Honda Myth

So, since i work at Honda, I am forced to read this super thick book called Honda Myth by Masaki Sato. I like the ideas of the founder Soichiro Honda and co-founder Takeo Fujisawa. Honda was the engineer master, and Fujisawa was the business management master. They collaborated very well even enormously to make Honda one of the biggest automotive brand in the worldwide.

Here are the quotes I like the most inside Honda Myth:

I can build anything if I can just see it once. – Soichiro Honda (p.64)

“Honda isn’t a funeral home. Come on, show me your smiles. Smile, everyone.” – Fujisawa (p.83)

Managing is more than just paperwork. An executive needs to look to the future. Every executive should be an expert of some kind. Making them deal with the miscellany of daily business life is a waste of their talents. – Fujisawa (p.106)

Life is like a staircase, climbing upwards step by step, day by day. – Tadashi Kume, Honda’s third president (p.154)

“Soichiro Honda always has a ready smile, anywhere he goes, and charms the hell out of everyone he meets. Honda is a very fortunate company to have such a man. We at Toyota don’t have that luxury.” – Eiji Toyoda, Honorary Chairman of Toyota (p.224)

In an era of rapid change, thinking ahead is the only way to achieve long-term success. (p.233)

Honda’s directors firmly believed in taking breaks whenever they could, because their responsibilities meant late nights and working weekends and holidays whenever there was a problem. (p.254)

Rather than physical youth, being a Honda director demanded having a youthful mind. (p.255)

“At Honda, it’s sink or swim. They don’t teach you step-by-step; they just throw you into the pool and let you figure it out on your own. If you don’t know how to swim at first, you need to be aggressive to survive”. – Sathosi Okubo, the third chairman of Honda (p.263)

The crisis comes with an opportunity as well. (p.299)

Giving younger workers more authority and responsibility had been one of the driving forces behind Honda’s rapid growth as a company. (p.339)

“We have to win. And we have to keep winning,” Soichiro ordered the kids at The Japan Grand Prix 1987. (p.349)