The Heavenly and Human Ways · Origin & Values

In 2016, through Mr. Yu Shiwei, I worked with Seiwajyuku in China to review its business and operating models. Working with its members introduced me to Kazuo Inamori’s idea of “revering heaven and loving people.” I also began to reconsider my own goals and values.

As we reviewed the operating model, I saw how these ideas shaped decisions, strategy, and everyday work. They concerned how to run a business, how to live, how to treat people, and how to contribute to society.

That work influenced my career and how I understand value. Beyond material wealth, relationships, our treatment of nature, and our contribution to society matter too. Since then, I have taken “revering heaven and loving people” as a principle for my life.

Revering heaven means following nature’s principles and humanity’s right path—that is, Heaven’s Way—and treating people with kindness. In other words, it means upholding the correct way of being human. Loving people means abandoning selfish desires, showing consideration for others, and keeping an altruistic heart.

Revere heaven:

“Revering heaven” means acting according to the nature of things. “Heaven” here refers to objective laws, the nature of things. He upheld carrying the right things through to the end in the right way, proposing twelve management principles: ① Clarify the purpose and meaning of the undertaking; ② Set concrete goals; ③ Hold a strong desire in your heart; ④ Make an effort second to none; ⑤ Seek to maximize sales and minimize expenses; ⑥ Pricing is the foundation of management; ⑦ Management depends on a strong will; ⑧ Kindle a fighting spirit; ⑨ Act with courage; ⑩ Continually engage in creative work; ⑪ Treat people with care and candor; ⑫ Always maintain an optimistic, forward-looking mindset, holding dreams and hope, and engage with the world sincerely. These twelve principles are all requirements of the nature of things. Act according to those requirements, and you will succeed wherever you go.

Love people:

“Loving people” means being human according to human nature. Here, “loving people” means “benefiting others,” the fundamental starting point for being human. Those who benefit others benefit themselves. Shift from being “self-centered” to “other-centered,” making “others” the focus and yourself their servant and helper. For businesses, this means “altruistic management.” These “others” are customers. Customers in the broad sense include buyers, employees, society, and stakeholders. Shift from being “enterprise-centered” to “customer-centered,” serving customers wholeheartedly. Naturally, first serve buyers, considering everything from their perspective and meeting their requirements. So long as a business creates value for customers, it can share in that value.

Revering heaven and loving people includes reverence, gratitude, and altruism!

Heaven gives birth to all things through yang and brings them to completion through yin. Giving birth is benevolence; completion is righteousness. Thus the sage in a position of authority nurtures all things with benevolence and sets all people right with righteousness. When Heaven’s Way operates, all things follow it; when sagely virtue is cultivated, all people are transformed. Such great harmony and transformation, whose traces cannot be seen and whose workings no one knows, are called divine. Thus the multitudes under heaven have their root in one person. Can the Way be far away? Can its methods be numerous?

Tongshu, Chapter 11, “Following and Transformation”—Zhou Dunyi

Wind

Direction

The first stirring of intention

Your original intention

Water

A carrier

The origin of all things

Can carry or overturn

Wind: favorable wind

Rain: timely rain

When the first intention is good

Feng shui is naturally good

Revere the patterns of things and respect people’s circumstances, putting altruism into concrete relationships.

First understand the nature of things, then decide how to intervene.