is only rule by virtue in enterprise management

I think this principle is also applicable in enterprise management. If enterprises want to continue to prosper and maintain "harmony", operators must implement the policy of "taking morality as the foundation".

Only when operators have noble moral character and win the sincere respect of employees can they effectively establish a "harmonious enterprise", which is in line with the theme of this forum "Building a Harmonious Enterprise".

most enterprises in Europe and America manage their enterprises with hegemony, that is, "strength". For example, use the logic of capital to decide the right of personnel and appointment, or drive employees through financial incentives.

the symbol of "strength" ruling an enterprise is the extremely wide income difference between operators and employees. Compared with ordinary employees, the income of managers of European and American enterprises, including equity, is often surprisingly high. It is not uncommon for the operators of large American enterprises to earn billions of yen a year.

no matter how clever the operators are, it is impossible for enterprises to operate smoothly only by the strategy of leaders. Large enterprises have tens of thousands of employees, and only when each employee works hard in every position every day can enterprises operate normally.

The sales and profits of enterprises are the crystallization of their sweat. Therefore, it is unfair to attribute the operating results of enterprises to individual operators, whose income is hundreds of times higher than that of ordinary cadres and employees. However, many operators feel at ease. The more excellent operators are, the more inclined they are to rely on "strength" to rule enterprises.

however, relying on power to suppress others or relying on money to stimulate employees' desires cannot be built? "Harmonious enterprise". This kind of management, even if it can achieve temporary success, will eventually lead to resistance from employees and expose flaws. Enterprise management must take sustainable prosperity as the goal, and I think only "morality-oriented" management can achieve this goal.

3

Win the respect and love of customers

Moreover, "taking morality as the foundation" is not only applicable within the organization, but also necessary when negotiating with customers. Compared with the methods of playing tricks, grasping the weakness of the other party, bargaining and bullying others, it will be more effective to negotiate and negotiate with reasonable and humanized methods based on "virtue", that is, "benevolence, righteousness and courtesy".

when I was young, I used to sell my own products to customers. People often say, "Credit comes first in business." This statement is naturally true, but I think there is a higher realm in doing business, that is, customers not only trust you, but also respect and admire you from the heart.

if customers respect and admire me, they will buy my products unconditionally, regardless of the price. It is the ideal realm for businessmen to gain the trust and even respect of their guests.

to establish this kind of beautiful relationship with customers and manage the enterprise well, the premise is that the operators must have noble character. With the continuous improvement of managers' personality, enterprises will continue to develop.

4

Management depends on the leader's caliber

In other words, the above viewpoint is expressed: enterprise management depends on the leader's caliber.

No matter how subjectively you want to make the enterprise bigger and better, "crabs only dig holes according to the size of their own shells", and the level of enterprise development depends on the character of the operators, that is, the size of their "capacity".

For example, when the scale of an enterprise is small, it succeeds, but as the scale of the enterprise becomes larger, the operator can't grasp the steering wheel of the operation, which leads to the bankruptcy of the company. Because the operator failed to expand his "quantity" with the expansion of the enterprise scale.

in order to grow and develop, an enterprise first requires its operators to expand their "capacity" accordingly, that is, they should make conscious efforts to constantly improve their own character, philosophy and so-called "way of thinking".

when I was young, I didn't have the "measure" that a good operator needed. When I was young, I was immature in many aspects, but I was a little self-aware. Although it is difficult to correct my shortcomings, I still work hard every day to make progress and grow.

5

Let the concept be improved every day

An operator once told me that he heard me say more than 2 years ago: Looking back on his half life, he is constantly improving his concept every day ".

The operator said, "What you are talking about is not improving business skills, but constantly improving business philosophy, philosophical thinking and way of thinking every day, which makes me deeply moved."

since I was young, I used to put dozens of books about philosophy and religion on my pillow. I had to turn over a few pages every night before going to bed, and I had to turn over one or two pages no matter how late I came home. I do this entirely to improve my character, and I insist on learning the teachings left by the sages every day.

when reading, I am often deeply moved, so I can't stop reading. Draw a line under the tempted sentence and savor it repeatedly. Sometimes it takes 3 to 4 minutes to read a page. In my opinion, if you want to flesh out the wisdom in the book and become a part of yourself, you should pursue it diligently.

I think, because I studied and reflected hard every day when I was young, I summarized every day in my first half of my life as "every day to constantly improve my concept".

I'm not the only one who works so hard. Many operators are the same. So are Mr. Kōnosuke Matsushita, the founder of Matsushita Electric Industry Group, which is also famous in China, and Mr. Tsuichiro Honda, who founded Honda Technology Industry.

6

Panasonic and Honda

More than 3 years ago, "Kyocera" developed smoothly and began to consider listing. At that time, "Kyocera" was still a small and medium-sized enterprise, perhaps not very modest. I went to visit the president of a representative big bank in Japan, hoping to listen to his business philosophy, so as to judge whether to establish business relations with it.

I talked about reading Mr. Kōnosuke Matsushita's works frequently, and I respect him very much. I also want to have the same outlook on life, work and run a business like him, and I said a lot of my own ideas.

The president of that bank knew Mr. Kōnosuke Matsushita when he was young, so I thought he would agree with me. Unexpectedly, he said, "Mr. Kōnosuke Matsushita was headstrong when he was young, and he made a lot of mischief. He was not as young and sophisticated as you." There is sarcasm in the words.

after hearing this, I decided not to do business with this bank. People inevitably have many shortcomings when they are young. The key is whether they can constantly improve their personality in practice. The president of that bank was not interested in it, because he lacked the same language, so I decided not to do business with his bank.

Later, when Mr. Matsushita was in his later years, I was lucky enough to get a chance to talk to him. True to his reputation, he really has a noble personality and is full of insights, and he deserves to be a rare operator in the world.

I think he must have devoted his life to expanding his "measure". Because of this, "Matsushita Electric Industry" can develop into one of the few high-tech enterprises in the world.

so is Mr. Honda. Mr. Shoichiro Honda started out as the owner of an auto repair shop. It is said that he was very grumpy when he was young. Someone at the scene is sloppy, and iron fists and wrenches will fly over immediately.

It is said that he himself said publicly: "When I was young, I became a boss to make money. Why did I make money just for fun?" Every night, singers are invited, drinking and singing, making a lot of noise.

I was fortunate to meet Mr. Tsuichiro Honda in his later years after his success. That year, Mr. Shoichiro Honda, Mr. Masaru Ibuka, the founder of Sony, and I were all elected as foreign members of the Swedish Academy of Sciences and invited to participate in related activities.

In a week or so, I toured all parts of Sweden with Mr. Honda and Mr. Masaru Ibuka, eating and living together, and personally felt Mr. Honda's noble personality. He is gentle, modest and compassionate, which makes it hard to believe the anecdotes of his youth.

I think it is precisely because Mr. Honda has continuously improved his personality that he can create "Honda Technology Research Industry" with his bare hands and develop it into a world-class automobile factory.

7

Practice the teachings of sages

For the phenomenon that the personality of operators and the performance of enterprises are improved at the same time, I use the phrase "improve the mind and expand the operation" to express it. This sentence tells the true essence of management.

if you want to expand your business, the prerequisite is that as an operator, you must improve your mind and personality. If you can do this, the performance of the enterprise will be improved.

to "improve one's mind", it is important not only to learn the teachings of sages as knowledge, but also to practice them.

when I was a child, I learned the Rixin Gong Yi Lu Bo Song, which was a "counting song" written by the feudal lords in Japan to educate their children and facilitate their memory. The first sentence at the beginning is: "The way of sages, after listening to singing but not doing it, is like a cloud to you."

This sentence means: "No matter how good the truth you have read and heard, there is no point in not practicing it yourself. It may be more appropriate to use China's phrase "reading of the analects of confucius didn't understand the Analects of Confucius".

At first glance, seeking the truth from the works of sages in order to improve their minds is all taken for granted and too simple. Many people often think they have mastered it and become their own things after understanding it with their heads, but they don't really understand it because they don't want to put it into practice.

it is difficult to put the correct way of being a man into practice. Sages and gentlemen may be able to do it, but we ordinary mortals, no matter how much we have learned from the sages, are hard to practice. Therefore, since ancient times, there have been "counting songs", which have been sung as exhortations to this day.

what should an ideal self look like? Always paint in your mind, then constantly examine your behavior and make unremitting efforts to get close to this ideal self.

we can't get close to it if we want to approach it, but we can't practice it if we want to practice it. However, even so, we should seriously think and practice it.

In practice, we constantly reflect. It is in this repeated process that we can improve our spiritual realm, improve our mind and become a noble person.

8

Every day, customers study hard to maintain high business personality

Another important thing about "improving mind" is that personality changes.

in order to maintain their physical fitness, athletes must exercise every day. The same is true of the human spirit, which must be cultivated hard to maintain a good state. Even if the personality is improved for a while, once it is slack, it will degenerate.

To pursue noble personality and keep it in an ideal state all the time requires corresponding efforts. If you try to control selfish desires, you must study repeatedly, reflect on your behavior every day, and reflect on whether your words and deeds are against the way of being human.

through such introspection, I must tell myself repeatedly that "this is the right way to behave and do things"! Without such efforts and repeated and profound introspection, it will be difficult for us to maintain our noble personality.

In my opinion, personality consists of two elements, one is innate personality, and the other is acquired philosophy learned in the process of growing up.

on the ups and downs of life, we will encounter all kinds of disasters and be lucky to come. In this process, we can improve our mind and change our innate character through hard work.

That is to say, we can create a noble "second character" through acquired efforts. If we ignore this point, even the operators who have achieved great success for a while will inevitably fall.

people who seem to be excellent at first are often on the road to decline as early as 1 years and as late as 3 years. This is because, at the beginning, they buried themselves in their work and improved their personality, but after their success, they neglected to reflect and did not continue to maintain their noble personality.

there is such a kind.