Notable Moments

Today, we'd like to share a notable moment from April 1981, when Inamori and Jean Riboud, then-President of the prestigious French multinational company, Schlumberger, discussed "Adhering to Perfectionism: Perfect and Best."

About 40 years ago, Inamori was invited by Mr. Riboud to discuss business philosophy at his villa in Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.A. Thus, in April 1981, Inamori visited the area with several executives from Kyocera. He describes that time in the book The Kyocera Philosophy as follows:

"Schlumberger's motto was 'Do your best.' Schlumberger was such an important company that it was said that no oil could be drilled in any country, be it Russia or China, without using Schlumberger's technology. That company's motto was 'Best.' On the other hand, Kyocera aimed for 'Perfect.'

That's what we discussed. Schlumberger aims to be the 'best.' Kyocera aims to be 'perfect.' 'Best' means 'better than the others' or 'the very best,' but I said, "When it comes to manufacturing, even when something is the very best, a slight defect (flaw) or scratch can ruin everything. So, it has to be flawless--perfect." We then continued to argue about 'Best' versus 'Perfect' until late at night. Finally, Jean Riboud agreed with me, saying, "No, you're right. I think we'll forego 'best' and change our company's motto to include 'perfect.'" (From The Kyocera Philosophy)

Years later, a book about Jean Riboud of Schlumberger was published in English, French, and Japanese (titled Perfect Company in Japanese and The Art of Corporate Success in English). A chapter in the book, "Learning from Kyocera" (Japanese title), describes this event in Scottsdale.