philosophy-led management works anywhere · honda was new to the automobile industry, and only a...

Philosophy-led management works anywhere in the world

Because of the experience of studying in Mexico during my school days, I developed an interest in Latin culture and society. Therefore, I wanted to work in South America, and that was my motive for joining Honda. Honda was evolving its business globally, and therefore it was a very attractive company for me. Since joining Honda in 1978, I have been fortunate to be able to go work in various countries includ-ing Canada, the U.K., Germany, Brazil and the U.S. Through these overseas assignments, I was given opportuni-ties to work with many Honda associates from around the world.

Each country has a different language, culture and lifestyle, and social systems and economic situations also vary. While I was living and working in these different countries around the world, on a number of occasions I encountered differ-ences in culture and way of thinking, and because of such differences I became bewildered in making decisions. In each case, I used Honda Philosophy as a guideline for my judgment and action.

My interpretation of Honda Philosophy

Many companies besides Honda have their own corporate philosophy; however, Honda was at the forefront of compa-nies in formally expressing its Philosophy and raison d’etre and proactively conveying them in different languages around the world. There is a reason for that. Honda was a young Japanese company that took the plunge into the world ahead of other companies after World War II, not only with the export of products, but with a commitment to build its products close to the customer. Therefore, Honda had an urgent need to establish and convey its corporate brand.

What kind of company is Honda? What will Honda bring to the local community? Honda had to clearly present what it was going to be and gain the understanding of people around the world. Otherwise, we could not even hire talent-ed people, which have to be there before we even start discussing local production. A philosophy-led company management was a necessity for Honda to go global. In other words, the systemization of a world-class corporate philosophy and sharing of such a philosophy in each area was critical for Honda.

Let me give you one example. Honda announced its plan to build a motorcycle production plant in Ohio, in America, in 1977, along with its intention to build automobiles at the same site in the near future. This was one year before I joined Honda. By that time, Honda already had a certain level of recognition as a motorcycle manufacturer. However, Honda was new to the automobile industry, and only a small number of people already knew Honda as an automotive manufacturer by that time.

Under such circumstances, what they did first was to devel-op a message that explained what kind of thoughts Honda had and put it in the local newspapers along with a classified ad. They presented what kind of company Honda was and what kind of philosophy Honda had to the broad audience in the local community. As a result, a lot of people came to Honda. Obviously, they were interested in getting a job, but at the same time, they were people who could relate them-selves to the Philosophy of Honda and wanted to work at the new Honda plant. In addition to getting more people than they could hire at that time, Honda won the deeper understanding of the local community. This is how Honda’s fate-determining project started in 1979 with local motorcy-cle production and the eagerly-awaited automobile produc-tion in 1982.

What came after that is what you know already. This is how Honda got where we are now. Honda of America Mfg.

(HAM) has grown to become Honda’s largest production operation in the world. Honda’s success to this date was made possible because Honda Philosophy put down deep roots in the local community and became an identity for people who work there as well as those who purchase and use our products.

Honda Philosophy shines only when associates convert it into their actions

Now, let’s think how we can leverage Honda Philosophy in our everyday work and convert it into our actions. No matter how lofty and wonderful the Philosophy is, it is useless unless it gets reflected to our actions. Honda Philos-ophy shines only when it is linked to our actions, practices and challenges.

According to my experiences in the past, Honda Philosophy gives us a great force especially when we are going through a continuing process of trial and error and having hard time making management decisions. When I have to make critical decisions at the brink of disaster, I read “The Honda Company Principle,” “Our Fundamental Beliefs” and “Honda Management Policies.” When I do that, I feel the deeper meaning put into those words, which I did not notice before, emerge from those phrases and show me the actions I should take. Needless to say, they do not give me any concrete guidelines. However, that is why I think it through on my own and then start to see the “direction Honda should pursue,” which remains solid in any situation.

Big mistake

The Lehman Shock occurred in September 2008, when I was serving in the position of president of American Honda Motor (AH) and Honda North America (HNA) and COO, Regional Operations (North America). The market went cold for a stretch, and we could not see how far down it was going to fall. We decided to reduce production and focused

on selling inventories. At that time, the FMC development of the 2011 model year CIVIC was in progress toward the direction of a significant upgrade toward the higher end. However, in order to accommodate the changes that occurred in the market, I thought we had to force ourselves to change the direction of the development. I regret that this change caused the development team a huge hardship.

The all-new 2012 model year CIVIC with appropriate performance and price went on sale in April 2011. The driving performance of this vehicle was not bad. However, the sales result was heartbreaking. This model was bitterly criticized in the U.S. market. The most common customer complaint we received through dealers was, “How is it different compared to the previous model?” Some even said, “This CIVIC is not a Honda CIVIC.”

In light of the wave of the economic depression facing us, we gave too much consideration to the cost and sales price, and thus we could not show enough advancement in materi-als, finish, equipment and innovative styling. As a result, we could not fulfill the expectation of our customers in offering The Joy of Buying.

I never felt the importance of a corporate brand so keenly before this time. Regardless of the economic conditions, what our customers expect of Honda was a “spirit of innovation and creativity to Honda.”

Making our core model, CIVIC, undergo FMC-level chang-es again only slightly more than one year after the introduc-tion of an all-new model was a very serious decision that I had to make. In addition to imposing a burden on the devel-opment team, it would have a significant impact on Honda’s overall operation financially. However, despite the fact that many people took the opposite view, I made a decision to make significant changes on CIVIC, thinking we could not move forward without responding to the expectation of our customers.

In making this decision, what I relied on as a cornerstone was The Three Joys in Honda Philosophy. I realized that we cannot pursue The Joy of Selling or Joy of Creating without providing our customers with The Joy of Buying. If we cannot realize our Philosophy, we aren’t worth existing — I was fully prepared to make the decision to take on another challenge. Within a limited amount of time, all associates made self-sacrificing efforts. Then, the 2013 model year CIVIC made its debut and was well-received by our custom-ers. This is one of example where the words in Honda Philosophy blazed the path for me to take.

The lesson I learned from my mistake — Importance of trusting our customers

What I learned from this experience is that we must always trust our customers who use Honda products and never betray the expectations of our customers toward the Honda brand. To this end, we must do everything we can do with our utmost effort. Again, what our customers expect of Honda is a “spirit of innovation and creativity.” Customers want Honda to give shape to the dreams that carve out the future of mobility.

Since 2014, our customers have experienced some inconve-nience due to our airbag inflator quality issues. However, customers have not lost their trust in Honda. That is because we are doing everything we can in the face of this quality issue. Especially under this kind of circumstance, we must sincerely listen to the voices of our customers who place their faith in Honda and continue using and buying our products and honor their trust with our very best efforts. We do not compromise. We do not give up. We will make patient and honest efforts all the way to the end. Our customers are definitely watching how we deal with this matter. The accumulation of such actions taken by each of us will result in renewed trust from our customers. I believe that such renewed trust will become a starting point for us to inherit Honda Philosophy from past generations of

Honda associates who came before us and pass it on to the next generation of Honda associates who come after us.

Let’s keep on moving forward powerfully toward the realization of our new dreams.

Contents

002 PREFACE

013 HM/JAPAN

046 NORTH AMERICA

074 LATIN AMERICA

094 EUROPE

107 ASIA and OCEANIA

117 CHINA

123 Organization of Honda Philosophy

Glo

bal L

eader Talks / P

RE

FAC

EG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

/ P

RE

FAC

E

In order for Honda to continue providing dreams and joys to our customers, all Honda associates must share Honda Philoso-phy — corporate philosophy of the entire Honda Group — which has timeless and universal values. That is essential for Honda to exist as a company that society needs in any times.

Honda Philosophy consists of three components: Our Fundamental Beliefs: “Respect for the individual” and “The Three Joys” — the permanent beliefs of the Honda Group The Honda Company Principle: the purpose of our corpo-rate activities and Honda’s raison d’etre (reason to exist)Honda Management Policies: the required approach for our everyday work

When each Honda associate surely understands Honda Philos-ophy through his/her own actions, “Team Honda” can demon-strate great strength as a global collection of full of originality.

This “Global Leader Talks” will be shared with everyone involved in management at Honda. I am sure that everyone who receives this booklet has already heard and is very familiar with Honda Philosophy. That is why I want you, more than anyone else, to revisit and think deeply, in your current position, about the true meanings of the Philosophy we have inherited and cherished since the foundation of the company.

Our current leaders in Japan and other regional operations took the initiative and shared their cherished values and beliefs based on the Philosophy. We put them together and compiled this “Global Leader Talks.”

As a member of “Team Honda,” I share my current thoughts very candidly. So, please take this as an opportunity to ask yourself, “What does Honda Philosophy mean to me?” And then, please share your own beliefs with your fellow associates at your workplace through your own words and actions. By doing so, I want you to prepare your workplace to be an environment where we can pursue our dreams for the new era.

Now is the time for each of us to revisit the origin of HondaTakahiro Hachigo

PREFACE:

President, Chief Executive Officer and Representative Director

003002














Big mistake













ASIA and OCEANIARegional Operations

AFRICA and MIDDLE EASTRegional Unit

EUROPERegional Operations CHINA

Regional Operations

HM/JAPANRegional Operations

NORTH AMERICARegional Operations

LATIN AMERICARegional Operations

Honda Global Network

005004














Big mistake













Glo

bal L

eader Talks

PR

ES

IDE

NT

Realizing The Three Joys through the collective efforts of all associates — with the key phrase of “Team Honda”

Takahiro Hachigo

President, Chief Executive Officer and Representative Director

The perfect opportunity to provide joys to our customers

I joined Honda in 1982. Since then, I have worked in diverse areas and with a diverse group of associates. The areas include development as well as purchasing and production, and the associates are of North America, Europe and China. Needless to say, I have experienced a number of big challenges and difficulties. In the face of them, what provid-ed me with spiritual sustenance were the words of Our Fundamental Beliefs — Respect for the individual and The Three Joys. As I accumulated more experiences, I gradually started understanding the deeper meaning that Honda executives and associates who came before us put into words in the Philosophy.

To me, realizing The Three Joys means to build trusting and joy-sharing relationships with everyone involved in the corporate activities. They are our customers, business partners, people in the local community, shareholders and associates.

Moreover, among The Three Joys — The Joy of Buying, The Joy of Selling and The Joy of Creating — the most funda-mental one is The Joy of Buying: A customer who purchased a Honda product becomes truly satisfied and feels joy. With-out this Joy of Buying, there can be no Joy of Selling or Joy of Creating.

Then, what do we need to do to let our customers feel this Joy of Buying?

We must build relationships of trust and confidence with customers. If customers who purchase our products feel fun and satisfaction, they will want to purchase a Honda product again. This will generate trust and confidence because the customers experience The Joy of Buying when they use Honda products.

People who work for a manufacturing company like us are apt to perceive the value of the product based on numerical measure such as production or sales volume. However, for our customers, the one, single product they purchase represents everything about Honda. And that single Honda product could have a significant impact on how customers see the value of Honda brand and our raison d’etre.

As you well know, Honda delivers a large number of prod-ucts to our customers all around the world. However, if one product — even if it is the only one — betrays the confidence of our customer, we fail to realize The Joy of Buying. At that point, The Joy of Selling and The Joy of Creating will vanish in front of us.

I believe that now is the time for all associates of the Honda Group to revisit the spirit of The Three Joys. It is the perfect opportunity for us to revisit what we do in our own assigned area to make sure that we create and provide valuable prod-ucts and services which allow us to share the Joys with our customers.

Honda generates enormous power when the personal qualities of each associate are combined successfully

As we strive to deepen our understanding of The Three Joys at each workplace, I would like to ask managers and executives to pay attention to one thing — that is the “Three Reality Principle,” which has been cherished by Honda since its foundation.

In April 2011, the month after the Great East Japan Earth-quake, I took office as the General Manager of the Suzuka Factory. I made a decision to transfer some Honda R&D associates whose workplace suffered serious damage to Suzuka. This created an opportunity to have an unprece-dented and valuable experience. Different teams with different specialty areas such as development/design, purchasing and quality, all came together with the produc-tion team at the real spot of Suzuka. Everyone was sharing the real situations and realities to face the same issues from their respective positions.

Naturally, things did not go so smoothly at the beginning. We experienced frequent conflicts of opinion. However, after a while, I started to see many occasions where the exchange of honest opinions from an equal footing led the team to reveal concrete answers toward the ultimate goal (“Aoo”).

For any Honda associates, our ultimate goal must be linked directly to our customer’s Joy of Buying. Therefore, even when the team is a mixture of members with different areas of expertise, we should be able to unite our hearts together as long as all of the members can visualize the happy faces of our customers. Once the direction for the team is set, such direction will bring out the potential strength of each team member, and that strength will become a source of even greater strength for the team. In other words, differ-ent ideas brought by different team members became the driving force to move our entire team forward.

When we face difficulties, we must not take them on all by ourselves. We share issues with the team and seek solutions with other members. If we look back at our company histo-ry, we know that Honda has been a company that demon-strates tremendous strength when the personal qualities of each associate are put together, and this characteristic of Honda will not change in the future. The “Team Honda” can continue to exist as long as we maintain the environ-ment where we can engage in the unrestrained exchange of opinions beyond the boundaries of hierarchy of rank or areas of expertise. No matter how big our company becomes, all members of such team should share goals and exchange honest opinions “at the spot.” Whether or not we can maintain such an environment depends on your compe-tence as managers and executives.

Two challenges: “Evolution” and “Deepening”

Let me tell you my thoughts on “Honda-rashisa” (the core characteristics that make Honda unique).

When a person whose only means of mobility was walking gets a motorcycle, their travel range expands significantly and travel time can be shortened dramatically. Something the person dreamed of yesterday becomes his/her reality today, and his/her spaces and times and even lifestyles will start taking on different shapes.

More than any other company, we are passionate to realize “dreams” through mobility and we continue taking on challenges for that reason. I believe that this attitude is Honda-rashisa. Honda must continue striving for such “Evolution,” where we carve out a new world of mobility for people through our technological innovations.

At the same time, I want all Honda associates not to forget the “Deepening” part of our challenge, which means to increase the value of Honda products and services which

already have been well-received by customers. Our prod-ucts and services which are satisfying our customers today will not necessary continue forever to provide the value that customers appreciate or get inspired by and create The Joy of Buying. As the times change, the feelings and needs of our customers also change.

I was once a manager in charge of the product develop-ment. What I experienced at that time was how difficult it was to unify the spirits of all team members and keep their motivations high. It is not easy to maintain the motivation of all team members so that they continue pursuing their dreams and continue taking their dreams to even higher levels.

This challenge is not unique to the area of development. At most workplaces, we are accumulating low-key efforts day after day. We are being questioned and tested as to how we can embrace and “deepen” new dreams by linking them to the joys in our low-key everyday work.

The Joy of Creating is something we can gain only when we provide — through our own work — values that go beyond the expectations of our customers. Therefore, in order to ensure that each associate can feel The Joy of Creating, we must have an environment where each member can work while asserting leadership through their own initiative, and understanding the responsibility they assume. When the associate can feel that he/she completed the job well in such environment, the associate can feel true joy and the realization of dreams, which leads to the major growth of

the person. When I talk about “Team Honda,” this is the kind of environment that naturally comes to my mind, and I believe that “Deepening” the value of our products and services will become possible only in such an environment.

Both “Evolution” and the “Deepening” of values are required for our global operations as well. As the globaliza-tion of the economy and market continues to accelerate, we must have closer collaboration between the regions and leverage the unique characteristics of each region to realize The Three Joys — Our Fundamental Beliefs — on a global basis.

When the dreams of our customers are combined with the dreams of Honda associates, Honda successfully becomes one big team. I believe that as long as we are driven by dreams and continue working as a “Team Honda,” the core characteristics that make Honda unique will have a perma-nent value.

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksP

RE

SID

EN

T

007006














Big mistake













Takahiro Hachigo

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

PR

ES

IDE

NT

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksP

RE

SID

EN

T




























009008














Big mistake













Takahiro Hachigo

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

PR

ES

IDE

NT

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksP

RE

SID

EN

T




























011010














Big mistake













PROFILE / Takahiro Hachigo




























Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksP

RE

SID

EN

T

• President, Chief Executive Officer and Representative Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015 (current)

• Senior Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015• Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014• Vice President, Honda Motor China Technology Co., Ltd., appointed in

2013• Representative of Development, Purchasing and Production (China), Honda

Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2013• Vice President, Honda Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd., appointed in

2013• Managing Officer, Honda R&D Co., Ltd., appointed in 2012• President and Director, Honda R&D Europe (U.K.) Ltd., appointed in 2012• Vice President and Director, Honda Motor Europe, Ltd., appointed in 2012• General Manager of Suzuka Factory for Production Operations, appointed

in 2011• General Manager of Purchasing Division II for Purchasing Operations,

appointed in 2010• Operating Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2008• Joined Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in 1982

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

N

013012














Big mistake













Global Leader Talks

HM/JAPAN

I want you to embody

Honda Philosophy through your actions,

practices and challenges

TetsuoIwamuraExecutive Vice President Executive Officer and Representative DirectorRisk Management Officer, Corporate Brand Officer

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N














Big mistake













015014

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N














Big mistake













017016

Importance of thinking while using your own hands

What triggered my interest in Honda was reading a serial-ized novel in a newspaper called “Fukugo Osen (Combined Pollution),” which was about pollution that was already being recognized as a major social issue at that time. It was a novel, but it was written using the technique of a docu-mentary, including interviews with existing automakers. This novel served as a wake-up call about environmental issues. The author interviewed business people as well, and one of interviewees was Mr. Soichiro Honda. Mr. Honda said something to the effect that Honda would work on its engines from scratch in addition to complying with emissions regulations. I was strongly attracted by the words of Mr. Honda. It became my dream to work for a company like Honda that would be useful for society.

Fortunately, I joined Honda in 1978. I was assigned to the engine design team, but I did many different things for the first several years as there were only a limited number of R&D associates at that time. It later became my great asset that I could gain a broad range of hands-on experi-ences in a short period of time in a vibrant workplace at the spot.

In fact, when I was involved in the design of an engine for the City Turbo, I hand carved a die. I was going back and forth between the R&D Center and Suzuka Factory to start-up the mass-production of a new model. Things did not go as we designed. We wanted to change a die, but we did not even have time to redo the drawing. Associates at the spot said, “Even if we place an order right now, it will not make the deadline.” So, I asked to let me carve the die. I borrowed a router and managed to make it on time.

I didn’t realize it when I was immersed in the assignments at hand, but when I thought about them later, I had many

experiences that were textbook examples of the “Three Reality Principle.” I go to the spot and face the real situa-tion, and I deal with the issue without running away from the reality. During the 40 years since I joined Honda, the real spot, real situation and realities helped me grow to the point where I am now. That is how I feel now looking back at my experiences.

Have courage to let go of a thingDo everything you should do to all the way to the end

I think there is a right way to pursue the Three Reality Principle that fit with the times. Let’s think of the example of engine development. In the old days when the number of models was limited, we had significantly more time we could spend to do a model change. How about today? We offer many models with many different specifications not only in Japan but all around the world. Even if we take a look at transmissions alone, there is a wide variety of them. Our development efforts are getting subdivided and the amount of work has increased dramatically.

What I worry under such circumstances is that we get preoccupied by immediate issues without going through discussions with deep thinking. Then we start developing a tendency to just do what we were told to do. When this happens, realization of our dreams with an eye to the future — just like Mr. Honda said, “Honda will work on its engines from scratch.” — tends to die down in a conceptual stage.

How can we thoroughly pursue the Three Reality Principle and link it to Our Fundamental Belief — The Three Joys — in today’s context? How are we supposed to face our everyday work to do so?

The key is to determine whether it is a job that needs to be done or not. It is not too much to say that the biggest job

of people involved in management is to select jobs that need to be done at that moment while having an overview of the entire operation at the spot. It is easy to make a decision to do everything. However, what truly requires careful consideration and experience is making high-level judgment of the situation while assessing available human resources and time and also while looking into the future. We should set priorities and segment our jobs by having discussions within each Business Operations and Regional Operations. After due consideration, we may face a situa-tion where we have to suspend or discontinue an ongoing development project.

In the face of such a difficult judgment, what I rely on as guidelines for my decisions is Honda Philosophy. Is this a product that can please our customers who purchase it? Is this a technology that can be useful to our society? Does it present innovativeness unique only to Honda? When we check against Our Fundamental Beliefs and The Honda Company Principle, we can broaden our perspective and see things in the big picture.

Once we determine that the job needs to be done, we set goals and the whole team must make a determination to pursue it all the way to the end. I always think that the most important thing in working toward the attainment of the goal (Aoo) is the “reality.”

What you see in front of you is not all the realities. The reason why we must go to the spot and have a thorough exchange of opinions with members at the spot is to see the full picture of the realities including those which have not yet surfaced. The same is true for understanding the real situation. By having a deep understanding of the real situation we can have a more realistic view of the reality facing us. Going to the real spot and understanding the real situation will give us clues to understand the reality. I believe that we will see a clue for how we can solve the issues facing us by repeating this process.

The characteristics that make Honda unique cannot be discussed in comparison with other companies

What are your thoughts on “Honda-rashisa” (the charac-teristics that make Honda unique)? I have asked this question to myself all the time, and I came to a conclusion that Honda-rashisa is not something we can discuss in comparison with other companies.

We end up losing sight of Honda-rashisa when we pay too much attention to how different we are compared to other companies. It does not matter if others are ahead of us or behind us. If we believe that it is necessary for our custom-ers and society, we should pursue it with dignity and based on the Three Reality Principle. In such cases, if we act like a follower and focus too much on showing “difference from others” or “our own taste,” we end up putting the cart before the horse. Including the ones I made, I have seen too many of such mistakes.

Based on the Three Reality Principle, we should focus on the pursuit of the essence of our purpose. Even if we begin from the same starting line as other companies, the result will be different as long as we pursue is to the utmost limit. Such pursuit should result in technologies and products equipped with originality that only Honda can offer. Honda history to this date has already proven that very well.

Associates with strong individuality who exchange their opinions without reservation are the strength of Honda. A broad range of technologies that spread from lawn mowers for homes to a jet engine and include robotics as well as new mobility technologies under development are the asset of Honda. How well can we leverage and combine such individuals and technologies and come up with unique ideas desired in new eras to come? That is what

society is expecting from each of us at Honda.

In order for us to generate fresh and novel ideas and perspectives, it is critical for us to be ordinary citizens before being an employee of a manufacturing company. Unless they are ardent desires and ideas that come from our own way of life, true realities will never surface. We must be proactive in being at the spot of the everyday lives of people who view Honda products as necessary items in their lives, get in touch with the real situation, and embrace our dreams together to further advance our realities.

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N














Big mistake













019018























• Corporate Brand Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014 (current)

• Chairman, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., appointed in 2014• Chief Operating Officer, Automobile Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.,

appointed in 2013• Risk Management Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2013

(current)• Representative Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2012 (current)• Executive Vice President and Executive Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.,

appointed in 2012 (current)• Senior Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2011• Senior Managing Officer and Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in

2011• Senior Managing Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2008• Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (North America), Honda Motor

Co., Ltd., appointed in 2007• President and Director, Honda North America, Inc., appointed in 2007• President and Chief Executive Officer, American Honda Motor Co., Inc.,

appointed in 2007• Managing Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2006• Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (Latin America), Honda Motor

Co., Ltd., appointed in 2003• President and Director, Honda South America Ltda., appointed in 2003• President and Director, Moto Honda da Amazonia Ltda., appointed in 2003• President and Director, Honda Automoveis do Brasil Ltda., appointed in

2003• Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2000• Chief Operating Officer, Parts Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appoint-

ed in 2000• Joined Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in 1978

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N

As I accumulate more experiences, I realize the deeper meaning of each word in The Three Joys

ShoMinekawaSenior Managing OfficerChief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (Japan)Chief Officer, Driving Safety Promotion Center














Big mistake













PROFILE / Tetsuo Iwamura

021020




































Big mistake













Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N

I still have Honda Philosophy booklet which was published in 1992 when Mr. Kawamoto was the president of the company. I have always kept it by my side and read it every now and then, for instance, when I get assigned to a new job or when I am about to leave for a new location of assignment. Just like a book I read once gives different feelings when I read it again at different ages, I feel that Honda Philosophy has given me new awareness or awak-ening at different times.

The 1992 version of Honda Philosophy was published to organize values Honda had been cherishing since the foundation. It included phrases and words that expressed such values from the perspective of what truly should be shared with Honda associates around the world in the midst of Honda’s full-fledged effort to expand its overseas operations to Asia and South America — beyond North America and Europe which were the centers of overseas operations at that time. A lot of energy was put in to make this booklet, and the foreword written by Mr. Kawamoto is simple but conveys his strong message — These values … at least these values must be shared.

Honda Philosophy is expressed with simple words, and the simplest of all is Our Fundamental Beliefs. It only gives the key phrases — “Respect for the individual” and “The Three Joys.” They come with descriptions, but I believe that what we draw from these short words and how we incorporate them into our actions are left up to each individual Honda associate. I myself had multiple occasions in my various work environments when I realized the meaning of these two key phrases.

Let me introduce a few examples.

Primary business of Honda = devoting ourselves to provide “The Joy of Buying”

I was stationed in Canada for about three years from 1984.

I got there before the appreciation of the yen triggered by the Plaza Accord signed by the G5 nations on September 22, 1985 and the U.S. dollar and Canadian dollar were very strong at that time. Honda already had undertaken plans to begin local production; however, we were still importing and selling vehicles completely built in Japan. Our business in Canada was going very well due to our outstanding competitiveness backed by competitive products complete-ly built in Japan and the strong Canadian dollar. There were limits on imported cars from Japan, therefore we cherished our sales of approximately 60,000 units a year, but at the same time, we were frustrated by the fact that we had not been able to accommodate the strong demand from our customers in Canada.

It was great news to start local production in Canada where we had not been able to fulfill the demand, however, at the same time, we knew it was going to be a very difficult challenge to sell more cars — locally produced cars whose cost competitiveness was lower than that of imported Japan-made cars — due to taking on a huge amount of investment to build a plant. We anticipated a difficult business environment, and I remember spending day after day thinking about how we could deal with the new environment which would be completely opposite of what we knew from selling imported cars.

Under such circumstances, Canadian dollars got even stron-ger toward the end of 1984. If we temporarily sign a forward exchange contract, we could generate even bigger profit from the sales of imported cars, and that profit could signifi-cantly reduce our burden of expenses to build a new plant. Naturally, this idea was discussed among Japanese expats in Canada and we came to the conclusion that we should do it because all we needed was a forward exchange contract to cover the imports with virtually fixed volume and thus risk was limited. Based on this conclusion, the General Manager of Canadian operations at that time made a proposal to the Japan head office. However, the response we got from the

executive in charge of this matter at the head office was, “Honda does not consider forward exchange contracts. Think about how we can evolve our business using profits we earn from our primary business.” We could interpret this as a dressing-down from the executive to those of us in Canada.

Back then, Honda’s worldwide automobile sales volume was approximately 1.2 million units a year. For its survival, Honda began local production in the U.S. ahead of other Japanese automakers and then made the decision to under-take local production in Canada as the next step, therefore Honda did not necessarily have ample resources at that time.

I understood and agreed with the intention of the message from the head office; however, I was feeling that something did not sit well in my stomach for me to be able to say that I completely understood given the level of strength Honda had as a company at that time. However, shortly after this happened, we experienced a sharp appreciation of the yen after the signing of the Plaza Accord by G5 in September 1985. Our business environment changed suddenly, but we could focus on our “primary business” with no uncertainty. This experience taught me the values Honda cherishes and the fact there were people who were trying to convey such values very clearly.

After I came back from Canada in 1986, the bubble econo-my in Japan burst and I saw many companies suffering from losses in their investment activities in areas outside of their primary business. At the time the Asian Financial Crisis started with the sharp fall of the Thai baht, I saw many local companies that suffered from foreign-exchange translation loss as a result of ignoring the risks and striving to expand their business using U.S. dollars they had raised through offshore markets, which was an easier option for them at that time. Moreover, in the area of automobile leasing business, I have seen some companies suffer as a result of

setting residual values beyond the true values of the prod-uct in order to realize a low monthly payment. On the other hand, Honda did struggle with changes in its business environment, but stayed away from such types of sufferings. When I saw it, I realized the true meaning of the message I encountered in Canada — “Think about how we can evolve our business using profits we earn from our primary business.” I also realized that the underlying concept of Honda Philosophy — “Our company exists not to pursue immediate profit but to be useful to society.” — has been shared broadly within our company. This gives each of us the power to guide ourselves in the right direction even if we come close to heading in a direction that causes us to deviate from the direction we are supposed to pursue.

Every time I went through this kind of experience, I become more capable of feeling the weight carried by each word of The Three Joys. What I came to realize was that these words well capture the weakness of human beings. When we make easy profits, we tend to feel that our goals have been attained. We also receive praise from others around us. However, when that happens, we often forget our origi-nal purpose. When we read between the lines of The Three Joys, which always begins from realizing The Joy of Buying for our customers, we realize the importance of our original purpose that Honda must pursue.

Importance of sharing values in the era of globalization

While experiencing various issues, the globalization of our economy is steadily progressing. Based on the commitment to “build products close to the customer,” Honda has been evolving its business globally since the early part of the company history. From here on, Honda will strive for true globalization by making further progress in the localization of human resources and the globalization of company management. In such an environment, it is extremely important for all members who work at the same company

to have shared values. Especially, Honda is a manufacturer of mobility devices and thus we have people’s lives in our hands. No matter where we are in the world, all associates who work at Honda must build products and deliver them to our customers on the basis of the same values. In order to have such a shared sense or mindset, Honda Philosophy becomes very important, and it is an outstanding way of thinking. Moreover, I believe that Our Fundamental Beliefs — Respect for the individual and The Three Joys — is something we can share in any region of the world regard-less of our nationalities, religions and cultures.

When I was stationed in South America, I asked local repre-sentatives of five Honda subsidiaries in the region to get together and develop a quad-lingual version of Honda Philosophy based on the Japanese and English versions and by incorporating multiple Spanish versions that had been translated in each country from the English version, as well as a Portuguese version that was translated from the origi-nal Japanese. This team met more than 10 times in two years or so and checked the meaning and expression of each word so that we could unify our understanding of Honda Philosophy. As a result of this effort, it became possible for us to share the same values beyond the differences in our cultures and languages. As our business further expands in South America in the future, there will be more interactions and exchanges among local Honda associates in this region. Also there will be more opportunities for Japanese associ-ates to work together with local associates. When this happens, I hope that this quad-lingual version of Honda Philosophy will serve as a tool for all associates to check Honda Philosophy as the values that all Honda associates must share.

Honda is a company where the beliefs and Philosophy from the time of the foundation is still well intact after so many eras. I believe that it is because all Honda associates who came before us worked hard in each region of the world and survived the difficult times of each era while standing by

Honda Philosophy. I am renewing my awareness of the importance of understating Honda Philosophy, reflecting it to our actions and, through our actions, passing it on to the future generations of Honda associates who come after us.

023022




































Big mistake













Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N






















025024




































Big mistake













Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N

• Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (Japan), Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014 (current)

• Senior Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2013 (current)• Chief Officer, Driving Safety Promotion Center, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.,

appointed in 2013 (current)• Managing Officer and Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2011• Chief Operating Officer, Regional Sales Operations (Japan), Honda Motor Co.,

Ltd., appointed in 2011• Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2007• Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (Latin America), Honda Motor

Co., Ltd., appointed in 2007• President and Director, Honda South America Ltda., appointed in 2007• President and Director, Moto Honda da Amazonia Ltda., appointed in 2007• President and Director, Honda Automoveis do Brasil Ltda., appointed in 2007• Chief Operating Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2005• Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2004• Joined Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in 1978






















PROFILE / Sho Minekawa

027026























Go to the real spotUnderstand the real situationMake realistic decisions based on that — The Three Reality Principle is the basis of manufacturing

KoichiFukuoSenior Managing Officer and DirectorPresident, Chief Executive Officer and Representative Director, Honda R&D Co., Ltd.














Big mistake













Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N























029028














Big mistake













Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N























031030

• Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015 (current)• President, Chief Executive Officer and Representative Director of Honda

R&D Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015 (current)• Executive in Charge of Quality Innovation for Automobile Operations,

Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014• Executive Vice President, Executive Officer and Director of Honda R&D Co.,

Ltd., appointed in 2014• Senior Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014

(current)• Executive in Charge of Drivetrains for Automobile Operations, Honda Motor

Co., Ltd., appointed in 2013• Executive in Charge of Business Unit No.1 for Automobile Operations,

Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2011• Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2010• Operating Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2005• Joined Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in 1978

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N























PROFILE / Koichi Fukuo

033032

Seek the simplicity of The Three Joys

Mr. Honda said, “The purpose of our technology is to help people and society.” Starting my career in the power equip-ment business helped me deeply understand this because of the focus of the Power Products Division on “helping people get things done.” Cultivating the field, cutting the grass, an outboard engine that supports someone working on the ocean, lake or river, removing snow, pumping water from here to there, providing power with a generator — these are very practical human needs. We have a wide range of products that have changed and evolved from motorcycles to power equipment, automobiles and, now, aviation. But our focus must be the same, looking at how we can help people and society.

In difficult times, it is easy to lose focus when we should really seek the simplicity. The Three Joys, beginning with creating joy for the customer — it makes things simple to think this way. We can find a small torchlight to find a way out of the darkness by thinking about what it will take to create joy for the customer and society.

Now, with our business gaining momentum in North Ameri-ca, I have set the goal to become number one in each of our business segments. This kind of challenge is symbolic of our Racing Spirit, relying on our skills and our passion.

Begin with “what is our purpose?”

One thing that I always remember is Mr. Fujisawa’s concept of “creating something from nothing.” There are many examples throughout Honda history, including starting power equipment business from nothing, more than 50 years ago. When I was leading global power equipment business, I thought about this idea, because we were leading the creation of a new business with the HF120 turbofan engine for HondaJet and we were trying to enter the solar panel business at that time. I used the “create something from nothing” concept. Ultimately, we did not continue the solar panel business due to a variety of factors, but based on our unique solar cell technology it was important to try.

Doing new things and creating new value for the customer is a core of our strategy, to do things that only Honda can do. For everything we do, we must constantly ask, what is the purpose? And how will we accomplish that purpose? What method or materials or assets will we need? And how can we do it in the most effective and the most efficient way?

So, in each area of our business, we must begin with “what is our purpose?” It is not only for money. It goes without saying that we want to continue to provide products that offer great value for our customers. We have The Power of Dreams to think of new, original ideas for the customer and then work hard and challenge until we can make those dreams come true.

Relationships make a strong organization

At Honda, we respect each individual. Each person is differ-ent and unique and each person is equally valuable to me. If I respect you, then you will respect me. Each associate is a treasure and deserves to be treated that way. I must open my heart first, and then people will open their hearts to me.

I believe that each associate or group of associates has dreams and the strong passion and strategy to pursue those dreams. That is The Power of Dreams.

The individual minds of each associate, and their passion — this is what creates our competitiveness. This is the most important asset of Honda. If management does not give associates the freedom to think or does not allow them to share their ideas, the company stays as it is, or maybe gets worse. That is the true meaning of Respect for the individual, not just being friendly, but enabling each associate to work at their full potential and challenge to do something new or better. Respecting each other and understanding each other, is the foundation for creating something new together.

From 2006, when I become president & CEO of Honda Motor Europe North, I felt that the key to a very strong organization was the relationships or networking that ties people together. The most important asset for the company is people. Their minds, their passion — this is what creates our competitiveness. How to make a good working atmosphere is important. That is what I mean by Team Honda — everyone working together for a common purpose. All business lines, all business units and departments, across SEDBQA, togeth-er with our business partners … all acting as one, which is “Team Honda.”

[SEDBQA = Sales, Engineering (Manufacturing), Development (R&D),

Buying (Purchasing), Quality and Administration]

If a product is missing one part, it might not work properly. It is the same with an organization. All of our associates have

different roles and responsibilities, and they are doing differ-ent work. If we are missing one person, the organization does not work. Everyone is equally important.

Leaders create the right atmosphere

Honda leaders should manage based on the roots of Honda Philosophy so that future generations will understand and take action based on our core values. But the most important thing is that associates should feel free to contribute based on their own ideas and dreams.

Creating the right day-to-day atmosphere is more important than any teaching materials that can be created. Manage-ment should respect associates’ ideas and passion and not try to control them too much. Of course, it is better to use a lot of experience to give suggestions and advice, but if manage-ment does not give associates the freedom to think or does not allow them to share their ideas, the company stays as it is, or maybe gets worse.

We have to think about what it means to be a leader. This might not be the perfect metaphor, but leadership is like the law of the sheep dog. A sheep dog is not always out in front of the herd. Sometimes it is in back, sometimes it is on the side and working around, moving quickly, sometimes barking, sometimes protecting them. The sheep dog does whatever is needed or appropriate to move the herd forward. But if the sheep dog was always in front, it could not see what is happening in the back or on the side. Thinking about the right direction, the right strategy and the right timing is a law of good leadership.

When I was in Germany as a leader of a large regional organization for the first time, I was responsible for the total business of Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium. And each country had its own country head. I found many different opinions and ideas. I had to find a way to create one team and one mission. I was thinking, how can we evaluate success in making joy for our customers, dealers and associ-

ates. And I thought, if a dealer is smiling or a customer is smiling, that is evidence of a positive result. So my simple message was: make smiles. This was a way to create relation-ships for the future of Honda.

The Power of Dreams: A key to our long term success

As I said earlier, my first job was in power equipment sales as a district sales manager in Chiba Prefecture in Japan. My responsibility was to make a dealer network in this area. This was in 1981 and I was basically a freshman Honda associate. I was focused on The Three Joys and especially The Joy of Selling, visiting a lot of dealers and trying to build good connections and good relationships. I would clean the floors of our dealers or find other ways to support their efforts. Now, I sometimes say the “four joys,” which includes the joy of relationships. That is what I was trying to create inside of our organization and with our dealers and other business partners on a global scale.

Even though more than 60 years have passed from the start of the company, we believe and we support Honda Philoso-phy, and that philosophy has helped us. I think the Philoso-phy was very fundamental and very basic, but covered quite a variety of the things. This Honda Philosophy answered the questions about the purpose of our business, how to react, how to work together, and how to make a good atmosphere. So, Our Fundamental Beliefs are untouchable and unchange-able — that is the foundation of Honda Philosophy.

It goes without saying that we want to continue to provide products, service and corporate activities that offer great value and satisfaction for our customers. The challenge is to continue, to never stop, to work with passion. When we talk about a Challenging Spirit it means that the company does not have a finish line. As in a race, an associate will pass the baton to the next associate so that Honda can continue to serve our customers and society.

We have The Power of Dreams to think of new, original ideas

for our customers and then work hard and challenge until we can make those dreams come true. Nurturing The Power of Dreams is also a responsibility we all share. By respecting each other and understanding each other based on values that we share together, such as Respect for the individual and teamwork, we must establish relationships with our custom-ers that are based on trust and respect. If that becomes love for each other, the Honda and Acura brands will reach the level we want. This is a key to our long-term success.

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N























Providing a place where I can do what I want to do as much as I want to do for myself — that is the real value of Honda. With this belief I have spent the last 34 years at Honda.

“Work for myself” can be rephrased as “How can I use the company for what I want to do.” Each and every Honda associate must think how we can make Honda a place where we can express our own dreams. That is because we cannot ever create products that provide our customers with joy and excitement unless we, who work at Honda, face our everyday work with vigor and enthusiasm.

We cannot experience the joy of working if we just manage to do routine work or allotted assignments day after day. “The Joy of Creating” comes into bloom only when we try an assignment that we didn’t think we could do or we didn’t think we would be given an opportunity to do. Work gets fun when we encounter an assignment that we can feel passionate about. Then we can put our heart and soul into the work to the point where people around us get amazed by how far we go.

“In nature, humans are free and individualistic beings who think and create for the realization of the dreams and hopes they nurture.” This is how we view and describe individuals for Our Fundamental Beliefs of “Respect for the individual.” Our view of individuals remains unchanged in different countries and cultures. It is a universal and timeless truth. When we think freely and act based on our own beliefs, we can be most vibrant. The same is true when we face our work. We can generate unrestricted and creative results when we work to realize our own dreams while cherishing our thoughts and passions. More than anything, it has been proven by the work of Honda associ-ates who came before us to create Honda history to this point.

We nurture our dreams and hopes and create a new world

of manufacturing while involving our fellow team members at the workplace, suppliers and even the society we live in. I believe that this is “The Power of Dreams” that Honda boasts to the world.

Think of the value of Honda’s existence through our work at the spot

In the 90s when I got an opportunity to take on a full-fledged challenge toward my dream. I was appointed as the LPL for the development of the first-generation FIT. I was entrusted with a mission to develop a vehicle that would realize the world’s highest-level fuel economy at that time.

The moment I heard the words “world’s highest,” I knew it would be interesting and thus I jumped at this challenge. Striving to get to new heights where nobody else in the world had been before would be like an athlete taking on challenges to win a gold medal in the Olympics. I thought it would be quite thrilling. I rose to this challenge thinking that there is nothing else so worthwhile, if the company is giving me an opportunity to realize such a dream and willing to assign budget and team members for this project.

By the time I joined the project, the engine team already had started the development. With my background in the area of chassis development, I was expected to envision the ideal of this vehicle which would be equipped with an all-new engine that realized the world’s highest-level fuel economy and realize such an ideal as a mass-production vehicle.

I jumped into the development team, however, in contrast to my passion, the reality was more severe than what I imagined. Obviously, realizing the “world’s best” was not so easy. We held about two evaluation meetings a month, but my plans were rejected almost every time. In addition to the numbers in the vehicle specifications and fuel economy,

the core element of the development — How to express the epoch-making value Honda will propose to the world with this vehicle — did not get a green light for a long time.

Day in and day out, I had vigorous discussions with my fellow team members about Honda’s raison d’etre and how we can interpret it to express it with our product. We spent days and nights discussing such things and we spent a busy several years. However, I never became embittered. I was doing this project for the company, our customers and society; however, more than that, I always had a feeling that I was given an opportunity to do this for myself.

After spending days and years in this way, not only myself, but each and every member of the development team started naturally thinking of Honda Philosophy without getting into great big concepts such as “Our Fundamental Beliefs” or “The Honda Company Principle.”

New ideas that break the usual common sense about small cars

As we pursued the development concept, we started to see the final form of the small car that can serve as a bench-mark in the new era. What we saw was a simple car unique to Honda that all users could feel very close to in their everyday life. We also had to fulfill customers’ strong demand for a more environmentally-responsible and economical car.

For us, that was not enough. We knew that development teams of other automakers would think something similar. We could not call it the “world’s first small car” with confi-dence unless we realized innovativeness unique to Honda and our dream to build a small car that creates the future. Therefore, I self-imposed another challenge to realize a cabin space that breaks the usual common sense about conventional small cars. I raised the bar even higher know-ing our existing ideas would not let us get there.

After a process of trial and error, we came to the conclu-sion, which is the “center tank layout.” This is how we created the Global Small Platform that holds a fuel tank in the center of the body.

Inspiration for this new idea came from a small discussion. We were discussing how we could flatten and store rear seats more easily. To do this, we had to move the fuel tank. Where to? I spent many days staring at the layout chart and agonized over what to do. But one day, I came to notice that there was a space underneath the front seat. I started thinking that a fuel tank might fit in this space where we had placed a shoe tray and other things. I knew it was a somewhat brute-force try with the hope of break-ing conventional wisdom.

The first ones who frowned on my proposal were the mem-bers of the development team. I couldn’t blame them. In order to incorporate my idea, they would have to start over with the layout design which was already getting to the final stage. However, I could not give up my idea. If I did not maintain my initial determination to pursue this project for myself to the point where I would have no regrets, I might have prioritized my feeling of “too late to make a change.” If managers had any hesitation or anxiety, we had no way of convincing other team members.

Fortunately, after long discussions, my team members agreed and rose up together to take on the challenge to break with conventional wisdom. This is how we realized the Global Small Platform with the center tank layout. We could do this because all members shared the mindset to want to create a small car that our customers really want.

The combination of my belief — I work for myself — and the passion of the team members — we want to see happy faces of our customers — led to this result. It was the moment when Our Fundamental Beliefs — Respect for the individual and The Three Joys — became inextricably linked.

When I joined Honda, my senior associates and bosses said, “Do what you want to do” and “Work for yourself.” To this date, I have been working while taking their words at face value. I would like to ask all of you to think of your own raison d’etre at your workplace. “What is the value of my existence here?” Please pursue this question at the spot of your work. There is no set answer to this question. Each of you must find the answer to this question in your work. When you pursue it all way to the end, you will find a solid Honda Philosophy that only you can draw.

I would like all of you to convey what you found to your fellow team members with your own words. That is my earnest hope.

The Power of Dreams for everyone who works at Honda

YoshiyukiMatsumotoSenior Managing Officer and DirectorChief Operating Officer, Automobile OperationsExecutive in Charge of Quality Innovation, Automobile Operations

035034




















































Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N

























037036




















































• Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015 (current)• Senior Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015 (current)• Chief Operating Officer, Automobile Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.,

appointed in 2015 (current)• Executive in Charge of Quality Innovation for Automobile Operations,

Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015 (current)• Representative of Development, Purchasing and Production (Asia & Oceania),

appointed in 2013• Executive Vice President, Asian Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2013• President and Chief Executive Officer, Honda Motor India Pvt. Ltd.,

appointed in 2013• Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2012• Executive in Charge of Business Unit No.3 for Automobile Operations,

appointed in 2011• General Manager of Suzuka Factory for Production Operations, appointed

in 2009• Operating Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2006• Joined Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in 1981

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N

























PROFILE / Yoshiyuki Matsumoto

039038






























Applying Our Fundamental Beliefs — Respect for the individual — to our everyday work

YoshiYamaneSenior Managing Officer and DirectorChief Production OfficerRepresentative of Automobile Development, Purchasing and Production, Automobile OperationsHead of Automobile Production, Automobile OperationsRepresentative of Automobile Development, Purchasing and Production (Europe Region)























Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N

I joined Honda Engineering in 1985. Back then, at the spot of production, we were competing with each other for how efficient we can be in different areas of production. Thirty years have passed since then, and such conventional pursuit of efficiency seems to have advanced as far as it can go. If so, how are we supposed to enhance our compet-itiveness at the sport of production for this century? The key to set a course for a breakthrough is to broaden the horizons of our ideas. We cannot increase efficiency in each individual area any more. We need to takes on challenges boldly to address issues for the entire vehicle, which requires coordination among different areas. It is an era where only companies that take on this challenge can carve out their future.

In my career to this date, I have experienced several watershed moments as a leader of a team. In all of the projects I was involved with, I always set high targets and took on challenges together with my team members. Based on such experiences, I would like to share my thoughts on Honda Philosophy.

Increasing our competitiveness by 30%! Changes made through “playing catch” among project members

In 2008, when I was leading the Yorii-Ogawa Project, we made efforts to reduce the amount of energy used to build one vehicle by 30% or more in actual measurement. In addition, we strived to increase production efficiency by 30%.

When I proposed these 30% targets, some of the project members voiced objections against setting such high targets. At the beginning of the project, we “played catch” again and again by throwing a “conversational ball” back and forth in the form of discussions. We started discussing ongoing production issues, and our repeated discussions ended up generating a lot of ideas that changed our

production processes significantly. Those were ideas gener-ated as a result of serious thinking by many project mem-bers who work “at the spot.”

We felt strongly about the plans we came up with, and therefore many ideas were brought to realization. Espe-cially, technologies that enabled us to realize a 30% reduc-tion of energy use drew attention not only in the automo-bile industry but by manufacturers in other areas, and we were honored with the Environment Minister’s Award.

Before the project moved on to the implementation phase, I was assigned to China. I still regret that I could not share the difficult challenge of realizing those targets with my fellow project members.

In 2012, I was appointed as General Manager of the Suzuka Factory, succeeding Hachigo san. At Suzuka, I worked on the establishment of the SKI (Suzuka K Inno-vation), which was an initiative to integrate development, purchasing, production and sales functions at Suzuka, at the spot of production, making it a self-contained opera-tion for mini-vehicles. In the face of the “real place,” “real things,” and “real situation” of Suzuka, active discussions are getting done by an extended “Team Honda” that includes the internal Honda team from different areas as well as many suppli-ers. Even now, they are aggressively “playing catch” with their ideas.

Strength of respecting individual and trusting each other

In the initial stage of these projects, we threw a lot of wild pitches and moving fastballs, and it took a while for us to stabilize the trajectory of our pitches. Our target was “30% improvement,” and we all knew we could now attain the target with common-sense ideas.

We threw many absurd ideas knowing that they were going to be wild pitches. However, after playing catch again and again, we started getting some pitches in the strike zone, and eventually we were able to fix the direction we should aim. When this happened, team members started getting increasingly unified and became monolithic. Even among team members who did not have complete trust to each other at the beginning of the project, mutual trust was established and increased gradually. As a result, we started giving full attention to ideas and proposals brought by our fellow team members.

By this time, each and every member had developed a sense of responsibility or a mindset of wanting to contrib-ute to the team. Putting aside our differences in position and status, all team members contributed in discussion of how we could pursue the direction we decided to take. Then our numerical results began moving toward our target numbers one step at a time. And now, finally, we started having a prospect for the attainment of our target.

As I closely witnessed this process, I strongly felt the fundamental strength of Honda, and as I put more thought into where the driving force of the team comes from, the words “Respect for the individual,” which is a part of Our Fundamental Beliefs, came across my mind. I realized that when each member of a large team maintains his/her own individuality and when we respect each other’s individuali-ties, we can generate the “power of trust” beyond our expectations.

Unlike “The Three Joys” which comes with more concrete descriptions, the belief of “Respect for the individual” is very profound and philosophical, and therefore we tend to view it more ideologically. However, if we cannot actually feel it in our everyday work, the great belief turns into a “decorative treat” (no practical value). We must make Our Fundamental Beliefs substantial and concrete and then simplify it.

I believe that the basis of “Respect for the individual” is mutual trust. Needless to say, each individual must have their own initiative and respect each other’s equality as the basis for building a relationship of trust. Trust means accepting each other’s individual characteristics and taking the words of others seriously regardless of their titles and field of expertise. If we think of “Respect for the individu-al” in this way, it never becomes ideological or impractical. I believe that “Respect for the individual” is one of the most basic ideas that we can actually feel and confirm every day at our workplace.

The Art of Manufacturing is about developing people That is where the unique characteristics of Honda get demonstrated

For our automobile business, human resources from Saita-ma Factory and Suzuka Factory have played a central role in supporting production operations outside of Japan. Veteran associates from Japan have conveyed characteris-tics that make Honda unique to other parts of the world. However, as our business expands significantly in both scale and geographical coverage, relying completely on the conventional pattern of spreading everything from Japan is not sufficient any longer. Each of the regional operations must develop their own human resources, and we must let more young associates who can fill veterans’ shoes play a central role in continuing to create unique characteristics of Honda that fit with the times.

Experience helps people grow. Those of you who are reading this publication must be keenly aware of that fact from your own experience. It is the job of managers and executives to prepare a stage where associates in each region, especially young associates, can think and start taking actions on their own initiatives and watch out for them.

Our Fundamental Beliefs — Respect for the individual — is a concept that holds a universal value that goes beyond national and regional boundaries regardless of the times. I place high expectations on managers and executives to demonstrate your talent so that Honda can continue to grow further as a truly global company which is built on the cornerstone of “Initiative, Equality and Trust.”

041040




















































Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N





















043042




















































• Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015 (current)• Senior Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015

(current)• Chief Production Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015

(current)• Representative of Automobile Development, Purchasing and Production for

Automobile Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015 (current)• Head of Automobile Production for Automobile Operations, Honda Motor

Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015 (current)• Representative of Automobile Development, Purchasing and Production

(Europe Region), appointed in 2015 (current)• Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014• Head of Automobile Production for Regional Operations (Japan), Honda

Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014• Head of Production Supervisory Unit of Automobile Production for Regional

Operations (Japan), Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014• Representative of Automobile Development, Purchasing and Production

(Japan), appointed in 2013• General Manager of Suzuka Factory of Automobile Production for Automo-

bile Operations, appointed in 2013• General Manager of Suzuka Factory for Production Operations, appointed

in 2012• Vice President, Honda Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd., appointed in

2010• Responsible for Production for Regional Operations (China), Honda Motor

Co., Ltd., appointed in 2009• Operating Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2008• Responsible for Production Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed

in 2008• Joined Honda Engineering Co., Ltd. in 1985

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

HM

/JA

PA

NG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

HM

/JA

PA

N





















PROFILE / Yoshi Yamane

045044




















































Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA

Global Leader Talks

NORTHAMERICA

047046

Senior Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (North America) ,Honda Motor Co., Ltd.President and Director, Honda North America, Inc.President and Chief Executive Officer, American Honda Motor Co., Inc.





























Takuji Yamada


Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA

049048






























Why Honda Philosophy matters

Honda Philosophy was created when Honda was a very small company. Today, it is a global company, but fundamentally, nothing has changed. It was very important for a global company to have a common framework to operate under. So, the fact that this Philosophy has lived on and has been devel-oped and integrated into all of the Honda subsidiaries, or genpos, around the world is really important because, as a result, Honda associates everywhere are speaking with one voice.

Honda Philosophy has survived and advanced because people appreciated the fact that Respect for the individual is one of the underlying philosophies of the company. A company is made up of people. If we respect those people, then the company can do just about anything.

Our philosophy is still relevant today, because the same principles upon which Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa founded the company have not changed. We still want to create joy for our customers. We still want to enjoy our jobs,

creating things. And we still want to have joy for the custom-er buying our products. Nothing has changed, other than we have become a global company, and therefore the challenge to our management team, of course, is to spread that message throughout global Honda.

A common language

As a global company, it is important to have common language among all Honda associates all over the world. One good example was in 2013, when I was in London visiting my daughter, and I met one of her friends. As we sat and chatted he was using all kinds of expressions that sounded very, very familiar to me. Well, amazingly enough, he was working for Honda of the UK Manufacturing. And I said, “Well, I work for Honda Canada,” and you can imagine how the rest of the evening went. It is incredible to think that it does not matter where you go in the world Honda people are speaking with the same language, with the same values, with the same philosophy.

I think it is important to love what you do. What I do is try to live up to Honda Philosophy each and every day, not only at work, but also in my personal life. And I think that it is really important for each one of us to seriously consider doing the same thing, because that way we will build a stronger Honda, and a Honda that will last for many, many lifetimes.

Living the Philosophy

Mr. Honda once said, “Philosophy without action is worth-less.” And I absolutely agree with that. The Philosophy is very, very important. It is a pole star. It is a direction. It is the way. It is the guiding light by which we have to operate our company. But we also have to turn that philosophy into action. If we do not live that philosophy each and every day, then the Philosophy becomes meaningless. So, I think one of the challenges for me and for all of our management team has always been to live the Philosophy each and every day so that our associates understand through our actions, not through our words, what Honda Philosophy stands for.

I think a good example came during 2011. We had some terrible situations happening to us, certainly, in Japan with the earthquake and tsunami, and the effects of that from a global point of view. And it really tested our capabilities in terms of our Challenging Spirit, because at that time, our business was being impacted. So, we made sure that every-body who was involved, all of the stakeholders, were well aware of what was going on, even though most of it was out of our control. As a result of that, we came through this real challenge in 2011 as a much smarter company, and with a much closer relationship with our dealers and with our associates.

That was a very, very tough year for everybody, one of the things that we had to ensure was that we protected our associates, even through that very, very difficult time. So, unlike any other company, we respected each and every associate.

The opportunity to learn

Forty years ago, I did not know anything. So, everything that I have learned has been during my 40 years with Honda. Honda has given me the opportunity to learn. I think that that is an amazing attribute for any company, because I was not judged at any point on success or failure. I was always judged by how hard I tried to find a solution to a problem. Every time I was transferred to a new department, I would tell my boss, “But I don’t know anything about this area.” And he would say, “You’ll learn.” The desire to learn still drives me. Honestly, I learn something new every day.

There are two things that I would want to pass on to anybody who joins the company. First of all, your dreams can become realities if you work hard enough. And secondly, challenge everything. It is the Challenging Spirit that has always driven Honda and differentiates us.

Carrying on Honda Philosophy to the next generation

One of the differentiators between Honda and other compa-

nies has always been our undying focus on the customer. We have to make sure that customers are totally satisfied with our product and that, in fact, we exceed their expectations. The challenge for Honda or for any company is that custom-er expectations are constantly changing and, unfortunately or fortunately, they are changing in the way that they demand more and more. Our job as a company is to continue to meet and exceed those expectations. We have to stay ahead of the customer.

Honda is now more than 60 years old. And the fundamental philosophy has not changed. But what we have done is adapt to the new realities of the world, and we have adapted to the new realities of younger people coming in with different lifestyles, different expectations from the company that they work for. So, it is really important for us to adapt the Philoso-phy to those new realities. It is up to us as a management team to show how convinced we are, and how committed we are, to the Philosophy through our actions and to pass this Philosophy on from generation to generation.

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA

051050



































A common language














Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA

053052

• Senior Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015 (current)• Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (North America), Honda Motor

Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014 (current)• President and Director, Honda North America, Inc., appointed in 2014

(current)• President and Chief Executive Officer, American Honda Motor Co., Inc.,

appointed in 2014 (current)• Vice President and Director, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Ltd., appoint-

ed in 2012• Managing Officer and Director of, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2012• Chief Operating Officer and Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in

2011• Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2008• Chief Operating Officer, Power Product Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.,

appointed in 2008• President and Director, Honda Motor Europe (North) GmbH., appointed in

2006• Executive Vice President and Executive Officer, American Honda Motor

Co., Inc., appointed in 2005• Chief Operating Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2005• Joined Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in 1980





























PROFILE / Takuji Yamada


Member, North American Regional Operating BoardExecutive Vice President, American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

John Mendel

Our enduring culture

I think it is very difficult for many in the company to under-stand how special Honda Philosophy is. To have not only a patriarch and founder, but to have a guiding principle that is so enduring and so sound and so relevant in a company and the ability to pass that on from generation to generation. Having Honda Philosophy as a north star is unique. Honda Philosophy was not something that was developed by consul-tants. As someone who has worked in different corporate cultures in different places, I feel Honda Philosophy is truly special. And making sure that people understand a) what the Philosophy means, and b) why it is so important and endur-ing, are difficult things for some associates to appreciate because we live it every day.

I wish that everybody could take a moment in time to experi-ence other cultures — not that those cultures are bad — but they are just not as enduring, nor do they pass the Philosophy forward to ensure that the next generation of leadership and associates understand it, deeply understand it. Honda Philos-ophy does not change every time a new CEO or a president

takes over. But we allow associates to shape it — not change it — but shape it to adapt to the current business environ-ment, the changing industry and the needs of our customers. This is absolutely paramount to our future success. The foundational aspects of Honda Philosophy are truly authen-tic and immensely important to our future.

The most impactful story I have about Honda Philosophy really happened in my first week with Honda. I had an occasion to go into a meeting, a very serious meeting with the president and CEO of American Honda. I was spending time with him and an executive vice president, attending meet-ings, and learning the ropes in my new position. We went into a meeting that, in any other organization, would have taken many hours. The normal protocol I was accustomed to would have been rafts of people discussing the pros and cons and merits of doing the right thing. But this was probably the shortest meeting I have ever been in. The problem was laid out in less than a minute, and the president said one thing: “If you were a customer, what would you want?” And, the first response was, “I’d want to be taken care of.” And he said, “Then it’s simple. That’s what we’ll do.” And the meeting was basically over. It is a very costly decision, but that single-minded focus on what the customer wanted really set the tone for me as a new associate with Honda and was instrumental in forming my opinion about Honda, and Honda Philosophy in practice.

The concept of “joy”

The word “joy,” I think, is not used so much in the context of business so it is a little bit different to the ear in the English language. But, I think what is important — and I think that word is very specific, it’s in there for a reason — is that joy is a very deep, emotional sentiment. It is not just “enjoyment,” it is not “appreciation,” it is “joy.” You have to embody “joy.” It has to come from within in order to really say, “I receive joy from doing something.”

The Three Joys are a powerful triangle. Think of The Joy of

Creating, that artistic or engineering creativity, it’s the deep emotional joy of being able to represent a company and products that you are really proud of. Then, think of The Joy of Buying from the customer standpoint and the joy that a customer gets from the quality, the security and safety that they get and the pleasure they get from owning a Honda. Those two Joys are fundamentally very important. And so is The Joy of Selling, the joy that our retailers get from repre-senting Honda, and selling our products to the customer, and their experience. When you knit together The Three Joys, and understand that every decision you make is dependent upon the balance of all three — you cannot have one or two without the other — it really helps guide the right decision, one that is good for the customer, for the company and for our retailers.

The Honda stories are unique in the industry. Customers write letters or come up and say, “Hey, you know, I had a Honda and I started 30 years ago with my first, and I’m now on my 10th.” Those are the stories that you would never hear from other manufacturers. So, I think that whole idea of joy is very purposeful and represents a very deep, emotional feeling that our customers, our retailers and we as Honda associates get from a job well done. The Three Joys is unique in the industry.

Respect as the foundation for success

The idea of respect is not just a social courtesy, but a respect for your ideas, and what you believe — whether or not we agree is not that important, but having the respect and the openness to accept ideas from others and that my ideas might not be the only ideas. You see that in operation every day, maybe not always to the degree that it should. Having the Respect for the individual is to be open to feedback, to be open to ideas and, more importantly, to be open to an answer other than our own one developed in our head. Hopefully when we are made aware of our deficiencies, we open our minds. Opening our mind is a very important action and is fundamental to The Joy of Creating and being successful.

I did not understand early on when I joined Honda just how accepting the culture was of conflict. And I do not mean conflict for the sake of anyone’s individual success or failure, but about the idea that conflict leads to a better solution, not just winning or losing. Because we have a fundamental respect for each other, we can talk openly and resolve conflicting ideas without being threatened. That is the tension within Honda, that challenging spirit that drives us to solutions that other people do not find. In other companies, it is either about my idea wins or your idea wins. At Honda, it is about the customer wins or the industry wins, because we find a better direction.

I think if I had to go back and start from a different plane of understanding, I would have probably more blindly trusted that that tension is not about ego or winning and losing but ultimately coming to the best solution — not a compromise — but a better solution.

The beauty of our core values

Honda Philosophy is the one thing that is fixed and perma-nent. We understand who we are and where we need to go. And we have a clear lens by which we judge everything, with Respect for the individual, with The Three Joys. Our retail-ers and our customers, they are the reason we are in business, to create customer relationships that endure. We talk about lifetime owner loyalty, and the industry looks at that as kind of a pipe dream. But if you think about Honda’s lifetime owner loyalty, for me, it is about creating customers that ultimately cannot envision a future without Honda in it in some way. That is, to me, the beauty of our core values and our philosophy.






A common language














Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA

055054



















































A common language














Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA

057056






























• Member, North American Regional Operating Board, appointed in 2013 (current)

• Executive Vice President, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., appointed in 2007 (current)

• Joined American Honda Motor Co., Inc. in 2004

PROFILE / John Mendel

















Member, North American Regional Operating BoardExecutive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Honda of America Mfg., Inc.

Honda Philosophy is our global language

One of the key advantages of Honda Philosophy and the core value structure is the one common bond among all cultures and among all peoples that work inside the company and around the globe. It gives us a common language, a common touch point, and a unique presence of teamwork to establish that foundation. I can go to any Honda facility in the world and I can see the basic tenets of the Philosophy portrayed in all of those environments and atmospheres. I know when I meet and see those Honda people that there is something that we have in common: an exposure to and an understand-ing of the Philosophy. It gives us that common bond, which I think gives us an advantage in terms of our teamwork and team orientation.

The one thing that always was very appealing to me about our founders and the Philosophy was the different ways that Mr. Honda or others would try to explain and express it. I would say one of the key things is to take the initiative to understand the Philosophy, apply it, discuss it, and influ-ence those around you; make sure that you understand it.

And, if you do not understand Honda Philosophy, pursue it with your own initiative in addition to any kind of develop-ment activity that we may offer on the company culture or philosophy.

When I first joined the company, the Philosophy was translat-ed from Japanese into English. We were given books, with the translations from Japanese to English. We were asked to study and talk about the Philosophy with our superiors and peers. I think that process really produced good understand-ing and good ability to apply the Philosophy. There were a lot of translations that had strange words, like even the concept of joy. A lot of people in North America think of joy in terms of Christmas time or some other context, and not necessarily in their work or their use of a product. Providing someone with joy means they are having just a fantastic experience with something that you have created or you have built. It is something that transcends everyday life. I think the fact that the Philosophy is based on those kinds of concepts is very appealing to our associates.

The other thing that has always stuck out to me was that Mr. Honda believed that action without philosophy is a lethal weapon, and philosophy without action is worthless. The Philosophy is not something that we only sit and discuss; it is something that we put into action. Placing the Philosophy into action is the responsibility of each one of us: to under-stand the Philosophy and then deploy it.

Honda Philosophy shapes our regional operations

The very establishment of our operations here in North America is one example of how the Philosophy has been deployed. We have a couple of tenets or principles that flow from that philosophy, and one is that we build products close to the customer. The other is that we purchase where we manufacture. So from that basic core philosophy and those basic principles of the company, we have grown into a very large operation in North America. We have expanded with confidence as we have followed those principles along the

way to develop into the company we are today. It’s a very big example of how we have put our philosophy into action.

Core values make Honda special

I think the three components of Respect for the individual that we talk about are trust, and that is mutual trust among people, which is the basis of our teamwork. And then equali-ty and initiative means exactly what it says, that we as associ-ates of Honda have the power, the authority as individuals to be able to take initiative and put our dreams into reality. At the same time, we are forging relationships built on trust, which is the core fundamental of our philosophy and our belief system at Honda.

The Respect for the individual tenet means that everyone’s ideas are respected. It does not matter what rank you are or where you came from. You basically have the opportunity with initiative to put forward your own idea, your own concept and know that people are not going to criticize in a way that is going to cause you to draw back, but are going to try to encourage you to continue to do that. And that atmo-sphere, that environment, is a very critical part of our culture, and it is something that I think is unique about our company.

I think it is critically important for us as associates to embrace these core values of the company, Honda Philoso-phy and the fundamental beliefs of the company. All leaders need to be able to translate the Philosophy, values and beliefs, not only through our words, but through actions for the generations that follow. What we have established at Honda is very special and I think in many ways Honda Philosophy can only be transferred from person to person. We all have to redouble our efforts to mentor and exhibit the behaviors, and acknowledge when we fall short in those areas, and improve. Doing so will allow us to build the environment that we need for the culture to flourish.

Achieving our dreams

Honda Philosophy is based on the human condition. The

Philosophy focuses us on the reliance on human relation-ships, communications and how important that is to our company. I would encourage our Honda associates and particularly the leaders to understand and embrace the Philosophy, because it is at the core of everything that we do. It is at the core of our uniqueness and the core of our compe-tiveness. We need to embrace it, understand it, and put it into action.

We may not be able to do this 100 percent of the time in every decision, but we have to continue to strive to do that so that we can further our culture and improve our company. It is basically the source of how we can achieve our dreams. In this way we can be the company that society, our customers, our neighbors, our friends — that everybody — wants us to be, and that can exist for the long term.

Tom Shoupe






A common language














Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA

059058




















































A common language














Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA

061060






























• Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Honda of America Mfg., Inc., appointed in 2014 (current)


• Joined Honda of America Mfg., Inc. in 1988


















PROFILE / Tom Shoupe

Member, North American Regional Operating BoardPresident and CEO, Honda Canada Inc.






A common language














Jerry Chenkin

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA

063062



































A common language














Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA

065064

Member, North American Regional Operating BoardPresident, Honda R&D Americas, Inc.

Respect for the individual is the foundation

When I first joined the company, I believed in the hierarchy type of structure where the senior manager tells the manager what to do, and the manager tells the next person what to do, or the team coordinator and so on. At Honda, there are different positions and we all play different roles in the company, but equality and Respect for the individual are really the foundation. We all wear white uniforms at R&D, we can approach each other at any time, any place, and the best idea generally wins out.

Truly, Respect for the individual is one of the core elements of our philosophy. Without it, nothing happens. With Respect for the individual, we are talking about respect for the customer, respect for the seller, respect for the person who creates the products themselves. You cannot do that without initiative — without truly understanding that you can create something from nothing — or without equality. I wish when I joined the company I would have understood that better and been a little more proactive so that my ideas could have come out a little sooner. Because I truly believe that initiative is

one of the fundamentals for the Philosophy’s success.

Our Company Principle starts with “maintaining a global viewpoint.” So, equality means all across the globe, across the world, different customers with different inputs and different methods for solving their problems. And finally, there is the trust to actually allow someone to execute it. Every time you make a new product, you are laying money down on the line to make some sort of a product. There is trust that the initiative and the equality that you put forth to solve a problem is going to really come to fruition. So, without Respect for the individual, Honda Philosophy could never actually come true.

Research and endeavor — the source of our innovation

Several years ago, I did a speech about innovation at an industry conference in Traverse City, Michigan. There was a panel question and answer session on the stage, and I found myself answering a question about Honda’s approach to innovation. I was quoting the Philosophy without even know-ing it, talking about the Three Reality Principle and the value of research and endeavor, about going to the actual place, about equality, initiative, trust and Respect for the individual and how all of this plays out in the innovations that we put into our technology and products. And the interesting thing was that they asked the same question to a competitor and he said something to the affect that: “Our innovation depends upon whatever the new CEO says.” This reinforced for me how Honda has a strong foundation with the Philosophy that other companies do not have.

When the founders created the Philosophy, they probably thought about corporate creep, and they thought, “We’re going to get bigger and bigger and bigger, and maybe we’re going to get set in our ways, and maybe we’ll get more conservative.” I think they always wanted us to challenge and have that small entrepreneurial spirit of a startup, try to get our ideas through the walls and keep punching and keep overcoming obstacles in order to achieve our dreams. You’ve

got to set those goals and you’ve got to strive to achieve them. That is what the value of research and endeavor means.

I think the founders talked about the value of research and endeavor because they were persistent. Soichiro Honda never gave up. Takeo Fujisawa never gave up. And many times in a multi-cultural company, especially if you are main-taining some sort of a global viewpoint for worldwide customer satisfaction, you might not get it the first time. You might make mistakes, you might make a proposal that some-body else does not get. Or you might try to advance a technology that fails. It is important to be persistent. It is important to be logical. It is important to understand the value of the research, and endeavor to carry it out, no matter what. And I think that is why it is written directly into the Philosophy. I do not think Mr. Honda wanted us to forget that.

The Three Reality Principle

One of the most important things at Honda is going to the actual place, the starting point of The Three Reality Princi-ple. This is critical in product development. Going to the actual place that the customer experiences or where the technology is occurring, actually understanding the situation, whether it is a technical situation or a customer situation, then being realistic about the solutions and putting them in place. This has a huge impact not only for me, but this is an important part for everybody within Honda to truly under-stand for us to actually create solutions to today’s problems. And by doing so, we create the path toward the future.

The Joy of Creating

When I first came into the company, I did not quite under-stand The Three Joys: The Joy of Buying, The Joy of Selling, The Joy of Creating. I think The Joy of Creating comes from realizing your dreams. A lot of times, you are dreaming of doing something and the joy comes from actually seeing it accomplished. And then seeing something get used, seeing

the joy of the person who uses it get reflected back to your initial idea, seeing your dreams come true.

But The Three Joys is more than just making a product that is truly great, that somebody really wants. What I have learned is that The Three Joys also means the joy of funda-mentals like safety or the environment, attacking deep issues that face the world. If you make a car that saves somebody’s life, either after a crash or through advanced technologies you avoided the crash in the first place, of course that brings joy to the person who bought that vehicle. It also brings joy to the person who sold that vehicle, and it it brings joy to the person who created that vehicle that we were able to save lives. So, The Three Joys is not just about creating something cool or having fun. It often transcends and becomes much more meaningful.

An enduring philosophy

Honda Philosophy has helped me think a lot more long term, rather than short term. The Philosophy is enduring and always talks about providing for society and wanting Honda to be a company that society wants to exist. Honda Philoso-phy presents us with a set of beliefs that requires constant study. It can be interpreted in many different ways, so you do not just read it once. You read it many, many times, and each time you get something different out of it. So, if I had to pass something on, I would say it is a continual study, and you can always learn from it. The words are there, but it is not so important what the words say as it is how we act upon them. It is about how we work. As Mr. Honda said, the words are worthless on a piece of paper if we as associates do not carry them out.

The Philosophy is enduring because you cannot get every-thing done in just one generation — it is never ending. One of the fantastic examples that we have involves the Challeng-ing Spirit of the members who dreamed up the aircraft and never said no. They always persevered and endured, and we respected their research and endeavor to proceed forward, to

create something out of nothing. The dream began in the late 80s but we never manufactured it or sold it until now.

I joined the company because of that aircraft. When I read about it in Aviation Week, I thought, “If a company can do that, and they are that challenging, they’re making robots, they’re making airplanes, what can’t they do?” So, from a challenging spirit, I think that really embodies what we can do. We will always seek to challenge and make better products to further advance society. We will always strive and challenge to create the next best thing, and it is never going to stop.

For the generations to come

Sometimes I think to myself, “How will we continue to make our dreams come true, the dreams that we put in place today that maybe we don’t have the technology to finish today, but maybe in the future would become possible?” So, the foundation of Honda Philosophy has to be the same for the next generation because my time will come to an end. Then, the next generation has to pick it up and run with the things that other people have started.

The reality is that a hundred years ago we were on horseback and before that it was on foot or wagons. And now we are in cars. What will it look like a hundred years from now? What will society look like? And why would society want us to exist if we did not have the dream to think about what they could become? The products of today are just a steppingstone to what can be, and what we can dream up. Mobility can advance social progress. And we as a company can create that future. That is the most powerful dream of all.

Frank Paluch


• President and CEO, Honda Canada Inc., appointed in 2013 (current)• Joined Honda Canada Inc. in 1975






A common language














PROFILE / Jerry Chenkin

067066













The Joy of Creating












Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA






A common language














069068


• President, Honda R&D Americas, Inc. (HRA), appointed in 2014 (current)• Joined Honda R&D Americas, Inc. (HRA) in 1992













The Joy of Creating












PROFILE / Frank Paluch

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA






A common language














071070

Member, North American Regional Operating BoardExecutive Vice President, Honda North America, Inc.

Honda Philosophy as a competitive advantage

Honda Philosophy is a competitive advantage. We are a global company. We have businesses in six different regions of the world. What we have, though, with Honda Philosophy is a common operating system. It ties us all together. It is what makes Honda act the same way in Southeast Asia as we do in North America, as we do in Europe, as we do in South America, and on and on. Honda Philosophy is a great gift that links us together. That is why it is a competitive advantage.

At the end of the day, if we do our jobs properly by applying Honda Philosophy properly, we are going to achieve the last three words of that company principle: worldwide customer satisfaction. That is our aim: Honda customers all over the world will find joy in the products that we give them, will like us, will like our company, and will be satisfied. We will exceed their expectations. The customers are the aim of everything that we do.

I remember back in the late 1990s, there was some consolida-

tion going on in the auto industry. Back at that time, auto companies were merging and everybody was wondering whether Honda would have to merge with someone … and who would it be? Our global president at the time came to Detroit for an auto show and was asked that question. He gave a very simple answer: “We are looking for friends, not relatives.” What he meant by that is, our culture is not going to mesh with another company’s. We are independent. We have our own culture. We will do business with and partner with other companies when it makes sense. We will be friends with them, but we are not looking for relatives.

“Why?” is the most important question

I have observed over the years with new associates, during their few months or maybe their first year of working in our company, that they get a little confused. And I think it is because they do not truly yet understand the culture, they do not truly understand Honda Philosophy. The Philosophy is behind a lot of the reasons that actions are taken or things are done in a certain way. So my strongest advice to new associates would be to ask “why?” Ask why we decided the way we did. Ask why we accomplished something the way we did. If you keep asking why, you are going to be able to learn from associates, about how they are thinking about Honda Philosophy, how they are applying the management policies, and Our Fundamental Beliefs. I encourage associates to talk among themselves and with their leadership, asking why. This is the way to understand “at the spot” how Honda Philosophy is being used and how it is being thought about.

As a current leader at Honda, I feel like the road was paved ahead of me by our previous leaders, starting with our found-ers and through years of Honda leadership. I feel a big responsibility for that. It is my responsibility to continue to travel on that same road, to continue to apply the same kind of thinking that the founders put in place, and to make sure that our actions as a company are consistent with that Honda Philosophy. It is a big responsibility.

I learned Honda Philosophy from those who came before me, and those lessons have been very valuable to me. Honda Philosophy has definitely shaped me and it has shaped my approach to how I have done my job over the years. I was very fortunate, maybe six or seven years into my career at Honda, to have a watershed experience that enlightened me about Honda Philosophy. It was a complicated situation between one of our operations and the local community. I was on the project team that was trying to solve the problem. We had several solutions and we offered them as choices for the president of the company. It was the first time I was to present to my Honda company president. One choice cost zero dollars. Another choice would cost Honda multimillion dollars. The decision was made in an instant, and the presi-dent said, “In this kind of situation, we have to do what is right for the community” and we took the much more costly approach. That really had an impact on me. I really came to understand how Honda thinks about how we apply our Philosophy to problem solving and to our relationships with communities. The experience has helped me from then on. Finally, when you boil it all down, what I really learned is the most important thing about Honda Philosophy? Be a good human being, do the right thing, do right by people. That is kind of what it says, and we should all try to do that.


Passing on Honda Philosophy is probably the most important part of our job; its not a choice. We can make and help make business decisions day to day. Those decisions are good and valuable. The most important thing we can do for the long-term health of Honda is to pass on Honda Philosophy.We should never lose Honda Philosophy. We should never dilute Honda Philosophy. Why? Because it is what makes us unique. The Philosophy is what gives us a competitive advan-tage in the marketplace, whether it is on the auto side or the power equipment side, or the motorcycle side, or any part of our business. We have a competitive advantage because we have this philosophy. The Philosophy has helped us to make all the innovations we have from the beginning of our compa-

ny all the way up to present day. So if that is the case, then taking us forward, we are going to need to apply the same Honda Philosophy in order to be leading edge and innovat-ing into the future.

Describing Honda Philosophy to a stranger

Honda Philosophy is a gift that has been provided to hundreds of thousands of Honda associates by the original founders of our company. It includes a method we use to satisfy our customers — that is most important — and to work together as a team. Honda Philosophy is all about people, all about humanity, all about common sense, and how we can work together with one goal in mind to satisfy customers.

Sixty years after it was first established Honda Philosophy is still relevant. At the core, Honda Philosophy defines the foundation of our culture. Our culture is very important to us, so that is why the Philosophy is important now.

Rick Schostek

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA






A common language














073072


• Executive Vice President, Honda North America, Inc., appointed in 2014 (current)

• Joined Honda of America Mfg., Inc. in 1987

Honda Philosophy as a competitive advantage

Honda Philosophy is a competitive advantage. We are a global company. We have businesses in six different regions of the world. What we have, though, with Honda Philosophy is a common operating system. It ties us all together. It is what makes Honda act the same way in Southeast Asia as we do in North America, as we do in Europe, as we do in South America, and on and on. Honda Philosophy is a great gift that links us together. That is why it is a competitive advantage.

At the end of the day, if we do our jobs properly by applying Honda Philosophy properly, we are going to achieve the last three words of that company principle: worldwide customer satisfaction. That is our aim: Honda customers all over the world will find joy in the products that we give them, will like us, will like our company, and will be satisfied. We will exceed their expectations. The customers are the aim of everything that we do.

I remember back in the late 1990s, there was some consolida-

tion going on in the auto industry. Back at that time, auto companies were merging and everybody was wondering whether Honda would have to merge with someone … and who would it be? Our global president at the time came to Detroit for an auto show and was asked that question. He gave a very simple answer: “We are looking for friends, not relatives.” What he meant by that is, our culture is not going to mesh with another company’s. We are independent. We have our own culture. We will do business with and partner with other companies when it makes sense. We will be friends with them, but we are not looking for relatives.

“Why?” is the most important question

I have observed over the years with new associates, during their few months or maybe their first year of working in our company, that they get a little confused. And I think it is because they do not truly yet understand the culture, they do not truly understand Honda Philosophy. The Philosophy is behind a lot of the reasons that actions are taken or things are done in a certain way. So my strongest advice to new associates would be to ask “why?” Ask why we decided the way we did. Ask why we accomplished something the way we did. If you keep asking why, you are going to be able to learn from associates, about how they are thinking about Honda Philosophy, how they are applying the management policies, and Our Fundamental Beliefs. I encourage associates to talk among themselves and with their leadership, asking why. This is the way to understand “at the spot” how Honda Philosophy is being used and how it is being thought about.

As a current leader at Honda, I feel like the road was paved ahead of me by our previous leaders, starting with our found-ers and through years of Honda leadership. I feel a big responsibility for that. It is my responsibility to continue to travel on that same road, to continue to apply the same kind of thinking that the founders put in place, and to make sure that our actions as a company are consistent with that Honda Philosophy. It is a big responsibility.

I learned Honda Philosophy from those who came before me, and those lessons have been very valuable to me. Honda Philosophy has definitely shaped me and it has shaped my approach to how I have done my job over the years. I was very fortunate, maybe six or seven years into my career at Honda, to have a watershed experience that enlightened me about Honda Philosophy. It was a complicated situation between one of our operations and the local community. I was on the project team that was trying to solve the problem. We had several solutions and we offered them as choices for the president of the company. It was the first time I was to present to my Honda company president. One choice cost zero dollars. Another choice would cost Honda multimillion dollars. The decision was made in an instant, and the presi-dent said, “In this kind of situation, we have to do what is right for the community” and we took the much more costly approach. That really had an impact on me. I really came to understand how Honda thinks about how we apply our Philosophy to problem solving and to our relationships with communities. The experience has helped me from then on. Finally, when you boil it all down, what I really learned is the most important thing about Honda Philosophy? Be a good human being, do the right thing, do right by people. That is kind of what it says, and we should all try to do that.


Passing on Honda Philosophy is probably the most important part of our job; its not a choice. We can make and help make business decisions day to day. Those decisions are good and valuable. The most important thing we can do for the long-term health of Honda is to pass on Honda Philosophy.We should never lose Honda Philosophy. We should never dilute Honda Philosophy. Why? Because it is what makes us unique. The Philosophy is what gives us a competitive advan-tage in the marketplace, whether it is on the auto side or the power equipment side, or the motorcycle side, or any part of our business. We have a competitive advantage because we have this philosophy. The Philosophy has helped us to make all the innovations we have from the beginning of our compa-

ny all the way up to present day. So if that is the case, then taking us forward, we are going to need to apply the same Honda Philosophy in order to be leading edge and innovat-ing into the future.

Describing Honda Philosophy to a stranger

Honda Philosophy is a gift that has been provided to hundreds of thousands of Honda associates by the original founders of our company. It includes a method we use to satisfy our customers — that is most important — and to work together as a team. Honda Philosophy is all about people, all about humanity, all about common sense, and how we can work together with one goal in mind to satisfy customers.

Sixty years after it was first established Honda Philosophy is still relevant. At the core, Honda Philosophy defines the foundation of our culture. Our culture is very important to us, so that is why the Philosophy is important now.

PROFILE / Rick Schostek

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

NO

RT

H A

ME

RIC

AGlo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksN

OR

TH

AM

ER

ICA






A common language














075074






A common language













Honda is now more than 60 years old. And the fundamental philosophy has not changed. But what we have done is adapt to the new realities of the world, and we have adapted to the new realities of younger people coming in with different lifestyles, different expectations from the company that they work for. So, it is really important for us to adapt the Philoso-phy to those new realities. It is up to us as a management team to show how convinced we are, and how committed we are, to the Philosophy through our actions and to pass this Philosophy on from generation to generation. Operating Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (Latin America), Honda Motor Co., Ltd.President and Director, Honda South America Ltda.President and Director, Moto Honda da Amazonia Ltda.President and Director, Honda Automoveis do Brasil Ltda.

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICAG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICA

Honda Philosophy leads us to be a sustainable company in the long-term

I recall a discussion I had with a person who sat next to me on a flight. He was a company president. He talked about business expansion, factories to be opened and closed and profitability, so, I asked him “why does your company exist?” He did not know how to answer it and remained silent until the end of the trip. After a few months, we met again and he mentioned that the question had made him reflect about the subject.

A company cannot exist only for profit, which would lead to decisions that are only focused on the short term. However, the biggest challenge for organizations is to be sustainable in the long term. The Philosophy helps us to have a clear view

about our purpose and what is important for us to continue existing for many years.

Based on Honda Philosophy, we invest in developing unique technologies for human mobility to create truly desired products. We work to have, each day, the trust of customers, partners and the society itself. Internally, we seek to create a culture focused on Respect for the individual. Undoubtedly, these unique Honda characteristics, developed under the pillars of Honda Philosophy, are fundamental differences that bring our business alive.

“The Three Joys” and “Respect for the individual” as guides to be a company society wants to exist

The Three Joys and Respect for the individual are the foundations of our Philosophy. To experience these values on a daily basis, I personally consider empathy an essential point. I always try to put myself in the other person’s shoes, understanding what they are feeling, their way of thinking and what is important to them.

As manufacturers, sometimes we think our product is perfect. But does the customer share this perception? What clients value most is not always what is important for the designer. Our product strategy must always take into consid-eration what each customer wants. This is not an easy task, especially in the automobile business, once we develop global models. The consumer profile for a particular product is quite different for developed and emerging countries. Empathy helps us to understand the differences between the needs and expectations of each customer group, so we can give them the best solutions. Empathy is also required in the relationship with dealers, suppliers and associates, which is fundamental to Respect for the individual and to keep offer-ing something better to society each day.

I had a valuable lesson when I was a director at the motorcy-cle factory in Manaus. An associate that graduated in Engineering, studying at night and working during the day,

asked to be assigned to an engineer’s function. Despite recognizing his effort and initiative, I decided to ask him to take the same assessment that we demanded for recently graduated engineers. Unfortunately, he did not pass. Many co-workers argued against my decision because they thought he deserved the position because of his efforts.

Honda Philosophy is about the equality of opportunity. Our commitment is to ensure that each individual can manifest their dreams and try to achieve them, based on their own initiative and ability. Thinking about this case, I could see more clearly how important it is to differentiate Respect for the individual from paternalism.

A simple way to describe Honda Philosophy is through our corporate vision. We aim to be a company that society wants to exist. Based on this, we work to create innovative products and solutions that make peoples’ lives better. However, it is not enough when customers want our products, it is neces-sary that our corporate activities also are desired. Our attitudes toward business partners, associates, the communi-ties in which we operate and the environment are essential to obtain this recognition from society. We want people to think “It is great that Honda exists.” Our Philosophy is the guide for us to succeed in achieving this vision, based on Respect for the individual and The Three Joys.

“Youthful Spirit” and “Challenging Spirit” to survive in difficult times and to create innovations

What differentiates a company from its competitors is not the amount of financial and physical assets or even its products, which can be easily copied. A truly sustainable competitive advantage is the organization’s culture, or the particular form of the company’s actions in its daily business. The Honda culture based on the Philosophy gives us unique characteris-tics and approaches which are our unique characteristics.

One of these features that I would like to highlight is the “Youthful Spirit” or “Challenging Spirit” that inspires each

of us to act with creativity and boldness in our daily lives. We are never satisfied with the current situation, and we give ourselves ambitious goals that require innovation and aggressive attitudes.

The business environment is changing at a fast pace. It is necessary for the company to reinvent itself every day. Espe-cially in economic crisis situations, the Challenging Spirit is even more relevant. We cannot think of timid solutions or just continuous improvement. In these difficult times, I get excited because we have the opportunity to pursue ideas that, at other times, would not be well accepted because they are too different. These are the moments when true innova-tion occurs.

Often, there is conflict between what is more convenient for us, as manufacturers, and what is the best for the consumer. In such cases, our decisions are always made by prioritizing customers. Honda is a customer-oriented company.

An important decision that serves as an example of this concept was to install, in the 1970s, our motorcycle factory in Manaus, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. It would be much more convenient to work in an already industrialized center of the country, however, at the time, the government encouraged companies to invest in the region through tax incentives. To build our factory in Manaus would enable Honda to offer products with higher quality at a lower price, which was best for our customer.

Many other decisions were made during the factory’s history focused on the customer, for example, product innovations, logistics improvements, more vertical structure for produc-tion processes and development of local suppliers. No doubt, the focus on the customer was the basis of those decisions.

The coexistence between different generations is the key to the succession of Honda Philosophy

In 50 or 100 years I do not know if cars will continue to exist.

It is possible that vehicles will not have wheels. The engine certainly will not be moved by internal combustion. But I am sure that Honda will be present, creating technology for mobility, focusing on meeting the wishes and needs of customers and society.

To make this happen, it is essential that young people under-stand and keep practicing Honda Philosophy. The coexis-tence between different generations is the key to this conti-nuity. Through the exchange of experiences, observing attitudes and the decisions of leaders and more experienced co-workers, the new generation will understand the value and meaning of the Philosophy. As a result, they will practice it in their daily lives.

Issao MizoguchiGlobal Leader Talks

LATINAMERICA

©C

erri

Film

es/U

lisse

s P

erei

ra

077076






A common language






































Glo

bal L

eader Talks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICAG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICA

078 079






A common language














• Operating Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014 (current)• Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (Latin America), Honda Motor

Co., Ltd. appointed in 2014 (current)• President and Director, Honda South America Ltda., appointed in 2014

(current)• President and Director, Honda Automoveis do Brasil Ltda., appointed in

2014 (current)• Senior Vice President and Director of Honda South America Ltda., appoint-

ed in 2012• President and Director of Moto Honda da Amazonia Ltda., appointed in

2012• Joined Honda Motor de Brazil Ltda. in 1985

























PROFILE / Issao Mizoguchi

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICAG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICA

081080

People — Connecting to Honda Philosophy

For me, Honda Philosophy is an absolute and unchanging principle. Contained within Honda Philosophy are condensed layers of insight gleaned over the years since the company’s inception. This is why I consider the Philosophy to lie at the root of all who work at Honda, fundamental to informing our objectives and shedding light on how we should conduct ourselves. In short, when making a decision, Honda Philosophy is a prime point to which you can return time and again, acting as a compass to guide the way forward.

However, we must not forget that a company is made up of its people. Therefore, I think it is the duty of all of us in Honda today to communicate and pass on the essence of Honda, which is condensed into Honda Philosophy, connecting

individuals to Honda Philosophy perpetually into the future.

Take the initiative and step into gaps

Honda Philosophy has been expressed and recorded in the form of fundamental concepts and corporate policy so that it can be readily accessed by anyone, but to put it in its most basic terms, it can be summed up as: “It is up to you: think, propose and act.”

First, a typical saying at Honda: “The person who suggests it is the leader.” As the saying goes, “Practice what you preach.” Honda has its own corporate culture that the person who first proposes something becomes the leader: the person who speaks up must take responsibility to be the first to take action. However, this is not to say that you can just say what-ever you like, or simply contradict the judgment or words of others. It is a prerequisite that what you say is constructive. I think it is only when all of these factors are in place that a free, easy and sustainable working environment can be fostered.

Second, “Reach Out” — this is the attitude with which you reach out and prevent your work from falling into a gap if it feels as though this is about to happen. A company is an organization. Roles and areas of responsibility exist for the smooth running of that organization. However, if you say “my role is this and only this,” and you do not take one step out of your area, your work will not connect with others. This can give rise to crucial gaps and omissions.

To use an analogy, in a group of circles in which one circle represents each individual’s respective responsibilities, there will be gaps at the edges where the circles come together. It is by personally taking the initiative and stepping into these gaps that your work will connect with those of your colleagues. This is because when the responsibilities repre-sented by the circles overlap, we are able to complement each other’s work and drive forward further together than we would be capable of if we only stuck to the prescribed param-

eters of our roles. It is a common saying in traditional Japanese culture that “the protruding nail gets the hammer.” We should not forget that Honda culture, however, is one where “the protruding nail does not get hit, but gets praised”: going beyond one’s roles and responsibilities, in a construc-tive way, is encouraged.

Formative experiences

I would like to share two personal experiences that I have had in relation to the above.

I chose Honda as the subject of my university graduation thesis. As part of the process, I read many books that had been written about the company. I then happened to meet the author of one of these books, who introduced me to someone in Honda’s PR department. I immediately phoned the PR department, but the person whose name I had been given knew nothing of my reasons for calling and in the end hung up on me, saying “What? A student? We’re busy here. I don’t have the time to talk to a student!” I was astonished to be treated in this way. Even if I was a student, I was interested in Honda and researching the theme for my gradu-ation thesis. And, what’s more, I was driving a CIVIC at the time, so I was actually a customer.

Indignant at this person’s response, I thought “So, that’s what sort of company Honda is!” Interestingly enough, however, the more I learned through my studies about the company’s founder, its corporate culture and its way of thinking, the more I came to think what an interesting company it was, and how I would like to work there, to the point that I decided to take the company entry examination. As part of the entry examination process, there was a group interview. At the end of the interview, the HR person in charge asked a question. I put up my hand. I proceeded to talk about the company’s response when I was putting my thesis together and said that I thought it was a terrible shame. Although it had been cathartic to have said my piece, deep down I thought that I had perhaps spoken too frankly, and probably ruined my

chances of getting into Honda. After all, no one else in the group had said anything like it. However, to my surprise, that day I received a call and a provisional job offer. Feeling that it really was an interesting company, I decided to accept.

About two years after joining the company, I was sent to a regional sales office. One day, the head of the office suddenly told me to attend an external meeting. It turned out to be an important meeting of the Automobile Dealers Association. In attendance were all the presidents of other automaker dealerships, all about my father’s age, if not older. I was 23 or 24 at the time. During the meeting, I was asked to express my opinion about a topic under discussion. “What does Honda think?” Put on the spot, all I could do was say, “I am here today standing in for my Director. I will take this matter back to the office and discuss it with him.”

The following month, and in fact every month after that, I was, for some reason, dispatched to the same meeting on my own. From the second occasion onwards, I thought that if I was going to attend as a representative of Honda, then I had a responsibility to speak for the company, to go beyond my role — and I made preparations accordingly.

To conclude, my Director had deliberately created an oppor-tunity for me to think of things from the point of view of a representative of the company. With each meeting I grew in confidence, and in the end was able to boldly express my opinion as a Honda representative. I feel this and other similar experiences have caused me to grow. To this day, I am grateful for the education that I received from that “Hon-da-style” Director.

Don’t miss the chance to grow

The experience I have shared here could be described as “being thrown in the deep end”(— in other words having your back against the wall and having to rack your brains for a solution), but it is also a classic example of a Honda-style way of encouraging growth. I was given the opportunity to

think for myself. I was put in a place where I could speak for myself. I was urged to go beyond a prescriptive role and to represent Honda as a company. In the midst of this, I felt a sense of responsibility and, thinking that I somehow had to do it, I made tenacious efforts to find a way to do so. All of this resulted, I feel, in my growth as a person.

In my view a Honda Philosophy-based way of approaching work is in great harmony with reason. But Honda Philosophy is not just about reiterating what somebody else has said. It is crucial that we live the Philosophy through our own personal experiences.

I think that my role and responsibility now is to create an environment where this can be done. Circumstances (Oppor-tunities?) similar to what I experienced are certain to come your way. I wholeheartedly hope that you will not let them pass you by, and that you will take a dynamic, forward-look-ing approach to all that you do.

Member, Latin American Regional Operating BoardVice President, Honda South America Ltda.Vice President, Honda Automoveis do Brasil Ltda.

All associates should “carry their own torch” and work with their team

Honda Philosophy is essential to create a reference of how the company wants to be, act and also how it intends to be recognized by society.

From a management point of view, the Philosophy is import-ant when we face difficulties. In such situations, often, the right answer is not clear, and the Philosophy is essential to assure that decisions and actions will be taken aligned with the company’s direction. The Philosophy’s role is not only important for the management level. Honda usually gives freedom to all associates to develop their work and projects, regardless of their level, experience, age and gender. In order to have this kind of freedom, the Philosophy becomes even more important for each associate to take action at the gemba, aligned with the principles and company values.

A concept that makes a lot of sense to me, which I learned from Takeo Fujisawa, is called “Carry your own torch” what relates to how each associate should take the initiative,

always with confidence. Carrying your “own torch” means: to act according to your ideas and identity, working with your team, to pursue what is best for the customer. In addition, an enterprise, or even a professional, can only be ahead in terms of innovation and leadership, if they light their own way. You should not be guided by ideas and beliefs already developed by others. That is the importance of working based on carrying your own torch. Personally, I always try to reflect this principle in my work and approach to business, as well as I try to recognize people who have this spirit on the teams I manage.

At Honda we work based on the Philosophy. And this same kind of reference exists in other companies with different names, for example, mission, vision and values. It took me a while to understand why Honda associates talked about it so much. It was something really common for the business management structures. However, day by day, I have learned the difference. Honda Philosophy is not only print-ed as beautiful pictures on the walls. We truly live the Honda Philosophy. Our decisions and ways of approaching the business are always based on it. We are committed to share it and practice it. For us, it is like the air we breathe, of course, in our daily actions.

To improve people’s lives and generate more joys for customers

Imagine a postwar scenario in Japan, scrap burning in a corner and destroyed buildings in rubble. Despite the chaos, everyone was looking for a new life. In this context, Soichiro Honda found enough energy to endeavor, move on, look for something different and make his own dream come true. Realizing his wife’s difficulty to travel long distances every day, he her bike with a motor, creating Honda’s first motorcycle.

Honda’s origin represents the essence of our Philosophy. Moved by The Power of Dreams and the sincere desire to improve people’s lives, we invest in creating technology that

effectively generates joys for our customers.

We try to do what is best for people. We want to maximize the joy of each customer or create joy for an increasing number of customers. With this principle, for example, we invested heavily to start up the motorcycle financing opera-tions through the Honda Bank. At the time, no financial institution operating in Brazil was interested in financing for our customers, especially in the north and northeast regions of the country, places with lower income. The Honda Bank pioneered new financing markets. Later other commercial banks were following this path.

A significant volume of our total motorcycle sales is financed by the Honda Bank. In Brazil, our motorcycle customers have difficulties in accessing credit to purchase goods. The belief in the need to serve the customer and improve their lives through our products, enabled us to make the decision to structure the operation of the bank for the two-wheel market and face the challenges in this activity. The greatest satisfaction from all this work is the customer’s joy in purchasing our product. In these remote areas we know some customer’s stories about how they store their motorcycles inside the house, in a room amongst their most precious possessions.

We can solve the problem through The Three Joys for customers, dealers and associates

Honda decisions are made on the basis of The Three Joys. We aim to create unique products and services that generate satisfaction for customers, dealers and associates. We know that our products and services will only be desired and will continue to exist if they can truly exceed the expectations of society.

An example of how this happens in practice was a challeng-ing situation that I experienced while I was head of motorcy-cle consortium operations, which is a self-financing system for our products, well known in Brazil. The consortium is an

important system which enhance The Joy of Buying allowing the customer, especially with low income, to access our products. At the time, there were a great credit availability on the market and the sales of new “consortium quotas” were in sharp decline. This situation represented a great risk to the continuity of the consortium and consequently for The Joy of Buying of our customers since in Brazil the credit availability changes fast.

We analyzed the problem and identified the cause as a lack of interest from dealers in selling new “consortium quotas” as they had more profitable alternatives. This situation required a quick and effective decision for The Three Joys to come back into balance. So, I have decided to change the business model increasing the incentive for sales quotas whenever the targets are accomplished. With this action, we managed to regain motivation for this type of financing, which today accounts for a third of motorcycle sales in Brazil.

Young people should develop professionally and build their career

It is essential to pass down Honda Philosophy to future generations in order to ensure the company’s long term survival. Young people, from the beginning of their career, should understand that professional development depends mainly on each person’s initiative. People who make a differ-ence love their work, and above all, are accountable for what they do. Certainly, the company must provide an environ-ment that values individual initiative, offering equal opportu-nities and promoting relationships based on trust, however, it is each individual associate who should assume the main role of their own career development process.

Roberto Yoshio Akiyama

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICAG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICA

©C

erri

Film

es/U

lisse

s P

erei

ra

083082
























• Vice President, Honda South America Ltda., appointed in 2014 (current)• Vice President, Honda Automoveis do Brasil Ltda., appointed in 2014

(current)• Member, Latin American Regional Operating Board, appointed in 2012

(current)• Joined Moto Honda da Amazonia Ltda. in 1999

All associates should “carry their own torch” and work with their team

Honda Philosophy is essential to create a reference of how the company wants to be, act and also how it intends to be recognized by society.

From a management point of view, the Philosophy is import-ant when we face difficulties. In such situations, often, the right answer is not clear, and the Philosophy is essential to assure that decisions and actions will be taken aligned with the company’s direction. The Philosophy’s role is not only important for the management level. Honda usually gives freedom to all associates to develop their work and projects, regardless of their level, experience, age and gender. In order to have this kind of freedom, the Philosophy becomes even more important for each associate to take action at the gemba, aligned with the principles and company values.

A concept that makes a lot of sense to me, which I learned from Takeo Fujisawa, is called “Carry your own torch” what relates to how each associate should take the initiative,

always with confidence. Carrying your “own torch” means: to act according to your ideas and identity, working with your team, to pursue what is best for the customer. In addition, an enterprise, or even a professional, can only be ahead in terms of innovation and leadership, if they light their own way. You should not be guided by ideas and beliefs already developed by others. That is the importance of working based on carrying your own torch. Personally, I always try to reflect this principle in my work and approach to business, as well as I try to recognize people who have this spirit on the teams I manage.

At Honda we work based on the Philosophy. And this same kind of reference exists in other companies with different names, for example, mission, vision and values. It took me a while to understand why Honda associates talked about it so much. It was something really common for the business management structures. However, day by day, I have learned the difference. Honda Philosophy is not only print-ed as beautiful pictures on the walls. We truly live the Honda Philosophy. Our decisions and ways of approaching the business are always based on it. We are committed to share it and practice it. For us, it is like the air we breathe, of course, in our daily actions.

To improve people’s lives and generate more joys for customers

Imagine a postwar scenario in Japan, scrap burning in a corner and destroyed buildings in rubble. Despite the chaos, everyone was looking for a new life. In this context, Soichiro Honda found enough energy to endeavor, move on, look for something different and make his own dream come true. Realizing his wife’s difficulty to travel long distances every day, he her bike with a motor, creating Honda’s first motorcycle.

Honda’s origin represents the essence of our Philosophy. Moved by The Power of Dreams and the sincere desire to improve people’s lives, we invest in creating technology that

effectively generates joys for our customers.

We try to do what is best for people. We want to maximize the joy of each customer or create joy for an increasing number of customers. With this principle, for example, we invested heavily to start up the motorcycle financing opera-tions through the Honda Bank. At the time, no financial institution operating in Brazil was interested in financing for our customers, especially in the north and northeast regions of the country, places with lower income. The Honda Bank pioneered new financing markets. Later other commercial banks were following this path.

A significant volume of our total motorcycle sales is financed by the Honda Bank. In Brazil, our motorcycle customers have difficulties in accessing credit to purchase goods. The belief in the need to serve the customer and improve their lives through our products, enabled us to make the decision to structure the operation of the bank for the two-wheel market and face the challenges in this activity. The greatest satisfaction from all this work is the customer’s joy in purchasing our product. In these remote areas we know some customer’s stories about how they store their motorcycles inside the house, in a room amongst their most precious possessions.

We can solve the problem through The Three Joys for customers, dealers and associates

Honda decisions are made on the basis of The Three Joys. We aim to create unique products and services that generate satisfaction for customers, dealers and associates. We know that our products and services will only be desired and will continue to exist if they can truly exceed the expectations of society.

An example of how this happens in practice was a challeng-ing situation that I experienced while I was head of motorcy-cle consortium operations, which is a self-financing system for our products, well known in Brazil. The consortium is an

important system which enhance The Joy of Buying allowing the customer, especially with low income, to access our products. At the time, there were a great credit availability on the market and the sales of new “consortium quotas” were in sharp decline. This situation represented a great risk to the continuity of the consortium and consequently for The Joy of Buying of our customers since in Brazil the credit availability changes fast.

We analyzed the problem and identified the cause as a lack of interest from dealers in selling new “consortium quotas” as they had more profitable alternatives. This situation required a quick and effective decision for The Three Joys to come back into balance. So, I have decided to change the business model increasing the incentive for sales quotas whenever the targets are accomplished. With this action, we managed to regain motivation for this type of financing, which today accounts for a third of motorcycle sales in Brazil.

Young people should develop professionally and build their career

It is essential to pass down Honda Philosophy to future generations in order to ensure the company’s long term survival. Young people, from the beginning of their career, should understand that professional development depends mainly on each person’s initiative. People who make a differ-ence love their work, and above all, are accountable for what they do. Certainly, the company must provide an environ-ment that values individual initiative, offering equal opportu-nities and promoting relationships based on trust, however, it is each individual associate who should assume the main role of their own career development process.

PROFILE / Roberto Yoshio Akiyama

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICAG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICA

085084
























Vice President, Honda South America Ltda.Vice President, Moto Honda da Amazonia Ltda.

We should create something beyond the customer’s satisfaction as an innovative company

Honda Philosophy is the most valuable legacy left by our founders, Mr. Soichiro Honda and Mr. Takeo Fujisawa. I see the Philosophy as our guide, one of the driving forces that ensures Honda’s growth, on which we base our initia-tives and actions, always valuing creativity, respect for people and the trustful relationship with them. The Philoso-phy is what essentially differentiates us as an innovative company, able to exceed the customer’s and society’s expec-tations. It ensures that our decisions and initiatives are oriented to our customers.

Why does a customer change from one brand to another? Often, because they are not really satisfied, but in other situations, this customer changes to a brand which can anticipate their wishes and offer more attractive products. So, it is extremely important that we give something beyond satisfaction. It is vital to keep up with social and cultural trends and bring innovation and added value, as well as to establish a good relationship with customer and with other

stakeholder. Each individual can express their best characteristics

Respect for the individual is a core value at Honda. And this is an important point for me. In our company environ-ment, we treat all associates fairly, regardless of their personal characteristics; each one is unique.

This is a point of difference for the company. Many people want to work at Honda and make it an objective to make a dream come true. When I joined the company, I had newly graduated in Engineering and started to work in the Prod-uct Engineering department. At the time, I thought the team would be composed only by engineers and I surprised myself by the fact that other professionals who did not have the same degree as mine were working in such an important function as mine.

One of the most important things about Honda Philosophy is that it does not standardize people, but allows associates to live in an open environment where each individual can express their best characteristics. Through this kind of environment, all associates work around the world connect-ed and guided by the same principles. When I travel to Honda units in other countries, I feel comfortable, because I see that we all have the same respect for the Philosophy everywhere in the world. I feel integrated with all company associates. At this point I see a connection between Honda Philosophy and the culture and values of a family.

The concept of 120% quality allows us to meet customer expectations

I remember a case where learning was very valuable. I started working in the Engineering area, with great focus on quality, which meant, in most cases, managing customer dissatisfaction. And, as I was responsible for the activity, sometimes it made me feel frustrated for not having all the compatible solutions to meet customer expectation at the speed we wanted. It was then that I clearly understood the

concept of 120% quality, a concept so widespread in Honda.

Why do we have to aim for 120% product quality? It may seem strange to achieve 120%, but I say this because, unfor-tunately it is impossible to deliver perfect product when planning 100%. We are human, we make mistakes and it is difficult to avoid 1 or 2% defects. No matter how many motorcycles have been produced with the highest quality, when even one customer receives a defective product, to that customer our product is 100% defective. When we heard a complaint, we knew that The Three Joys were not being realized, as The Joy of Buying was not being met. This concept is closely linked to meeting customer expecta-tions and customer satisfaction, something essential to win the trust of people and society.

I learned over the years the real meaning of the concept of the “joys,” which goes beyond the state of satisfaction. It is the awakening of people’s emotions, a feeling that touches the individual and makes them believe in our products. With that in mind, when we had an aluminum supply prob-lem at the plant we did not think twice to truly experience teamwork and seek solutions that demanded much of our challenging spirit.

Honda Philosophy gave us the courage to look at the prob-lem firmly, without giving up, since the entire lifecycle depended on this material. Causing trouble for production, we would affect the joy of our customers, who would not have the product, our Joy of Creating and also the joy of dealers, who would not experience The Joy of Selling. The beliefs passed down by Soichiro Honda allows us to see the big picture, helping us to understand that the results of our process impacts all stakeholders and, as consequence, the trust to our brand.

We managed to find a solution for the raw material issue maintaining the quality and, definitely, we realized the importance of always prioritizing the customer.

Honda decided to conduct a high cost recall to ensure customer trust

In 2008 we had one case with the Honda Biz motorcycle. There was a problem that could cause damage to the chassis in the case of severe conditions in motorcycle usage. At the time, in order to ensure client well-being, Honda decided to recall all the units of the model. At the time, I personally accompanied the process at dealerships. This was totally a decision based on Honda Philosophy, since the cost of this process is high. What determined our action was the relationship of trust we have with our customers and that should never be violated: if there is the possibility of any error to result in injury to our customer, we will always seek to correct it.

To our surprise, the demand for replacement of the compo-nents was below expectations. Talking to some customers, it was gratifying to hear from them that they did not believe that a defect could occur in the chassis of a Honda motorcy-cle. This was an example of how people respect our brand and have confidence in what we do.

Hope all associates have their own dreams and achieve people’s dreams

For future managers, I would like to highlight the impor-tance of a customer focus and trust with our suppliers, dealers, business partners and everyone who interacts with Honda, but, above all, the need to achieve people’s dreams. We want to continue being recognized as a company that offers products and services that fulfill people’s dreams.

Also, something I realized more clearly when I became a manager was that the key to the success of an organization lies in people. So, I talk again about Respect for the individ-ual. It is essential to create a pleasant working environment with a favorable atmosphere so that people can show their own characteristics, interacting freely in an open space for discussion and new ideas.

Júlio Akira Koga

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICAG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICA

We want people who work at Honda to have their own dreams, because dreams motivate people and encourage them to face challenges without fear of failure.

Honda Philosophy must be more than words. It only has value when all associates fully understand their concepts and can turn them into action. The best way to spread it is through our attitudes. Therefore, the manager should always have Honda Philosophy in mind.

©C

erri

Film

es/U

lisse

s P

erei

ra

087086












































Glo

bal L

eader Talks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICAG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICA



088 089
























• Vice President, Honda South America Ltda., appointed in 2015 (current)• Vice President, Moto Honda da Amazonia Ltda., appointed in 2015 (current) • Joined Moto Honda da Amazonia Ltda. in 1986

PROFILE / Júlio Akira Koga























Vice President, Honda South America Ltda.Vice President, Honda Automoveis do Brasil Ltda.President, Honda Energy do Brasil Ltda.

Understanding Honda Philosophy through the dedicated attitude of associates

Being in existence for a long time and continuing to grow is, undoubtedly, a challenge for any organization. A long term sustainable company cannot act by aiming for just financial results. Honda Philosophy is a group of beliefs, core values and principles that guide our actions, creating a unique culture and identity, which are our most important differential.

When I joined Honda there was not a huge promotion of Honda Philosophy as there is today. Despite that, it was possi-ble to understand the meaning by observing day by day how much each associate was concerned about satisfying the customer, and offering products with the most advanced technology and highest quality. I consider Honda Philosophy to be part of our core work environment and something that is essential to sustain our leading position.

Obviously, this culture can exist only in a company where, in the face of great challenges, people are professionally fulfilled with their work and truly feel pride and joy in contributing to

creating something unique. To achieve this, it is essential to have respect for our associates, their ideas and initiatives and maintain an environment of trust and teamwork.

Since I was 10 years old, I dreamed about Honda. This passion started with motorcycles, specifically with the introduction of the CB500 four, a great statement for the two-wheel segment. This bike was a reunion of all Honda’s key attributes: innova-tion, design, quality and the freedom of mobility. I dreamed about having one of those motorcycles, but my financial condition did not allow me to do so.

Later, when I received my Engineering degree, I started dreaming about working at Honda. I wished that I could contribute to the creation of these products that truly loved. To be able to join the company was a dream come true.

Over the years, my admiration for Honda has increased, once I realized that those values I admired were not only in the products, but throughout the company. I sensed them in the respect among co-workers, in the challenging spirit, in the constant quest for innovation and quality and in the dream of building a better world for future generations.

For me, Honda Philosophy is this passion and dedication that each associate has with the goal to achieve their own dreams.

Respect for the individual creates real bonds and commitment among people

When I was assigned higher management position, I realized that the team communication helps us to build a good working environment based on mutual trust. The more I dedicate myself to communicate the reasons behind the decisions, the more our associates feel free to expose and share their thoughts. The two-way communication, without levels’ barriers, brings various benefits to the business.

The open communication helps us understanding the problems in the gemba more clear and the solutions can be

implemented faster. People feel more recognized when their ideas are realized and generate better processes. The feeling of satisfaction, the joy and the trust are Honda’s characteris-tics and are very connected to the Philosophy.

The two-way communication also helps us to manage chang-ing situations. For example, we announced recently that the startup of the new plant in Itirapina is being postponed due to the economic environment, though it is almost ready for the production. Due to the trust between associates and manage-ment, the news was understood and the confidence in the Honda’s directions was kept.

The Philosophy can be easily understood through the image Honda projects to society. Today, in South America, we are recognized as a young, innovative company, that respects the customer and creates advanced technology, bold design and high quality products. Internally, we are known as a company that values people, which provides opportunity for develop-ment and challenge, creating a team that works with a strong will and dedication.

Honda’s image is the result of a corporate culture that on a daily basis strengthens these characteristics. Honda Philoso-phy is what sustains this culture, serving as a guide for the actions, decisions and behavior of each individual in order to ensure the long term existence of the company.

A culture that values each individual results in innovative projects from associates

A fundamental difference in the way we conduct business is the value we accredit to human beings and each individual in the organization. People are our main asset, they are the ones who create value and are able to build a company more and more desired by society.

Today, in a leading role, I understand that one of my main responsibilities is to convey the value of respect for human beings to other associates not through training or lectures, but

by my actions. In every decision I try to show my concern for people. Everyday I walk through the factory and talk to the associates at the gemba. We create an environment of equali-ty, all wearing the same uniform. Every month, I lead a meet-ing with production chiefs and leaders. It's a time that I dedicate to creating an open communication environment. We talk about the company’s situation, the market and quality.

This type of concern for people is being transmitted from person to person, at all levels, and thereby creates an environ-ment that values initiative, equality and trust. This approach of Respect for the individual, expressed in Honda Philosophy and practiced daily, is a major difference between Honda and other companies.

The way we make decisions is significantly influenced by Honda Philosophy. One thing I would highlight is the time for discussion given by the company so that people can express their ideas and opinions through Y-gaya meetings and a two-way communication culture. We believe in each associate’s initiative and the ability to dream. This creates a favorable environment for innovation at all levels of the organization.

The decision to invest in the Honda Energy project is a good example of this way of working. Based on the overall guidance of the company, and the commitment to reduce CO2 emissions, we started Y-gaya meetings with people involved under the sustainability theme. The purpose was to identify ideas to achieve the target set for reducing emissions. In one of those meetings, the idea of developing a wind power gener-ation park to meet the demand of the automobile factory of Sumaré came from an associate. It was a different, bold idea, fully aligned with the strategy and values of the organization.

In 2014, Honda Energy was created with the objective to reduce 30% of our factory CO2 emissions and generating a significant reduction in the energy costs. No doubt, the pride and joy in participating in an innovative project like this,

Carlos Eigi Miyakuchi

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICAG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICA

which came from our associates’ team, are feelings created by this unique form of decision-making, which allows associates to express and make their own dreams come true.

The hope that young people will understand Honda Philosophy and pass it down to the next generation

Young people have a need for speed in their career growth. What happens today: once they join the company, they imme-diately want to occupy a leading position. In addition, commu-nication is fast, and the majority of it is done by mobiles and social media, which reduces face-to-face interaction.

This drive and willingness of the young people may bring some challenges in learning and understanding the company culture. Therefore the promotion of Honda Philosophy to them is very important, so we can offer the new generations a solid foundation to help them direct their energy to creative and innovative solutions.

The Philosophy is what has been ensuring Honda’s existence up to today. It is also crucial for the company to continue creating unique products desired by customers. Young people who enter the company today will be the future leaders. They will be responsible for passing down Honda DNA. Our responsibility is to convey the value of Honda Philosophy, day by day, through our actions. Young associates will not accept the Philosophy if it is imposed. Even more than the older generation, to believe, they need to realize the value and, then, share with others.

©C

erri

Film

es/U

lisse

s P

erei

ra

091090
















































Glo

bal L

eader Talks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICAG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICA





























093092

• Vice President, Honda South America Ltda., appointed in 2015 (current)• Vice President, Honda Automoveis do Brasil Ltda., appointed in 2015

(current)• President, Honda Energy do Brasil Ltda., appointed in 2013 (current)• Joined Moto Honda da Amazonia Ltda. in 1984

























PROFILE / Carlos Eigi Miyakuchi






Glo

bal L

eader Talks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICAG

lob

al L

ead

er T

alks

LA

TIN

AM

ER

ICA

Senior Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (Europe Region), Honda Motor Co., Ltd.President and Director, Honda Motor Europe Ltd.

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

EU

RO

PE

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksE

UR

OP

E
























Toshiaki MikoshibaGlobal Leader Talks

EUROPE

095094

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

EU

RO

PE

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksE

UR

OP

E
























097096

When I developed strong awareness of Honda culture

“An action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philoso-phy without action is worthless.” As symbolized by these words of Soichiro san, Honda has always been a company with beliefs and what forms the basis of these beliefs is Honda Philosophy. I am concerned that it may be fading away in recent years, especially in Japan, but I believe that a strong empathy toward Honda Philosophy is something that Honda associates must never lose at any time.

I was in my late 20s and it was shortly after I came back from trainee in Portuguese when I developed a strong awareness of Honda culture for the first time. It was a very difficult era for the automobile industry which was suffering from stagna-tion after the collapse of the bubble economy in 1990. Then

the forth president Mr. Kawamoto was leading a radical reform of our business and corporate structures to improve the efficiency of our operations which was necessary for the survival of Honda. To give some concrete examples, we shifted toward the TQM (Total Quality Management) approach of working from the “KKD” approach — Kan (instinct), Keiken (experience) and Dokyo (courage/bold-ness). With the TQM approach, we strived to attain goals while strictly attempting to become more efficient and effec-tive. Another example was a ban against Y-gaya, which some people had pointed out takes time but does not come to a conclusion. I witnessed both a dynamic move toward forward and a backlash against the reforming of the structure of the company’s structure. As a whole that it required a temporary sealing off of the existing Honda culture. I remember that that was when I then realized for the first time that what we had been doing routinely as common practices was the deeply rooted culture of Honda, which cannot be changed without going that too far.

Our action and words are looking directly at our customers and society?

After that, I was given overseas assignments in some coun-tries such as Brazil and Mexico. Through such assignments, I was given opportunities to work closely — much closer than the distance I felt when I was in Japan — with executives who are responsible for local operations and other Honda execu-tives who came to visit these overseas operations. I After being inspired by their aspirations, their interpretation of Honda Philosophy and the decision making processes of top executives responsible for local operations, which I saw up close, I read every book written by the succession of Honda top executives including Soichiro san and Mr. Fujisawa and all of their statements and sayings I could find. I don’t think the succeeding top executives of Honda learned manage-ment and philosophy at school; however I was deeply impressed by the fact that a number of their sayings based on their own experiences reveal truth and what underlies their thoughts are customers and the lives of human beings.

That is why I care if the actions and words of associates who I work with at Honda are looking directly at our customers, people and society. If I don’t feel so, I have always asked the same question exhaustively…”Where are you looking when you talk?” I think perhaps I sometimes sounded like a “smart mouth,” however, I am grateful to my bosses and senior associates who accepted that part of me.

Same for Honda R&D…because I disagree with various things, there may be some people who think that I am “anti-R&D,” but that is not true. In fact, I believe that Honda R&D, where Soichiro san’s genius and exceptional talent are being carried on, is the core competence of Honda. And that is why I do not hesitate to say things and fight against them if I feel that what they are doing is not good for people who buy, sell and create our products. It is because I have very high expectations toward R&D and I absolutely dote on them.

Put our ideas together to please customers and achieve as a team — That’s Honda

This is also what I say all the time. I think that the original Honda Company Principle — Maintaining an international viewpoint, we respond to our customers’ requests and produce inexpensive products with excellent performance — expresses Honda’s thoughts very clearly. Therefore, when I was young, I used to propose to restore the original wording of The Honda Company Principle. I put this proposal on a “two-way sheet” and submitted it to my bosses every year.

Needless to say, as a manufacturer, it is important to produce good products with excellent performance. However, I think that what truly pleases those who sell our products and many customers is when such products are offered at low prices. The “inexpensive prices” here means “affordable prices,” in a more modern way of saying it. In other words, it means a “good deal” or “good value for money.” Tireless R&D efforts and technologies are necessary to create good products, and wisdom and ingenuity in every aspect of our

business activities including R&D, production and sales are necessary to create such products at low cost. Each and every Honda associate thinks hard and puts our ideas together to please our customers and contribute to society. That is what forms the backbone of Honda.

I felt this very strongly when I was stationed in Brazil for motorcycle sales in the mid-1990s. At that time, the inflation in Brazil finally started to level off and middle-class people accelerated their entry into the consumer market. As a result, the motorcycle market in Brazil was also expanding rapidly. That was when I become painfully aware of the gap between the passion of product development teams, which strived to enhance the specifications and performance of our products, and the reality of our customers who sacrificed many things to purchase a motorcycle on a 5-year installment plan. Manufacturers offer new features which we think are great, and as a result the price of the product goes up. On the other hand, customers want the product but a price increase is not acceptable. I heard customers’ earnest wishes all the time. In addition, I always got a fresh reminder of how customers attach critical significance to the reliability of our products which they buy as a once-in-a-lifetime event. No matter how outstanding the product is, it is meaningless unless customers can afford it. Obviously, such a product does not allow us to realize The Joy of Selling or The Joy of Creating.

Respect for the individual is universal in any societies

I was assigned to be in charge of Regional Operations (Asia & Oceania) in April 2014, and I have been based in Bangkok since 2014. Since I actually came here, I have been feeling that it is more important in this region than other regions to give more consideration to unique Asian social customs such as class and hierarchy when we practice Honda Philosophy and hand it down to the next generation of Honda associates in this region. At the same time, even in a society with such social customs, Our Fundamental Beliefs of “Respect for the individual,” which require us to respect each individual’s

unique existence, is universal. Therefore, it is important to practice Honda Philosophy in each country and at each “at the spot” workplace based on the Three Reality Principle.

As I said before, what is important for our future is for each of us to re-think what Honda and each of us must do for people and for society and continue pursuing them in our everyday work. Toward this end, it is critically important for us to respect others individual existence — including both the good and bad things about each individual — and build relationships which allow us to exchange honest opinions regardless of our positions, area of expertise or divisions.

• Senior Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2015 (current)

• Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014• Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (Europe Region), Honda

Motor Co., Ltd. appointed in 2014 (current)• President and Director, Honda Motor Europe Ltd., appointed in 2014

(current)• President, Guangqi Honda Automobile Co., Ltd., appointed in 2011• President and Director, Honda Motor RUS LLC., appointed in 2009• Operating Officer, Russia and other CIS countries, Regional Operations

(Europe, the Middle & Near East and Africa) ,Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2009

• Chief Operating Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2008• Vice President and Director, Honda Motor Europe Ltd., appointed in 2008• Operating Officer, East Europe, the Middle & Near East and Africa for

Regional Operations (Europe, the Middle & Near East and Africa), Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2008

• Joined Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in 1980

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

EU

RO

PE

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksE

UR

OP

E
























PROFILE / Toshiaki Mikoshiba

098 099









































Senior Vice President, Honda Motor Europe Ltd.Responsibilities for information technology and finance & accounting

Honda Philosophy binds us together as Honda

It is the glue, a common language that binds us together as Honda. It gives meaning to our customers, suppliers and our communities on how Honda views its place in the world and how it and we will act — it gives context to Honda’s goal of being “a company society wants to exist.”

As associates and managers it allows us to act within a frame-work with relative freedom prompting innovation and new ways of business and bringing joy with speed and concentra-tion. It provides cohesion in a multi-cultural, multinational business without — we can accommodate and encourage diversity and differences.

You can see Honda Philosophy in each associate and each action

I am relatively new to Honda — having joined from a large multi-national corporation. I read the Philosophy as part of my preparation for the interviews and having reviewed many corporate mission statements of other companies I met it initially with a degree of scepticism. But as the interview

process went on I realised that Honda really ‘Does what it says on the tin’ because the associates I met clearly put the Philosophy into action. The Philosophy was real not just words. What this meant for me when I joined was that I had an understanding of the culture and expectations and made settling into the organisation that much easier and allowed me to be effective much quicker.

Honda Philosophy’s “Respect for the individual” and “Trust” have special meaning for me.

“Respect for the individual” — in my first few days I heard a comment being critical of associates being late for meetings and how this was perceived as disrespectful — having previously been at a company where lateness was the norm it came as a surprise to me to hear this expressed. “Respect for the individual,” one of Our Fundamental Beliefs, means to respect each other’s differences and to trust each other. This is important to work as a team. Lateness is discourteous to others and it can ruin teamwork at the same time. It highlighted to me how fundamental our “Respect for the individual” is to our daily interactions and this was something I certainly relate to.

“Trust” — even though I was new to Honda, senior management trusted my judgment and empowered me to drive fundamental changes in the European operations — for example outsourced shared services; One Honda in Europe. However, to achieve this I placed trust in my team to deliver the changes. A business shaped and built on trust is one that will achieve.

We will achieve success with our mutual values and goals

On the surface, large multinational businesses can appear chaotic and difficult to manage; but Honda is a vibrant place for associates to self-empower and inspire others — how does this work? I believe it is achieved in no small part because we self-manage through our mutual understanding

of “what is right” rooted in our philosophy. The Philosophy gives us our core values and clarity of purpose.

It is this shared set of values that ensures the chaotic nature of self-empowerment and diversity naturally takes the organ-isation towards delivering its goals while maintaining flexibil-ity, agility and adaptability. For me this should be an aspira-tional state for any multinational company and it’s what allows Honda to be so different while being so successful.

Honda Philosophy will be important to the next generation

The business world is fast moving and requires Honda, us, to constantly respond — in other words to change. However, successful change needs to be anchored; you cannot change everything at once.

The Philosophy facilitates that by allowing consensus to quickly build (without having to constantly justify or explain our shared values) and therefore act with speed and concen-tration whilst giving us a touch point, a self adjusting mecha-nism, to ensure we keep true to what is important to us. Our next generation of leaders will face new challenges and the Philosophy will be an important tool in meeting them successfully.

We should not forget how long ago the Philosophy was written — it’s principles are as relevant today as they were when as it was when Mr. Honda put it into place. It is timeless. But like any business asset it needs to be invested in. If our next generation of leaders continue to refresh and refine the Philosophy it will serve them well — it is a critical component for our and Honda’s success now and in the future and will ensure our leaders will do the right thing while pursuing “The Power of Dreams.”

Ian Howells

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

EU

RO

PE

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksE

UR

OP

E

100 101









































• Senior Vice President of the company, appointed in 2013 (current)• Joined Honda Motor Europe Ltd. in 2008

Honda Philosophy binds us together as Honda

It is the glue, a common language that binds us together as Honda. It gives meaning to our customers, suppliers and our communities on how Honda views its place in the world and how it and we will act — it gives context to Honda’s goal of being “a company society wants to exist.”

As associates and managers it allows us to act within a frame-work with relative freedom prompting innovation and new ways of business and bringing joy with speed and concentra-tion. It provides cohesion in a multi-cultural, multinational business without — we can accommodate and encourage diversity and differences.

You can see Honda Philosophy in each associate and each action

I am relatively new to Honda — having joined from a large multi-national corporation. I read the Philosophy as part of my preparation for the interviews and having reviewed many corporate mission statements of other companies I met it initially with a degree of scepticism. But as the interview

process went on I realised that Honda really ‘Does what it says on the tin’ because the associates I met clearly put the Philosophy into action. The Philosophy was real not just words. What this meant for me when I joined was that I had an understanding of the culture and expectations and made settling into the organisation that much easier and allowed me to be effective much quicker.

Honda Philosophy’s “Respect for the individual” and “Trust” have special meaning for me.

“Respect for the individual” — in my first few days I heard a comment being critical of associates being late for meetings and how this was perceived as disrespectful — having previously been at a company where lateness was the norm it came as a surprise to me to hear this expressed. “Respect for the individual,” one of Our Fundamental Beliefs, means to respect each other’s differences and to trust each other. This is important to work as a team. Lateness is discourteous to others and it can ruin teamwork at the same time. It highlighted to me how fundamental our “Respect for the individual” is to our daily interactions and this was something I certainly relate to.

“Trust” — even though I was new to Honda, senior management trusted my judgment and empowered me to drive fundamental changes in the European operations — for example outsourced shared services; One Honda in Europe. However, to achieve this I placed trust in my team to deliver the changes. A business shaped and built on trust is one that will achieve.

We will achieve success with our mutual values and goals

On the surface, large multinational businesses can appear chaotic and difficult to manage; but Honda is a vibrant place for associates to self-empower and inspire others — how does this work? I believe it is achieved in no small part because we self-manage through our mutual understanding

of “what is right” rooted in our philosophy. The Philosophy gives us our core values and clarity of purpose.

It is this shared set of values that ensures the chaotic nature of self-empowerment and diversity naturally takes the organ-isation towards delivering its goals while maintaining flexibil-ity, agility and adaptability. For me this should be an aspira-tional state for any multinational company and it’s what allows Honda to be so different while being so successful.

Honda Philosophy will be important to the next generation

The business world is fast moving and requires Honda, us, to constantly respond — in other words to change. However, successful change needs to be anchored; you cannot change everything at once.

The Philosophy facilitates that by allowing consensus to quickly build (without having to constantly justify or explain our shared values) and therefore act with speed and concen-tration whilst giving us a touch point, a self adjusting mecha-nism, to ensure we keep true to what is important to us. Our next generation of leaders will face new challenges and the Philosophy will be an important tool in meeting them successfully.

We should not forget how long ago the Philosophy was written — it’s principles are as relevant today as they were when as it was when Mr. Honda put it into place. It is timeless. But like any business asset it needs to be invested in. If our next generation of leaders continue to refresh and refine the Philosophy it will serve them well — it is a critical component for our and Honda’s success now and in the future and will ensure our leaders will do the right thing while pursuing “The Power of Dreams.”

PROFILE / Ian Howells

Senior Vice President, Honda Motor Europe Ltd.Responsible for the Sales Divisions of Cars, Motor Cycles and Power Products in Europe

Honda success builds on the challenging spirit of associates

Other companies talk about having a vision, a mission or a philosophy, but we really do have one, and have had it since the company was founded.

Honda Philosophy is not a religion, it is not like having a computer chip fitted that requires you to follow some rigid rules or direction, it is a way of working that makes sense, and many people do it naturally without realising they are. It can be confusing for some people especially new associates, but it is not complicated, it is common sense.

Honda Philosophy matters because it becomes a way of working which means you get the best result as an individual, and even more as a team working together. Therefore it is as relevant today as ever.

The company can only be successful by the power of all the individuals who work for Honda, valuing their thoughts and input at all levels. The challenging spirit is key to a Honda

associate.

Honda Philosophy to solve any problem

For me, I have always seen the sense in the “Honda Manage-ment Policies” part of Honda Philosophy. I think when we face any issue or problem, or are looking for a new idea, all the policies above can be used separately or together. I will talk about my interpretation of these five Honda Manage-ment Polices.

•Proceed always with ambition and youthfulnessThis is about dreaming what you can achieve, seeking challenges with no fear and going for it.

•Respect sound theory, develop fresh ideas and make the most effective use of timeThis is a way of thinking, based on proven theory but with the flexibility to look at new ways to attack an issue. Use the skills and knowledge of others to help find solutions, then keep it simple and focus on the key points.

•Enjoy your work, and encourage open communicationWe all like to do this. Sometimes work can be challenging but together with the right environment and open discus-sion, achievements can give a great sense of accomplish-ment.

•Strive constantly for a harmonious flow of workSimply, an effective and efficient organisation, with associates depending on each other and understanding each other’s role.

•Be ever mindful of the value of research and endeavourAlways seek improvement, one of the most common known parts of Honda Philosophy is the “Three Reality Principle.” Go to the real place, Know the real situation, Make your decision based on reality. It does make a difference to do this.

Starting new business based on Honda Philosophy

How I used Honda Philosophy for real business? — An example would be when I started Honda Finance for the UK car business in 1996. There was no Honda finance company and the dealers had relationships with other lenders and could use whichever independent company they wanted. This is not good so to build a relationship of trust with dealers and customers, we needed to decide what would be the criteria on which to make decisions to grow in the future.

I agreed with my senior team that our direction would be “Simple, Flexible, Convenient.” Any business changes we would make should meet one or more of these criteria, or why do it?

Simple — We made the back office service to the dealers and customers very efficient and simple to deal with, so therefore no reason not to use us. Area sales managers trained the dealers so it was simple for them to sell finance and sell the car.

Flexible — We developed variations of finance products and reward structures that made it easier for customers to buy cars and dealers to sell.

Convenient — We developed new IT systems that speed up the process in the showroom.

These three words are still the direction of Honda Finance today. From a Honda Philosophy point of view it shows working as a team, thinking about our customers, going to the place and understanding our market and challenging the norm to make things better. In the end dealers had no reason not to support Honda Finance, so they did and still do.

Honda can only continue to be successful through motivated associates

It’s always useful for the current generation to revisit Honda

Philosophy from time to time, and it is important that the next generation understand it, because it is a way of thinking and working, core to the success of Honda in the past and I believe in the future.

Today business has become more competitive than ever before, so we need to challenge the norm, have fresh ideas, work together and find solutions to continue to be successful.

This is the Honda way. We can only succeed with motivated associates who can use their knowledge, attitude and skills to the maximum, with ideas and focus that can help their daily job and the overall success of the company.Philip Ross

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

EU

RO

PE

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksE

UR

OP

E

102 103








































I think that my role and responsibility now is to create an environment where this can be done. Circumstances (Oppor-tunities?) similar to what I experienced are certain to come your way. I wholeheartedly hope that you will not let them pass you by, and that you will take a dynamic, forward-look-ing approach to all that you do. Honda success builds on

the challenging spirit of associates





associate.



















This is the Honda way. We can only succeed with motivated associates who can use their knowledge, attitude and skills to the maximum, with ideas and focus that can help their daily job and the overall success of the company.

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

EU

RO

PE

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksE

UR

OP

E

105104








































I think that my role and responsibility now is to create an environment where this can be done. Circumstances (Oppor-tunities?) similar to what I experienced are certain to come your way. I wholeheartedly hope that you will not let them pass you by, and that you will take a dynamic, forward-look-ing approach to all that you do. Honda success builds on

the challenging spirit of associates





associate.



















This is the Honda way. We can only succeed with motivated associates who can use their knowledge, attitude and skills to the maximum, with ideas and focus that can help their daily job and the overall success of the company.

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

AS

IA a

nd

OC

EA

NIA

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksE

UR

OP

E

• Senior Vice President, Honda Motor Europe Ltd., appointed in 2014 (current)

• Joined Honda Finance Europe Plc. in 1996

PROFILE / Philip RossGlobal Leader Talks

ASIAand

OCEANIAWhen I developed strong awareness of Honda culture

















107106
























Operating Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (Asia & Oceania), Honda Motor Co., Ltd.President and Director, Asian Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

AS

IA a

nd

OC

EA

NIA

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksA

SIA

an

d O

CE

AN

IA


















Noriaki Abe

109108









































Glo

bal L

eader Talks

AS

IA a

nd

OC

EA

NIA

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksA

SIA

an

d O

CE

AN

IA

111110

• Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (Asia & Oceania), Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014 (current)

• President and Director, Asian Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014 (current)

• President and Director, Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014

• Joined Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in 1986


















PROFILE / Noriaki AbeMember, Asia & Oceania Regional Operating BoardDirector, Asian Honda Motor Co., Ltd.Chief Operating Officer and Director, Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

Showing our spirit of Honda Philosophy through a major flood in Thailand

I have worked with several members of Japanese manage-ment. Each person has a different management style but the common thing is almost everyone practices the same philoso-phy. Honda Philosophy has helped management in managing the operations during both normal and difficult times in which they need to make a decision.

In the year 2011, there was a major flood in Thailand. The HATC factory was flooded and faced extreme damage. Asso-ciates were panicking and wondered what they should do. At that time Mr. Hiroshi Kobayashi, the former President & CEO of the company, was a leader who created trust and led associates in the same direction. He made the decision based on a “global viewpoint” by seeing beyond Honda’s opera-tions. He thought that not only Honda was facing this situation but society also experienced serious damage. Therefore, we must help to resume our operations and at the same time we should help society as well.

This way of thinking is humble to society and complies with the company’s vision “Striving to be a company that society wants to exist” as we always care for surrounding people and society in both normal and difficult times. This principle helps us get through huge obstacles and provides an import-ant opportunity for passing down the Philosophy through actual practices.

The way of learning Honda Philosophy, the way of practicing it for management

Honda Philosophy is “good common sense” by using the positive thinking of human beings and act naturally with a sense of consideration for other people in mind. If we want something, we should be the person who gives it to others first. When we hear the word “philosophy” it may create the feeling that this is a complicated thing. For me, it is only applying a good common sense into your work. It’s a simple concept but has a deep meaning.

I had a chance to know or learn Honda Philosophy through my day-to-day work, communication with colleagues and from the discussion of management during a meeting. It’s a learning method by naturally absorbing the company philos-ophy. Since I first joined Honda I always looked for a person who had a sound idea who I could refer as a role model. When I saw the management team in discussion with each other, I would find the people who had good logic and a good way of thinking. If I paid close attention, I would find that this person referred to Our Fundamental Beliefs when he was going to make a decision in the meeting room. There-fore, if we pay attention to the matter and consider thorough-ly what are the common beliefs of Honda associates, the Philosophy will gradually be absorbed into our minds. In terms of translating Honda Philosophy into action or practic-ing them in daily life, this is up to each person. For myself I have always tried to find the opportunities for sharing and discussing with associates, for example having lunch with a small group of associates in order to increase the communi-cation and pass down my experience and way of thinking.

In several occasions, I had to make a decision on matters which were complex. In such situations, Honda Philosophy and Our Fundamental Beliefs help me decide things more easily by referring to the righteous conduct and transparency as a principle for my decision making. While peers who have worked with from some companies within the same industry may be asked to negotiate or influence the government in favor of their companies by ignoring their own principle or philosophy. But for Honda, the most that we are expected in the government relations area is to negotiate with the government on what we believe necessary from the viewpoint of society and customers or to ask for fairness so that we will not be in a disadvantaged position compared with other companies. This is the culture and Our Funda-mental Beliefs that guide our actions which is not against good common sense as a human being.

We can “Work for yourself” even under challenging situations

In Honda we often tell our associates to “Work for yourself” and when I first heard it I couldn’t understand the meaning well. However, after I thought about it for myself I found that the intention of “Work for yourself” is not telling us to be a selfish person but it means to love and be proud of our job even when facing an obstacle, we should see it as an opportu-nity for increasing our potential. That is because things are not always smooth or up to our expectation. For example, there are lots of difficult problems to deal with each day. When we face an obstacle and try to accomplish our job I think we have already worked for ourselves and increase our potential. We should think that the company gives us both a salary and time in order to solve the problems. If viewing it correctly in this way, we will be happy in solving a problem as a result of being hired to increase our own experiences.

In real life situations, even the company tries to provide good working conditions to us but it will not always fit with the needs of everyone. Many of you may have similar experienc-es where you have to work with a supervisor who you cannot

get along with well or who does not like whatever you do. Please think and give thanks to God for creating such a tough situation to make you become stronger because you have to work under conditions that are not kind to you. You should not take it in a negative way which will make you lower yourself respect. On the other hand you should determine to do something for yourself and strengthen your ability. In this way, the problems and obstacles will be good tools to develop ourselves and finally we also work for the company as well.

Pitak Pruittisarikorn

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

AS

IA a

nd

OC

EA

NIA

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksA

SIA

an

d O

CE

AN

IA

112 113






























Glo

bal L

eader Talks

AS

IA a

nd

OC

EA

NIA

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksA

SIA

an

d O

CE

AN

IA

115114


















• Chief Operating Officer and Director, Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014 (current)

• Director and Executive Vice President, Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co., Ltd., appointed in 2011

• Director, Asian Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2010 (current)• Joined Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co., Ltd. in 1999













PROFILE / Pitak Pruittisarikorn

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

CH

INA

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksA

SIA

an

d O

CE

AN

IA

Global Leader Talks

CHINA

117116


















Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (China), Honda Motor Co., Ltd.President, Honda Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd.President, Honda Motor China Technology Co., Ltd.

Glo

bal L

eader Talks

CH

INA

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksC

HIN

A

When we are in trouble, Honda Philosophy always stays with us

Honda Philosophy tastes better the longer you chew it. I believe that Honda Philosophy sinks deeper inside us by practicing Honda Philosophy, feeling The Three Joys ourselves, being inspired by it and repeating this process in our long Honda-life. It is meaningless to memorize the words of Honda Philosophy. The heart and essence of Honda Philosophy is to understand it by practicing it and then to start liking it. Then as a result, we find a rewarding sense of satisfaction and begin loving Honda. I think, ultimately, when we leave Honda, Honda Philosophy will be established as our own personal philosophy, and we will feel pride and joy in working for Honda.

To me, Honda Philosophy is sometimes a spiritual guide like a Bible and at other times a set of rules like the Six Codes [a body of laws in Japan]. It also serves as a friend. In other words, to me, Honda Philosophy is a guiding principle or a mirror that is a reflection of myself when I take actions. Especially, when I faced a problem, it was always Honda Philosophy that became a basis for my decision-making processes. I experienced many occasions where going back to the basics of Honda Philosophy, instead of having complicat-ed discussions, helped us get through a maze of issues in the midst of difficulties. When we face a problem, it is important for us to solve it with our own wisdom and efforts and keep carving out our own path. When we are in trouble, we go back to Honda Philosophy. When we have to make a difficult decision, think which option will lead us to please our customers. Then, the right answers will become clear. That is what it’s all about. That is exactly what Honda Philosophy means to me.

Realizing the meaning of Honda Philosophy through the unforgettable experience in U.S. and Malaysia

We have been practicing Honda Philosophy on our own and we have our own interpretation of Honda Philosophy. It is important for us to pass on Honda Philosophy — not only the words but also what it means in practice — to Honda associ-ates who come after us. From this point of view, I will talk how I practiced Honda Philosophy during my career at Honda.

Since I joined Honda, I have worked for a total of almost 30 years in 4 foreign countries, namely the U.S., Thailand, Malaysia and China. Different countries have different cultures, values, religions and languages, which sometimes makes it difficult to understand each other. However, within Honda, no matter where we are in the world, all Honda associates are connected with a common set of values called Honda Philosophy. On the basis of Honda Philosophy, we can understand each other and have serious discussions toward the same purpose beyond national boundaries.

When I was working in the U.S. as an expat, the trucking industry went on strike and the flow of goods was interrupt-ed. As a result, the arrival of parts was delayed and we faced an emergency situation where we would be forced to stop our production line if the situation did not improve. Stopping the production line means stopping delivery of products to our customers, which we absolutely had to avoid. I consulted with my boss at the time and decided to airfreight necessary parts although it cost more. We chartered an aircraft and transported parts directly from Japan and Canada to an airport close to our auto production plant. In automobile production, one missing part stops the entire line. It was a battle against time. All of us involved, including American executives and associates, worked as one and challenged and overcame the big obstacle that was standing in our way. The underlying question we had was “What should we do now for our customers?” Our bosses accepted such passion with sincerity and handed over the power to make our own decisions at the spot. Responding to their trust, we worked in complete solidarity and solved the problem. I believe that it is a perfect example of how we practice Honda Philosophy at the spot.

I can’t forget about my career in Malaysia where I worked as a president for the local subsidiary. At that time, 90% of associates at our plant in Malacca did not have a driver’s license and some did not even know how to open the trunk of a car. I was so surprised but under such conditions, we decid-ed to establish a Honda Malaysia racing team and participate in races for the purpose of providing our associates, who had a chance to join Honda, with opportunities to understand and become a fan of automobiles. All associates regardless of their job titles, including production line staff and even cleaning staff, were given opportunities to participate as a member of the team. As a result, we had a team with about 80 members. We began our activities by setting a high goal of building our own machine from scratch and win the class title in an endurance race on the Independence Day of Malaysia. Being a team of amateurs, we experienced a number of

troubles and challenges. However, we made it to the race and attained out goal with the result of double championships, capturing the class as well as overall victory. This result itself was amazing. However, more than that, it was a precious experience for associates to understand the basis of Honda, not by words, but through their own experience of working together and taking on challenges while the entire team shares the same high goals and as a result enjoyed the amaz-ing experience of achieving such high goals.

The role of the management team is making opportunities to practice

In recent years, I started feeling that there are a decreasing number of Honda associates who love Honda and proudly say “I love Honda!” I think that one of the reasons has some-thing to do with the decreasing number of opportunities where we can practice Honda Philosophy.

At Honda, each associate holds dreams, takes on challenges toward high goals and feels joy by attaining such goals at the end. In other words, Honda has always operated based on the belief of “Respect for the individual.” It is important for each and every Honda associate to work with your own passion, not because someone tells you to do something.

And it is also important for management to create a founda-tion where associates can build an environment where they are able to work for their passion. Management should talk about dreams with associates and support the realization of such dreams. If management only says, “That’s not possible” or “Don’t do anything too expensive,” it is not possible for an associate to foster his/her own challenging spirit. We have vigorous discussions through Y-gaya, and as a result, we build up our communications. It is a group of passionate associates who can create things of value to our customers ahead of other companies. To do so, we must value our everyday communications, entrust your staff and once you entrust your people you must have the mettle to take responsibility for the decision.

Once again, our dreams will not come true without commu-nications. In doing so, we can create an environment where relationships of mutual trust are nurtured and each Honda associate can have dreams and take on challenges to realize their dreams. So, I hope that all of you who are a part of the management team give serious consideration to this point one more time and pass on Honda Philosophy to the next generation of Honda associates. Recently, some people say that Honda is lacking energy and unique characteristics of Honda. That is why, I really hope that now is the time for us to go back to our starting point and reconsider the impor-tance of Honda Philosophy.

Seiji Kuraishi

119118


















Glo

bal L

eader Talks

CH

INA

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksC

HIN

A















121120

Org

anization o

f Ho

nda P

hiloso

phy


















• Managing Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2014 (current)• President, Honda Motor China Technology Co., Ltd., appointed in 2013

(current)• Chief Operating Officer and Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in

2011• Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2010• Chief Operating Officer, Regional Operations (China), Honda Motor Co.,

Ltd., appointed in 2010 (current)• President, Honda Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd., appointed in 2010

(current)• President, Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd.,appointed in 2008• Chief Operating Officer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., appointed in 2007• Joined Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in 1982

Glo

bal

Lea

der

Tal

ksC

HIN

A















PROFILE / Seiji Kuraishi

122 123

Organization ofHonda Philosophy


















124 125

Org

anization o

f Ho

nda P

hiloso

phyO

rgan

izat

ion

of

Ho

nda

Phi

loso

phy

In 1992, Honda Philosophy was organized into three

components: Our Fundamental Beliefs, The Honda Com-

pany Principle, and Honda Management Policies. It was the

year preceding the death of the company’s founder, Mr.

Soichiro Honda.

Rapid business globalization required us to establish a

clearer direction and greater cohesion as Honda Group

worldwide. Also, in Honda Japan, many matters had been

grouped together into the arbitrary phrase “Honda way,”

which led to different interpretations of the core concept.

Focusing on what was the most fundamental from the

various words that had conventionally been recited as the

“Honda way,” “Honda Philosophy” was established as a

corporate philosophy to share among all members of

Honda.

Along with this development, which occurred in 1992, “The

Honda Company Principle” was also revised. This princi-

ple, first developed in 1956 in Japan and translated into

English in 1962, was rephrased so that corporate activities

would be more clearly understood by all members.

“The Three Joys,” first cited in “Our Company’s Motto” in

1951, had been the core of what later became “Our Funda-

mental Beliefs.” In 1992, “Our Fundamental Beliefs” was

officially documented, combined with “Respect for the

individual” — a legacy that had been cherished at Honda

since its founding.

Thus, the purpose of “Our Fundamental Beliefs,” “The

Honda Company Principle,” and “Honda Management

Policies” were clarified at this time.

• Our Fundamental Beliefs: The center of the philosophy

for the Honda Group

• The Honda Company Principle: The purpose and reason

for existence of the Honda Group

• Honda Management Policies: The guideline for associ-

ates in the performance of their daily responsibilities

In 1998, during its 50th anniversary, Honda revised the

Philosophy, envisioning its future business environment.

The Philosophy continues today as a guide — in mind and

action — to all those associated with Honda, regardless of

country or region.


















Global Leader TalksHonda Philosophy Book

Published by: Global HR Development Center, HR Div., Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

2-1-1 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 107-8556, Japan

Issued: January 2016

Printed by: Mitsumura Printing Co., Ltd.

internal use only

　

126

philosophy-led management works anywhere · honda was new to the automobile industry, and only a...

Documents