On August 24, 2022, Kazuo Inamori, a renowned Japanese entrepreneur, passed away at his home in Kyoto, Japan, at the age of 90. He founded the Kyocera Corporation, a Japanese multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer, and the KDDI Corporation, a Japanese telecommunications operator.
Kazuo Inamori was one of Japan’s leading entrepreneurs following World War II. He was the only entrepreneur who founded two companies that entered the Fortune Global 500 list. At the same time, he was much lauded as the leading light of the Japanese economic miracle based on moral and ethical principles.
An extraordinary entrepreneur and source of native wisdom
Kazuo Inamori was a remarkable entrepreneur, philosopher, and solemn thinker. He leaves his success code and enduring philosophy of life behind for generations to come.
Kazuo Inamori’s thoughts on many aspects of his long and prosperous life
Don’t fear desperate situations
- Only reading and building inner wealth are a person’s greatest pursuits. The former makes people clear-minded, and the latter keeps people focused.
- Maybe your thoughts are too stubborn, and your heart is unyielding: You keep looking down and “rushing,” forgetting to look up at your destiny ahead.
- Maybe you are always filled with doubt and hesitancy. You are overwhelmed, unable to bear the current situation, and powerless to change it.
- There may be times when there is no one you can reach out to for enlightenment, and you have to face the experience all by yourself. So, you might hold back for fear that the cost of trial and failure is too high.
- Water becomes a waterfall when it reaches a desperate situation — the cliff’s edge — and must take that plunge. It is reborn. A person is reborn when he encounters a desperate situation.
Keep on working, improve little by little, suppress anger, and have no time for complaints
- Keep working, learn to suppress anger, and have no time for complaints. Also, work hard day after day and improve one’s personality little by little.
- Life formula = Faith x Personal Ability x Level of Effort.
- What you don’t desire cannot come close to you.
- Turn the ordinary into the extraordinary; this needs “continuity” of effort.
- Career results in life = mode of thinking x enthusiasm x ability.
Life is not a material feast but a cultivation of the soul
- Being poor is not an end; being poor is only a stepping stone. Enduring hardship is not the ability to endure poverty. “Bitterness” is the real taste of life. The essence of being poor and enduring hardship is to foster self-control, perseverance, and the ability to think deeply. This is the essence of suffering.
- Life is not a material feast, but a cultivation of the soul, making it nobler at the curtain call than at the beginning.
- The quickest way to change yourself is to do what you’re afraid of.
- The stupidest behavior in this world is to be anxious for results, and if you can’t get what you want, you will only be more anxious and troubled.
- A rich person who succeeds on his own can often endure hard work and withstand hardships more than a poor person; otherwise, he would not be able to start all over again from nothing.
Altruism: The secret of dignity and self-respect
Kazuo Inamori believed that “altruism” is the way of the universe. A selfish person who only plans to do business for his self-interest and refuses to let go of any profit will be unable to do much business. It’s the same with people; your dignity lies in “seeing others in your eyes,” not starting from yourself in everything.
- Before saying something important, prepare a draft.
- Don’t be afraid, don’t be timid, and speak up bravely for yourself when someone violates your rights.
- When others don’t need you, learn to withdraw your enthusiasm and exit politely.
- Understand that what you cannot get, you must stop further losses promptly. Moderation is the performance of maturity.
- A door that one does not want to open is rude if you keep knocking.
- Don’t live the life of a victim and rush to tell everyone about your misfortune.
- Your experience is a joke in the eyes of others, and growing up is a process of isolation.
- You must believe that if you are valuable enough, others will see it, and you don’t need to prove it with your mouth.
- You may think that reading cannot solve many problems, but you can’t find the problem if you don’t read.
- The most essential thing in life is not to try and change others or ask others to change but to self-reflect, improve oneself, and broaden one’s dimension, pattern, mind, and energy to improve oneself.
Control your heart, and your life will be splendid
Kazuo Inamori believed that a person’s life can only be changed by oneself, and discovering the meaning of life is one’s own business, and no one else can do it. Don’t try to change others. If you can look at yourself, read, think, and improve yourself, your life will start to be strong.
- If a person has a good temperament, appearance, spirit, cultivation, and morality, the person’s aura is magnificent, and these will attract good things and good luck.
- The law of attraction is called the field of thought, what you think, believe, and what kind of aura you have.
- You are sunny, your world is full of sunshine, you are in love, you live in the atmosphere of love, you are happy, you are in laughter.
- You must believe that your life will be brilliant and your heart will create everything. It’s always crowded halfway up the mountain, and you must make an extraordinary effort to reach the top.
- There is a world of difference between a person who writes a good script for himself and a person who lives a mediocre existence. Life is about practice, not leisure. People must have the consciousness of constantly improving themselves.
Kazuo Inamori studied Wang Yangming’s philosophy in depth and refined his philosophy of life and business management based on Chinese Confucianism. The essence of the famous sayings he left behind will influence future generations.
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