OK, let's go with Aki-chan.
The most important thing in management is love.
Results without effort leads to arrogance.
See plenty of teacher Aki-chan's special class!
What do you regret not doing in high school?
How would you describe life in one word?
Could you be more specific, please.
An extracurricular class full of screams!
Toyota Times News
This is FC Imabari High School Satoyama, which opened in April 2024 in Imabari City, Ehime.
The principal is former Japanese national soccer team coach Takeshi Okada.
One of the school's goals is to grow the next generation of leaders.
One initiative is an unusual, special class with lecturers who are leading figures in their fields, like former professional baseball player Atsuya Furuta.
What I want to tell you today is that the future isn't all rosy, you will face hardships and crises...
It's a really valuable experience for students.
The teacher who came this day was...
Akio says he was impressed by Okada's educational theory.
Oh wow, class starts with a bell.
Today, we have Mr. Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota.
When I went to South Africa with the National Team for the World Cup, Akio's father Shoichiro told me 'Tell me if you have problems. We have a plant in Durban, so we'll do everything we can.'
When my family tried to rent a car in South Africa, they tried to charge us 3 million yen for that month. You could buy a car for that.
When I asked Shoichiro's secretary if they could help us find a car, he called the plant in Durban immediately, and the Plant General Manager got a car ready and picked us up.
Afterwards, I thanked Shoichiro and also spoke to Akio on the phone.
With that connection, he saw PIVOT's YouTube video on my education and said, 'I agree completely with your educational philosophy, I'd like to fully support you,' and even said, 'Toyota will hire every student who graduates from here.'
He wanted to meet all of you and give a class. Thank you for coming. A round of applause, everyone.
Hello, everyone.
You call him Oka-chan, right? What do you want to call me today?
Aki-chan?! OK, let's go with Aki-chan.
Let's go with Aki-chan for today then. You all handed in questions. I got them just before. I will go through and answer these.
The fact you asked means you're interested. That makes me very happy.
I was president for 14 years, and then chairman. Do you know what these are? I'll first explain where I work and about my schedule. I'll introduce myself and the president's room.
This is what my room looks like. I'm very close to the Toyota Sports Team. Back in the day, I represented Japan in field hockey. Have you heard of it?
It's hockey you play on a field, right?
Well done! Most people say ice hockey. I always get 'on ice?'
Yes.
I feel close with the sports teams, and use a racing car seat as my office chair.
And this is my schedule. It's about the same every month. This has been continuing on from when I became manager.
The locations are indicated here. Before I became president, I never slept in the same place for more than 3 nights. I always traveled somewhere else once every 2 days. That's because we need genchi genbutsu.
Since you gave me so many questions, let's start by answering the first one. 'I assume in the US, you were just another Japanese without the Toyoda name, so how did you find studying there?' 'How would Chairman Akio deal with a crisis?'
As I said earlier, I played field hockey. I was previously asked by Ichiro why I treat a crisis as an opportunity. I thought about this myself.
In field hockey, there is a free kick, or penalty, similar to soccer. In soccer, the shooter is one-on-one with the goalkeeper. But in field hockey, there's a person who passes, and someone who shoots. The defenders also run at you to stop you from shooting.
I was this stopper role. In this case, the closer you are to the shooter, the safer you actually are. If you're caught in between, the ball, which is heavy, hits you in the face or body. The ball can't fly up immediately, so it's safer the closer you are.
I think I developed a habit to stick as close to danger as possible when I'm faced with a crisis. That's why my instinct was to go as close as possible when either myself or the company were in a crisis.
While I said I was going on a language exchange, I actually went to graduate school. You called me Aki-chan, but I have the name Toyoda. My name is Akio Toyoda. But Toyoda sounds similar to the car.
When I was in school, like you are now, there was a quality issue with the car, and there was a lot of noise about defective cars. My nickname at junior high and high school was 'defective car' because of this.
As young as I was, I couldn't understand why I had to be called 'defective car' when I had nothing to do with the company. I went into sports because I wanted to flip the 'because you're Toyoda' narrative. Sport was where I could compete on my own skills and merit.
I got into sports in high school and university, and then I went to America. I couldn't get away from the name 'Toyoda,' even in America.
When I found a job after graduating from business school, I was faced with even more pressure of having the name 'Toyoda.' I didn't have a choice about being born with the name of 'Toyoda.' No one can choose what name to be born with.
So, I decided to face up to the fact that I was born with this. I took a hard look and wanted to make the best of this one life I had, so I decided to learn about cars.
Living in America is what really drove home that I was born with the name 'Toyoda' and I had to accept it. While I learned about business as well, the thing I learned most in America was about myself.
When I look at your questions, there are some about my leadership. For example, 'What would Chairman Akio do if you were doing a project and it lost focus?' or 'What are things to be aware of when negotiating or managing?' or 'What are your feelings toward and what made you start valuing snap decision, snap execution?' and others. I'd like to answer each one.
What made me value snap decision, snap execution? In a world where there's a correct answer that anyone can think of and get to, if you leave them to it, they will usually get there, but even when you don't know the correct answer, you still have to make a move.
If I don't make a decision on whether we go left or right, to attack or pull back, then the 380,000 making our cars will lose their livelihoods. Under those circumstances, I may not have all the answers, but I have to make a move.
In those situations, I decided to make a snap decision, snap execution and take responsibility for it. In this world, it's rare that a single method leads to the correct answer. If it's wrong, change it. At that point, try again. Then it starts moving, and you think it's working, but then you hit another problem. Change it again.
My thinking is, if that becomes the correct answer in the end, then that's a win. So, I continue to use snap decision, snap execution as my lifehack even now.
Now, about what's important in management. This may sound naïve, but I think it's love. Why are you doing it? To make someone happy, to make someone smile, to make yourself happy, because you also want to smile. I believe what's at the root of all those things is love. So, my answer is, I'm doing it for those things.
Also, as I'm trying to make a project work, if I lose sight of what I'm doing, what would I do? I'd go back to the genba. I wouldn't try to think. I'd go to the genba to see what was happening and who was struggling. If it was about a car, I'd look closely at the car. All the answers are at the genba. I can't get to the correct answer if I'm trying to think with my limited knowledge, so that is what I always do.
You can see the sort of person I am. From here on in, I thought we could spend the remaining hour freely taking and answering your questions. What do you think?
What would you like to pass on to high school students, and what do you regret not doing in high school?
What I feel like I should have done during high school was study. I just played sports, so I think it might be studying. If you regret not doing something, just do it when you realize that. If you don't notice, you don't do it, right? So, I think you should just give it your all and do it when you realize.
This is a phrase I like, but when you make an effort and you get results, it gives you confidence, right? Getting results without effort leads to overconfidence. You get arrogant. Sometimes, you can't get results even with effort. That happened a lot. But even if you don't get results, you still have that experience. As long as you have that, you just have to do what you need to do when you realize.
What was the first question?
What you want to pass on.
It's about being yourself and having individuality. I want you to be proud of being a citizen of earth, not just of this small space called Japan. You just become Japanese by growing up in Japan. It doesn't matter where you're from, I hope you become someone that is aware that they are a citizen of earth.
You don't understand yet, do you? There will come a day when you do.
I'd like to know how to speak in a memorable way, and how to get your words across.
Whoever you're talking to, the fundamental thing is to be interested in that person. Also, don't try to be cool. I don't try to be cool when I give presentations. It is a sort of rule of mine to try and tell the truth.
The most important thing is to get used to talking in front of people. It's 90% experience. I couldn't play the recorder during music class at school because my hands shook so much. I was that sort of child. Now, I can speak normally even though there are so many cameras. This is all experience.
Here, they make you do research and teach the class in place of your teacher, right? That sort of thing is wonderful. By doing that, you get used to it, and if you want others to understand what you're interested in, then you start speaking with passion. That helps in getting your feeling across, so what you're studying here at school is very meaningful, and you're getting experience every day, so I think what you need is to get used to it, while being thankful for your current environment.
Is there anyone in your life who has been a catalyst for change, such as someone who has made you who you are today, or made you look at yourself in a new light?
There are many! It might even be everyone I've ever met. There's something to be learned from everyone, including foreigners, and not just those older than me, but also younger. In every moment, there's absolutely no such thing as wasted time. It all comes down to how you grasp each moment.
Just looking at plants and flowers can teach you something. Watching the ocean can teach you something. Watching someone work, too. It's all about what the observer sees. If you think it's nothing to do with you, it will pass you by. That sort of time is sometimes necessary too, but if you're really stuck, you should look around and think everything around you is a teacher.
What's the difference between the way a Century and a normal car are made?
Could you be more specific, please.
It takes a lot of time to make one Century. The cost is also different. There's a difference between a car like a Century where you're trying to add value, and a car which offers mobility for all. We have a full lineup, so we try to change what we do.
Would you like to ride in a Century?
I'll let you sit in it later. You can even leave your fingerprints on it.
How would you describe your life in one phrase?
My way of life. I think it might be my way of life. I wanted to live my own life.
Whatever I did, Toyota would follow me around. Whatever I did, everyone had a preconception. My whole life has been a battle to get people to look at me for who I am.
To put it bluntly, I'm a man in a position of power. It all comes down to what this man with power does with it. I've always looked at Toyota from afar. My life has been about solving each issue I find every time I ask myself 'Is Toyota OK the way it is?' now that I'm in a position of power.
I'm sure there are more questions, but we're out of time. Thank you very much.
Just telling it as it is.
Carrying the Toyoda name must've been hard. It's unimaginable. He was summoned to the public hearings in America as Toyota's new president. He stood alone amid a barrage of criticism. Could you tell them what you were thinking at the time?
I thought I was finished as president. But even though I thought my time was over, the public hearing was the first time I felt I could be useful to my beloved Toyota.
The decision to attend the hearings was made 2 weeks before, so I didn't have time to prepare. So, I decided my job was to laugh once a day. However, when I went to bed alone at night, I would get worried.
This notebook is what I gained from it. Since then, I've lived with this notebook. In my dreams, I would get these strange questions, and there would be me giving these wonderful answers. So, I'd wake up and write them down in the notebook. It allowed me to fight through it.
Since then, my attitude to life has become 'don't lie, don't run away, and don't distort the truth' in any press conference. Since then, I've been fighting my battles by mustering up courage, telling myself I was given a second chance for a reason, and that I'm needed to make some kind of change.
Thank you. Another round of applause.
What did you think of Aki-chan's lesson? The day isn't over yet. Next, is a demo run in the schoolyard.
