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A Compass to Fulfillment: Passion and Spirituality in Life and Business: Passion and Spirituality in Life and Business: Passion and Spirituality in Life and Business EB (BUSINESS BOOKS) Hardcover – 16 Dec. 2009
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“Life is an expression of our mind.”
Kazuo Inamori
The international bestseller A Compass to Fulfillment isa spiritual business guide particularly relevant to ourpresent day and age.
Kazuo Inamori, founder of Kyocera and KDDI, weavestogether his Buddhist faith and personal experience tocreate a life/business philosophy based on the simplestbut most profound of human concepts: do the right thing,always. Inamori credits his and his companies’ extraordinarysuccess to the daily practice of this timeless truth.
In A Compass to Fulfillment, the author helps you developyour own personal philosophy for success by:
- Recognizing your deepest desires and using them tocreate a better reality
- Informing all decisions with simple truths and principles
- Elevating your mind and practicing humility
- Living your life steered by an attitude of selfless service
- Controlling the trajectory of your life by accepting the“will of the universe”
A Compass to Fulfillment is about strategic thinking, butnot in the sense of business and management technicalities.It is about, first, understanding yourself, and thenusing that knowledge to get to the point you want to be―in your career, in your business, and in your life.
- Print length160 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMcGraw Hill
- Publication date16 Dec. 2009
- Dimensions14.48 x 1.52 x 22.1 cm
- ISBN-100071615091
- ISBN-13978-0071615099
Product description
From the Back Cover
The International Bestseller That has Put Nearly One-Million People on the Path the Success!
In his his bestselling A Compass to Fulfillment, originally published in Japan, Kazuo Inamori relays his unique ideas about the critical relationship between personal fulfillment and business success.
Published in English for the first time, this guidebook weaves business savvy and spiritual faith to provide the wisdom you need to develop strong principles and always act in accordance with them--the only way to find ultimate success in both business and life.
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
A COMPASS TO FULFILLMENT
Passion and Spirituality in Life and BusinessBy KAZUO INAMORIThe McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Copyright © 2010 Kazuo InamoriAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-07-161509-9
Contents
Chapter One
MAKING OUR DESIRES REALITYYou Only Get What You Ask For
"Life never goes the way I want." It is easy to take such a narrow view of the events that happen in our lives. This outlook, however, is self-fulfilling. It is precisely because we expect that life will not work out according to our wishes that life doesn't go the way we want it to. In this sense, our lives fulfill our expectations.
Many philosophies for success are rooted in the view that life is an expression of the mind. On the basis of personal experience, I am a firm believer in this idea. We attract only the outcomes on which we focus; only those things we strongly desire are within the realm of our realization. It is impossible to draw a specific result toward us without holding it firmly in our minds. Thus, our state of mind and that which we desire shape the reality of our lives. If you want to achieve a particular outcome, the first step is to focus your mind on the image of who you want to become or the situation that you want to come to pass. You must hold that thought with greater determination than anyone else and desire it with passionate intensity.
I first became aware of the power of the mind over 40 years ago at a lecture by Konosuke Matsushita (18941989), who was regarded by many Japanese people as the "god of management." At the time of the lecture, Matsushita had not yet been idolized to the extent that he is now, and I had only just started my company, which was still a small, unknown firm. During his lecture, Matsushita spoke about his famous "dam management" theory, whose concepts are as follows. A river without a dam floods during heavy rain and dries to a trickle during droughts. However, if we dam the river and store its water, we can gain control over the river so that we are no longer at the mercy of the weather or the environment. The same principle, he claimed, can be applied to management. He recommended that companies create reserves, such as equipment reserves and capital reserves, during times of plenty to ensure stable growth in times of scarcity.
Sitting in the back of the room, I could almost see a wave of dissent spread across the audience of the managers of small and medium-size businesses like myself. "What's he talking about?" people muttered. "We can't do that. That's why we have to struggle night and day. If we had enough leeway to do that, things wouldn't be such a struggle. We already know we need a reserve. What we don't know is how to make one."
During the question and answer period at the end of Matsushita's talk, a man stood up and voiced his frustration: "Obviously dam-style management would be ideal if it were possible. But it's not. If you aren't going to tell us how to build a dam, what's the point?"
A wry smile crossed Matsushita's gentle face. He sat silently, thinking for several moments, and then said simply, "To be honest, I don't know how either. I don't know how, but I still have to want to make one." He did not seem to have answered the question, and the audience laughed uncomfortably. Although most of the people were clearly disappointed, I sat stunned, electrified by his words. He had revealed a profound truth.
Whether Sleeping or Awake, Stay Passionately Focused
Matsushita's remark made me realize how important it is to desire something. It made no sense for him to try to teach us how to make a dam, because each person, regardless of Matsushita's instructions, would have approached the construction process in his or her own way. First we had to want to make one. That desire is the beginning of everything.
Until the heart cries out with longing, we cannot see our goal or how to achieve it, and success comes no closer. This is why it is so important to have a constant and ardent desire. This yearning is the starting point, the one thing that is guaranteed to make our dreams come true. Life is an expression of our minds, and our desires are the original and vital force through which our dreams are realized. Like seeds planted in the garden of life, our desires sink roots, raise their branches to the sky, blossom, and bear fruit. It was this trutha truth that penetrates our lives even though we catch only occasional glimpses of itthat I gleaned from Matsushita's words. Subsequently, I experienced and gradually mastered this truth in my own life.
A vague, halfhearted desire will never lead to results. You must have a tremendous longing, a fierce yearning that occupies your thoughts from night to day, no matter if you are sleeping or awake. It must fill your being from head to toe so that if you cut yourself with a knife, it would not be blood but longing that seeped from your skin. The driving force behind all accomplishments is this kind of single-minded intense desire.
If one person fails where another succeeds despite having the same ability and exerting the same amount of effort, people often assume that the difference is due to luck. In fact, however, it is due to the size, depth, and intensity of each person's desire. Some may consider me naively optimistic, but remember, it is far from easy to focus your thoughts so intently on a single purpose that you forget to eat and sleep, and it is no simple feat to maintain this passionate desire until it penetrates your subconscious mind.
In business management and in new venture development, common sense often tells us that something new or different is doomed to failure. If we let common sense dictate our actions, however, the possible will become impossible. If you sincerely wish to start something new, the first requisite is to passionately focus your mind and heart on it. To make the impossible possible you must be "crazy" about the idea and work toward it with the positive conviction that you can accomplish anything. This is the only way to achieve your goals in life and in business.
Visualize the Realization of Your Goals in Living Color
The claim that passionate desire is the mother of success sounds so unscientific that some people may dismiss it as a kind of mentalism. Experience, however, has taught me that if I am thinking about an idea constantly, I will be able to visualize the outcome very clearly.
All successes in life start with a strong desire to do something. I pursue an idea, thinking intently about the process of turning that desire into reality; I look at each possibility and simulate the whole process in my mind. Just as chess players run tens of thousands of possible moves through their heads, I repeatedly think through the entire process of working toward my goal, eliminating any ineffective strategies my mind devises and revising and reworking my plan each time. If I stick tenaciously to this process, I begin to see the path toward success as if it were a road I have taken before. What was at first just a dream comes closer and closer to reality until there is no longer any distinction between the two and I can paint the successful realization of the idea in minute detail in my mind. I see it taking place before my eyes not in monochrome but in vivid color. This process is similar to image training in sports: The thought becomes so concentrated that the athlete can see it as a crystallization of reality.
On the other hand, if we don't desire a certain outcome strongly enough, if we don't think about it deeply enough, and if we don't tackle it squarely until we can visualize precisely what it will look like when it is achieved, we will have little hope of finding success in creative work or in life. When one is developing a new product, for example, it is not enough to create a device that fulfills certain preexisting specifications or features certain functions that other devices already provide. If the product developer fails to establish ideal criteria for the new product that have been forged through this process of deep thought, the end product will always be of inferior quality, even if it fulfills the clients' specifications. Because it has been developed according to "sensible" standards, the end product will fail to appeal to a broader market.
I am reminded of one of our researchers, a graduate of an elite university in Japan. He spent months developing a new product, but when he showed it to me, I took one look and said, "It's not good enough."
"What do you mean?" he demanded. "It's exactly what the customers want."
"I was expecting something better," I told him. "And it's such a boring color."
"How can you be so irrational?" he protested. "You're an engineer. This is an industrial product. Color isn't important. Your criteria are unscientific."
"You can call me irrational if you like, but this is not what I envisioned." I insisted that he try again, fully aware of how angry he would be at me for rejecting his work after all that effort. I rejected his product, however, because I could see that it did not match the image I had forged for it in my mind. As a result of repeated attempts, he and his project team then succeeded in producing the ideal product.
My parents frequently used the expression "so sharp it cuts the hand" to describe something so exquisite that one can't find fault with it. When a product reaches that level of perfection, awe and admiration make us almost afraid to touch it. If we want to reach the pinnacle of the creative process, we must spare no effort in the quest for this kind of perfection.
Dreams Come True When You Can Visualize Every Detail
When we want to achieve a goal, regardless of whether it is work related or applies to any other aspect of our lives, we always should strive to realize it in its ideal form, maintaining a strong focus on thinking the goal through until we can visualize it. This process is essential if we are to realize our dreams. If we set our sights high and strive until reality converges with our ideal, we will get the results we want. Goals that are clearly visualized right from the start produce results so sharp that they cut the hand. Conversely, if we do not clearly visualize our goals, we may attain them, but the end results will not be sharp. I have experienced this time and again in my life.
When DDI (now KDDI) entered the cell phone business, for example, I declared to the other executives that we were entering the age of the cell phone. In the near future, I announced, communication will take place anywhere, anytime, with anyone. Moreover, I insisted, all people, from children to the elderly, will have their own phone numbers. Although the other executives shook their heads and laughed in disbelief, I could see already how the cell phone, a product with limitless possibilities, would spreadand I even could see how quickly this transition would happen. I had a clear picture, right down to pricing, product size, marketing strategy, and distribution.
As a result of my work in the semiconductor business and with other Kyocera ventures, I had witnessed the speed of technical innovations and the limitless extent of developments in product size and cost. My work background gave me enough experiential knowledge to predict with considerable accuracy the expansion of the cell phone market. In fact, I concretely anticipated not only the breadth of market expansion but also future fee rates. The general manager in charge of DDI at that time took notes during the meeting at which I forecast these market events. Later, when the cell phone business was launched, he looked back over those notes and found that amazingly, the fee rates were almost exactly what I had predicted.
The price of any product is determined only after making complex and detailed calculations that take into consideration factors such as the balance of demand and supply and investment recovery, yet I was able to visualize even the service charge before any calculations had been made. The general manager was stunned by my accuracy, but this is a prime example of the power of visualization. You will always be able to realize whatever you visualize clearly. What you can see in your mind, you can do; what you can't see, you can't do. If you desire a specific outcome, you must concentrate on its realization with a fierce tenacity until it becomes a passionate desire, at which point you will be able to see what success looks like in minute detail.
The fact that we can desire to be a certain way or achieve a certain outcome is in itself proof that we have the inherent capacity to make our wishes into reality. People usually can't imagine what they aren't capable of doing. If you can visualize yourself attaining a particular goalif, when you close your eyes and imagine success, you can see the image clearlyyou probably are capable of achieving it.
Success Requires Scrupulous Effort and Preparation
When you attempt something new, something that never has been done before, you are bound to meet with opposition. If, however, you attempt a new venture while maintaining an inner conviction that it can be done and can visualize its successful realization clearly, you should be able to move ahead boldly and develop your idea. Ideas should be based on an audacious optimism that spreads the wings of inspiration. To do this, it is helpful to surround yourself with optimists who will encourage leaps of the imagination.
During DDI's infancy, whenever I had an inspiration, I would call the executives together to get their opinions. I found that the more elite the university a person had graduated from was, the cooler his or her reaction was and the more likely he or she was to lecture me on how rash my proposal was. Of course, there was truth in what they were saying and their analysis was astute, but if every new idea is greeted with a cold barrage of logical reasons for why it can't succeed, in the end, even a good idea will wither, and even the possible will become impossible.
After several experiences like this, I decided to bounce my ideas off of a different group of people. Instead of smart, analytical people who approach new and difficult work cautiously and pessimistically, I chose those who greeted my suggestions with innocent enthusiasm and approval, even if my proposals were slightly scatterbrained. This may sound reckless, but when you are developing an idea, surrounding yourself with this degree of optimism is just right.
Such bold optimism, however, is effective only when one first is developing an idea or concept. When you enter the planning stage, you must base the concrete content of your idea on pessimism, assess the risk factors, and develop it carefully and cautiously. Then, once you are ready to begin actual implementation, you should switch back to optimism and set to work with confidence. To transform our thoughts into reality we need to conceive optimistically, plan pessimistically, and execute optimistically.
Along these same lines, Mitsuro Oba, the first person to trek solo across both the north and south poles, once told me something very helpful about how he readies himself for his journeys. Kyocera had provided various products for Oba's treks, and he came to my office to thank us. I immediately praised him for his courage in undertaking such dangerous adventures, but he looked uncomfortable. "Actually, I'm not courageous at all," he told me. "In fact, I'm a complete coward. But because I'm afraid, I prepare really carefully for these journeys. That's probably why I succeeded again this time, too. If an adventurer is just bold and not cautious, it will be the death of him."
When I heard this, I realized that regardless of their field, people who succeed have a firm grasp on the truths of life. Courage that is not backed by fear, caution, and meticulousness is merely reckless valor.
Learning from Illness
Up to this point I have shared with you a fundamental principle of life: The way we think can change our lives. I myself, however, learned this only through repeated mistakes, setbacks, and difficulties. When I was young, it seemed that everything that could go wrong for me would go wrong. I could not understand why nothing ever seemed to go the way I hoped, and I felt abandoned by God or fortunean unlucky man. Unhappy with everything, I frequently became cynical and resentful of the world. But as I struggled my way through repeated setbacks, it gradually dawned on me that my own mind was the cause of all my hardships.
The first setback I confronted was my failure to pass the entrance exams for junior high school. To make matters worse, I came down with tuberculosis, which at that time was considered incurable. Tuberculosis seemed to run in my family and had killed three of my grandparents. "Soon I'll vomit blood and die, too," I thought. But all I could do was lie listlessly in bed with a low-grade fever and wallow in the depths of futility and despair.
The woman living next door to my family must have felt sorry for me because she gave me a book called The Truth of Life by Masaharu Taniguchi, the founder of the Truth of Life Movement. Although the content of the book was a little over my head, I desperately needed something to cling to and read it eagerly. Within its pages I discovered the following concept: There is a magnet in people's minds that draws misfortune to them. When people become ill, they do so because their weak minds drew that illness to them.
I was fascinated by that idea. Taniguchi explained that everything we encounter in life is attracted by and a projection of our minds. Illness is no exception. While this concept may sound a little cruel, as I read Taniguchi's words, something clicked inside me. When my grandfather contracted tuberculosis, my family cared for him in a building attached to our home. I was so terrified of catching the disease that I would hold my nose and run whenever I had to pass that building. My father, in contrast, cared for him personally, and even my older brother seemed unconcerned for his own health, telling me that tuberculosis was not that easy to catch. I was the only one in my family who avoided my grandfather, yet in my immediate family I was the one who later contracted the disease.
Perhaps it was a punishment. My negative thinkingmy aversion to the disease and desire to avoid itactually called misfortune to me. Precisely because I feared contracting tuberculosis, I contracted it. This made me realize that a mind focused on the negative attracts a negative outcome. Taniguchi's words made me acutely aware that the image in my mind indeed became my reality. Reflecting on my actions, I promptly vowed to think only positive thoughts from then on. It's not easy, however, to change your way of thinking, and I frequently strayed from the path of positivity.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from A COMPASS TO FULFILLMENTby KAZUO INAMORI Copyright © 2010 by Kazuo Inamori. Excerpted by permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Product details
- Publisher : McGraw Hill (16 Dec. 2009)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 160 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0071615091
- ISBN-13 : 978-0071615099
- Dimensions : 14.48 x 1.52 x 22.1 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 761,656 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 4,445 in Business Life (Books)
- 5,731 in Business Careers (Books)
- 54,351 in Health, Family & Lifestyle Self Help
- Customer reviews:
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 October 2021This was a recommendation from a friend and it is a fascinating and inspiring read
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 January 2016A must read for everyone. Changed my life (to the better). Very impactful.
Top reviews from other countries
- Lin LiaoReviewed in Canada on 7 August 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
This is a book i have been looking for! The combination of spirituality, the law of the universe and the understanding of one’s true self are what propel a business to a quantum leap!
- Jaipat J.Reviewed in the United States on 7 November 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars Unexpected Joy!
The book was an unexpected joy. I was searching for a book on moral compass and because the word "compass" was comprised in the title of this book, it was an easy find. It was an easy read as well. I rejoiced unexpectedly because it seemed to mirror my thoughts again and again. Indeed, by the time I was done reading, I fancied meeting with Kazuo Inamori. Alas, that's where I ran out of luck: Kazuo Inamori died two months ago on August 24, 2022. What a disappointment. I would have loved to meet Kazuo Inamori. Let me give an example of his thinking. Early in the book, he writes that we devote more time to cultivation of ability than to cultivation of virtue. That we give ourselves to becoming cleverer while bereft of a compass that distinguishes right from wrong. The book is filled with such gems. The one I found most luminescent was the one where he says that the purpose of life is to elevate the mind and purify the soul. I did not expect such Jain thoughts in the book, and in that and other such unexpected ideas, I found enough to rejoice and cherish this small, neat book by one kind and wise man. May his soul enjoy the fruits of his striving.
- EricReviewed in Singapore on 17 November 2024
1.0 out of 5 stars Quality of the book is not so good
There are around 10 pages that detached from the book.
- KrishnanandReviewed in India on 26 November 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good Book and telling the values of being honest to the business.
Very well written and tells about the purpose of doing business and its telling the original purpose of our life.
- サンチReviewed in Japan on 8 November 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars A guidebook for a happiness
This the book
After reading this book the most important thing that changed within me was the attitude
Dr. Inamoro's success of life and work formula is indeed an essential for all those over there who are seeking a success for both work and life