Everyone says Toyota is the best company in the world, but the
customer doesn't care about the world. They care if we are the best in town, or
not. That's what I want to be.
Akio Toyoda
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| Akio Toyoda - President of Toyota Company |
If
only more people were able to recognize the true meaning of being the best.
Toyoda summarized it very ably while referring to his personal business
philosophy. However, there is actually a lot of applicable wisdom in what he
had said. A famous Christian philosopher once claimed that people can only think of or think about things which exist. To be precise, he was claiming we would not be
able to think about something nor understand something that is already not a
part of us (from the Christian perspective, he was basically claiming that God
put the idea and concept of Himself into people and that is why people are able
to comprehend the idea and think about Him).
However,
one can say – Alright, it makes sense, but this also means that if I think of,
or better to say imagine, a living creature made of paper that eats glass and
lives in the forest – does that mean this creature exists just because I am
able to think about it, get an idea of it? Tricky question indeed. Moreover,
many would even use such arguments to dispute the logical sense of this statement
and many did use it to oppose the mentioned philosopher. There is, however, one
more thing to keep in mind – anything can exist but not on every level of
consciousness.
Idea
is a powerful tool. Nobody can catch it nor grab it. It is a product of the
mind or it comes in a form of an inspiration. In any case, idea precedes the
manifestation in ‘real life’. Everything that was made, existed in the world of
ideas in the first place. Some ideas will never manifest, they will stay
trapped in their own world until someone or something manifests them. They
still do exist in a form of potentials. Everything man-made shares the same
destiny. Vehicles, cars, motorbikes etc. as well. First someone had to think of
the idea of the car. It did not exist yet in material world, but it existed as
an idea or concept. Then a man decided to make one on this level of
consciousness. And he did. And so he made many other various vehicles.
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| Toyota logo |
After
a certain thing or deed has been manifested, the next step will often be development
and/or improvement of it and Mr. Toyoda is working in this direction as well.
Toyota was founded in late 30s of the 20th century as a special
branch of already existing company which will be specialized in cars and other necessary
products related to them. It grew into an independent company that became one
of the best ones and one of the most famous ones in the world. The constant
improvement and integration of new ideas has been making possible for the company
to keep up with the rivals. Being the best in little towns makes it possible to
be the best in the whole world. Just like ideas, Mr. Toyoda first has to make
sure the foundations of being the best are firm and well-developed on another
level so that they can be well-manifest in the whole world. Being the best
comes from inside, just like confidence does. In the same manner, a certain
philosophy which resulted in success in one’s personal life reflected to business seems to be working. Even though Mr. Toyoda joined the company in early 80s, his way of
dealing with work has resulted in great outcomes in relatively short period of time. The wisdom with which he approached work must have been a summary of earlier experience and practical knowledge.