[ Nippon Keidanren ] [ Journal ]
Messages from "Economic Trend", November 2009

Evince righteousness, do not pursue gain

Yoji OHASHI
Vice Chairman, Nippon Keidanren
Chairman of the Board, All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.

Conditions in the airline industry remain severe due to factors such as the impact of the global economic downturn and the spread of the new flu strain, but keeping me going through these difficult times are the words of Hokoku Yamada, a great man who came from my home prefecture of Okayama.

Hokoku Yamada was a neo-Confucian scholar at the end of the Edo period and during the Meiji period. In the service of Katsukiyo Itakura, daimyo of the Bitchu-Matsuyama clan, he succeeded in transforming the clan's finances, turning 100,000 ryo of debt into 100,000 ryo of assets in just seven years.

Among the quotations attributed to Hokoku, one that particularly appeals to me is this: evince righteousness, do not pursue gain. Here, "not pursuing gain" does not mean that you shouldn't chase profits. I take it to mean that if you approach business with the right philosophy, profits will follow naturally. Chinese philosopher Xun Zi also said something along the same lines, and you might be more familiar with his words: those who put righteous before gain prosper, while those who put gain before righteousness are humbled.

I believe that each company has its own righteousness. Righteousness for our company, an airline, is delivering safety and reliability. I believe that this is the foundation of our business, and our duty to society. I think that managers should always take righteousness to heart and run their businesses with integrity.

To instill this attitude within the Group, our top executives must resolutely convey it to every single employee. This process will involve employees absorbing so-called "tacit knowledge," so will likely take a considerable amount of time.

These days everyone is stressing the importance of CSR, but I feel that for Japanese companies the essence of CSR is how to impart this invisible, tacit knowledge and develop it as part of their corporate culture.


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