Letter to a Young Engineer
via boingboing gadgets, a lengthy and very thought-provoking email from a management type within Honda, sent after BBG had posted some observations on working for the company. (BBG is still trying to verify)
...Soichiro Honda once pointed out "Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon, philosophy without action is worthless". He really believed that the only reason anyone would even show up to work is to have fun, and the real aim is to have fun you can share. He also said "If you hire only those people you understand, the company will never get people better than you are. Always remember that you often find outstanding people among those you don't particularly like."Lots mo betta at the link.
He is the only person in business who seems to have fully understood a Japanese term that is a tad hard to translate, called Kioso. "Co-Creation Through Conflict", in which he breaks down the 4 necessary human elements of a properly functioning group of personalities which are co-dependent on each other's talents in order to succeed; Rationalist, Expert, Producer and Lunatic. Isn't that interesting? It could as easily be attributable to the success of The Beatles.
...
I don't know who you work for, where or why. I have no idea what you are dealing with, when it comes to the limitations or opportunities you have or need. I know a lot of you are scared right now, and your prospects seem dark. I don't have an individual answer for each of your problems, but I may have a solution for companies that feel they have run out of ideas and suggestions. If a company has been mismanaged, and has lost touch with it's consumers, and has a real concern for being able to survive and prosper, I can show you a company that has lost touch with it's work force and it's public getting there. It's time for you to stop telling people what to do, and turn the tables. If you're at the top, give your company the money and get out of the way, you blew it. That won't turn things upside down, it will turn things right side up. Buzz word hypnosis and marketing catch phrases won't work for you any more. Let the truth come out, and find yourself responsible. Then ask your people for the answer. Take personal responsibility for every challenge wherever you are...
posted by fouro @ 3:47 PM
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I read the full post and it is great. Someone at the bottom commented, that this came from "The Honda Myth: The Genius and His Wake".
It reminds me of a point Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute made, and that is that within the American automakers organization there are brilliant engineers but that management won't get out of their way and let them do their jobs. I wonder if they regret that now or if they even notice... Imagine businesses being creative and allowing their employees to create instead of produce. I watched a presentation on TED.com, given by an organic designer. He discussed how he was summoned to Sony in regards to competing with Apples iPod. The first thing he said was "you don't copy Apple" and then proceeded to state they should be looking at organic polymers. At this point Sony executives kicked him out of their office. Perhaps if they had heard him out they would be competing with Apple. The point being Sony failed to allow creativity and innovation, perhaps this is why they were seeking outside consultants in the first place.
Yeah, the letter grabbed me in the same way. In my (mid-to-late 90s) experience learning about and marketing American and German autos, I witnessed the same stunted-ambition of engineers and designers stymied by the financial rule-makers. Lots of walk before we can run permeating those places, and always with exciting future strategic options boxed in by short-run foolshness and tactically-centered thinking from management. 10 years later, Detroit is no different and thick-headedly arrogant with no tangible reason or right to be so.
Great Sony example, Julian. Any link to the TED piece?
Hey fouro,
Here is a link, the designer's name is Ross Lovegrove -
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ross_lovegrove_shares_organic_designs.html
Indeed to much walking and not enough running. I guess realistically this could be used as an argument as to why we should allow these businesses to fail, that is if we wish to apply the language and metaphors of evolution to these Jabba the Hutt type organizations. Although nothing is ever as black and white as it seems and any discussion of failure quickly turns gray.
Enjoy Lovegrove and let me know what you think!
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