Akio Morita Quotes

“Once you have a staff of prepared, intelligent, and energetic people, the next step is to motivate them to be creative.” (Page 160, line 31) - View Quote Details on “Once you have a staff of prepared, intelligent, and energetic…
“I often say to my assistants, “Never trust anybody,” but what I mean is that you should never trust someone else to do a job exactly the way you would want it done.” (Page 175, line 9) - View Quote Details on “I often say to my assistants, “Never trust anybody,” but…
“You can be totally rational with a machine. But if you work with people, sometimes logic often has to take a backseat to understanding.” (Page 202, line9) - View Quote Details on “You can be totally rational with a machine. But if…
“…if you have so many lawyers, they have to find business, which sometimes they have to create. Sometimes nonsensical lawsuits are generated by lawyers. In this country (the United States) everybody sues everybody.” (Page 174, line 39) - View Quote Details on “…if you have so many lawyers, they have to find…
“While the United States has been busy creating lawyers, we have been busier creating engineers.” ‘(Page 173, line 41) - View Quote Details on “While the United States has been busy creating lawyers, we…
“…the differences between U.S. and Japanese companies go beyond the cultural.”(Page 179, line 35) - View Quote Details on “…the differences between U.S. and Japanese companies go beyond the…
“…if you are nothing but profit-conscious, you cannot see the opportunities ahead.” (Page 157, line 31) - View Quote Details on “…if you are nothing but profit-conscious, you cannot see the…
“Management of an industrial company must be giving targets to the engineers constantly; that may be the most important job management has in dealing with its engineers.” (Page 168, line 18) - View Quote Details on “Management of an industrial company must be giving targets to…
“In all my years in business I can recall very few people I have wanted to fire for making mistakes.” (Page 151, line 7) - View Quote Details on “In all my years in business I can recall very…
“We all learn by imitating, as children, as students, as novices in the world of business. And then we grow up and learn to blend our innate abilities with the rules or principles we have learned.” (Page 161, line 5) - View Quote Details on “We all learn by imitating, as children, as students, as…
“In the United States businessmen often do not trust their colleagues. If you trust your colleague today, he may be your competitor tomorrow, because people frequently move from one company to another.”(Page 175, line 16) - View Quote Details on “In the United States businessmen often do not trust their…
“From a management standpoint, it is very important to know how to unleash people’s inborn creativity. My concept is that anybody has creative ability, but very few people know how to use it.” (Page 164, line 33) - View Quote Details on “From a management standpoint, it is very important to know…
“What we in industry learned in dealing with people is that people do not work just for money and that if you are trying to motivate, money is not the most effective tool.” (Page 138, line 34) - View Quote Details on “What we in industry learned in dealing with people is…
“The “patron saint” of Japanese quality control, ironically, is an American named W. Edwards Deming, who was virtually unknown in his own country until his ideas of quality control began to make such a big impact on Japanese companies.” (Page 165, line 26) - View Quote Details on “The “patron saint” of Japanese quality control, ironically, is an…
The most important mission for a Japanese manager is to develop a healthy relationship with his employees, to create a familylike feeling within the corporation, a feeling that employees and managers share the same fate.” (Page 130, line 4) - View Quote Details on The most important mission for a Japanese manager is to…
“…I established the rule that once we hire an employee, his school records are a matter of the past and are no longer used to evaluate his work or decide on his promotion.” (Page 145, line 40) - View Quote Details on “…I established the rule that once we hire an employee,…
“(Japanese) Government believes that if you have a big laboratory with all the latest equipment and good funding it will automatically lead to creativity. It doesn’t work that way.” (Page 166, line 12) - View Quote Details on “(Japanese) Government believes that if you have a big laboratory…
“The effect of three things - the new laws, the revision of the tax system, and the elimination of the zaibatsu conglomerates - was to make Japan an egalitarian society for the first time.” (Page 135, line 3) - View Quote Details on “The effect of three things - the new laws, the…
“‘There is a major difference between you and me,’ I told him. ‘Yes, I am rich. But you are wealthy. And that is why you can buy such (expensive) jewelry (for your wife) and why I cannot.’” (Page 136, line 3) - View Quote Details on “‘There is a major difference between you and me,’ I…
“A company will get nowhere if all of the thinking is left to management.” (Page 149, line 1) - View Quote Details on “A company will get nowhere if all of the thinking…
“Of course we have to make a profit, but we have to make a profit over the long haul, not just the short term, and that means we must keep investing in research and development - it has run consistently about 6 percent of sales at Sony - and in service.” (Page 156, line 31) - View Quote Details on “Of course we have to make a profit, but we…
“…the key factor in industry is creativity. I said there are three creativities: creativity in technology, in product planning, and in marketing. To have any one of these without the others is self defeating in business.” (Page 163, line 18) - View Quote Details on “…the key factor in industry is creativity. I said there…
“I believe people work for satisfaction.” (Page 186, line 38) - View Quote Details on “I believe people work for satisfaction.” (Page 186, line 38)
“..I believe it is a big mistake to think that money is the only way to compensate a person for his work. People need money, but they also want to be happy in their work and proud of it.” (Page 186, line 21) - View Quote Details on “..I believe it is a big mistake to think that…
“I have had my difficulties with the American legal system, and so I feel qualified to talk about it.” (Page 175, line 31) - View Quote Details on “I have had my difficulties with the American legal system,…
“I believe one of the reasons we went through such a remarkable growth period was that we had this atmosphere of free discussion.” (Page 146, line 16) - View Quote Details on “I believe one of the reasons we went through such…
“The concept of lifetime employment arose when Japanese managers and employees both realized that they had much in common and that they had to make some long-range plans.” (Page 137, line 32) - View Quote Details on “The concept of lifetime employment arose when Japanese managers and…
“To gain profit is important, but you must invest to build up assets that you can cash in in the future.” (Page 157, line - View Quote Details on “To gain profit is important, but you must invest to…