Recently, the Japanese media reported the death of Kazuo Inamori, and netizens sighed with emotion, saying that this is the end of an era. The four characters Kazuo Inamori are known to everyone in the Chinese and Japanese business circles.
First, he single-handedly created two Fortune 500 companies, and at the age of 78, at the age of 78, he took over the bankrupt JAL, and brought JAL back to life in just one year.
He is also known as one of Japan's "Four Saints of Management", and his business philosophy is regarded as a guide by countless entrepreneurs, even Ma Yun and Ren Zhengfei are his loyal fans. So have you heard of his daimyo? And how did he become "holy"?
In this issue, the founder's observation will take you to review Kazuo Inamori's "road to sanctification".
The birth of the god of management
Kazuo Inamori was born in Kagoshima City in 1932, but his life was not smooth, he was tested for tuberculosis as a child, often failed junior high school and high school exams, and finally entered a university, and after graduation, he joined a factory on the verge of closure.
Failure to pay salaries demoralized employees, strikes became commonplace, and other university students who came at the same time had left to find another way, leaving only Kazuo Inamori to hold on.
It's not that he doesn't want to leave, but his family situation no longer allows him to waste time on finding a job, and when he is cornered, Kazuo Inamori can only advance and retreat with the company, and he moves his bed to the laboratory and devotes himself to product development.
Not only day and night are reversed, but I can't even take care of eating. Finally, the emperor paid off, and he made a major breakthrough in research and development, successfully synthesizing magnesium peridot, which was unprecedented in Japan. This allowed the company to harvest a large number of orders and get out of endangerment.
This success greatly increased Inamori Kazuo's confidence, and soon after leaving the factory, he founded Kyoto Ceramics Co., Ltd. on his own, at the age of 27. Today, Kyocera is one of the world's top 500 companies.
Looking back at the 55-year history, Kyocera has not had an annual loss, the average profit margin has always been above 10 percent, and Kyocera's internal reputation is also excellent, because they pay attention to humanitarianism, and have not fired a single employee since their establishment.
Kazuo Inamori fell in love with China on his first visit in 1975 and came back several times to establish a deep friendship with China. In 1983, Kazuo Inamori founded "Mori Wajuku", an entrepreneurial learning organization.
So far, it has a history of 30 years, and there are more than 9,000 related enterprises, including nearly 100 enterprises, after learning Kazuo Inamori business philosophy, applying it to corporate practice, and finally successfully listed, Kazuo Inamori is also known as Japan's "god of management".
The richest man who does not love money
In 1984, Japan opened up the telecommunications industry, 52-year-old Kazuo Inamori seized the opportunity to establish the second telecommunications, and now has become the world's top 500 enterprises, ranking second among Japanese telecommunications companies.
The establishment of the Kyoto Prize and the establishment of the Inamori Foundation to recognize those who have contributed to mankind and to fund outstanding scientific researchers, which is also known as the "Nobel Prize of Asia" because of its great influence.
In 1985, when the Chinese government organized a delegation to Japan to inspect the Kyocera company, Kazuo Inamori was introducing solar cells, and without saying a word, he expressed his willingness to donate a set to China and promote the joint research and development of this project between Japan and China.
In 1997, during a physical examination, Kazuo Inamori was diagnosed with stomach cancer, but he only frowned for a moment, did not panic too much, and after making a secret decision, he continued to the next place to give a lecture and had some drinks with some local students.
Then I went home and went to bed. However, it didn't take long for him to retire to the second line and become only an honorary president, and he took refuge in Buddhism from then on. After surgery, he spent all his time on philanthropy and speaking around the world.
His only purpose is to let more people know about Kyocera and pass on the management methods of benevolence and giving back to society. "A gentleman loves money and has a way" is a phrase he often puts on his lips.
Today, money worship is rampant, and he will do anything to get rich overnight, which he does not want to see, and he wants to change this society in his own way. In 2001, Kazuo Inamori set up an incentive fund program in China.
Every year, 20 years after sponsoring hundreds of poor university students in western China to help them complete their studies, the project is still running normally. As for Kazuo Inamori, Ren Zhengfei said bluntly: "He is a role model, I can't catch up with him, I can only follow him."
In 2009, Kazuo Inamori was invited to give a lecture at Tsinghua University, where an entrepreneur compared Google to Kyocera and asked him who Chinese companies should learn from.
Faced with this problem, Kazuo Inamori smiled and said: "In terms of management, we should learn from Western countries, but the financial crisis also started in the West, and it is difficult to distinguish the falsehood.
Therefore, I think that in terms of business thinking and philosophy, everyone including me should learn from the Chinese sages." This answer immediately made the scene thunderous applause, this remark is also his business philosophy.
The entrepreneurial approach of the god of management
On January 19, 2010, Japan Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection in the Tokyo court, which also meant that JAL had run out of water. In order to give JAL a glimmer of life, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama personally came to the door and invited the "god of management" Kazuo Inamori to come out of the mountain.
He could leave other companies alone, but JAL couldn't, it was the "wing" of the whole of Japan, and Kazuo Inamori decided to go out to save this endangered company. At this time, he was 78 years old, and many people advised him to leave this matter alone.
I was afraid that he would "not be guaranteed late in the festival", but Kazuo Inamori disagreed and made two demands, one was not to be paid, to be a chairman with zero salary, and the other was not to bring his own team, and after Yukio Hatoyama agreed, he took office directly.
Unexpectedly, Kazuo Inamori turned JAL into a profit in just one year, and created the highest annual profit in JAL's history - 188.4 billion yen, which also made JAL have the capital to recover from the dead.
In September 2012, JAL announced its re-listing, repeating its past glory, and this year JAL won three world firsts, ranking first in profit, punctuality, and service level, all of which are due to Kazuo Inamori.
After JAL stabilized, Kazuo Inamori resigned as chairman and continued to retire to the mountains. On the morning of August 24, 2022, Kazuo Inamori passed away at home at the age of 90, and all the four saints of Japanese management passed away, and an era came to an end.
Looking back on Kazuo Inamori throughout his life, he always advocated the philosophical concept of "respecting heaven and loving others, self-interest", and the famous scholar Ji Xianlin also spoke highly of him, saying that he was both an entrepreneur and a philosopher, and he was a rare existence wherever he was.
In fact, his achievement is not how much money he earns and how many listed companies he owns, but he applies philosophical ideas to business management, so that many people can understand the meaning of doing business and let them avoid detours.
When you are confused about starting a business, you may wish to read Kazuo Inamori's book, I believe you will definitely gain something. If you like my content, please follow me, like me and retweet, every encouragement from you will be my motivation to make better content.