Poses a passionate desire in your heart.

 

Preface:

 

I have chosen for this essay one of the Twelve Management Steps, “Poses a passionate desire in your heart.” I describe in this essay my experiences and observations within three Kyocera companies: Kyocera Mita Netherlands, Kyocera Electronics Benelux and Kyocera Mita America. For 7 months now, I have worked as a National Account Regional Manager for Kyocera Mita America. Previously I have worked for Kyocera Mita in Europe as a Product Marketing Manager and Sales & Marketing Manager for Kyocera Mita Netherlands, and Management Assistant and Technical Manager for Kyocera Electronic Benelux.

 

Ever since the first day that Kyocera Mita Corporation was founded, I have experienced the challenging goals and expectations needed for our company to become a leader in our industry. This have given limitless opportunities for those, including myself, who believe in Kyocera Mita’s future and carry the passionate desire in their heart to achieve our goals. With the desire for success and great efforts, I have seen goals being achieved by individuals, teams and Kyocera companies. In this essay I share my experiences and describe why it has been important to have a “Passionate desire in the heart” during my time in management. But also, why I think it is important for all employees to have the same passionate desire as daily managers of their own job.

 

 

My first Kyocera experience:

 

In June 1999 I attended a presentation by Kyocera management with the title, “We are all in the same boat”. The presentation was about the new (Kyocera) Mita and its future. It was that day that I learned for the first time about the Kyocera Philosophy. Mr. Seki opened the presentation by reading out one of the chapters of “The Thoughts of Dr. Inamori”; Open a New Era. The closing words of this chapter were; “In any revolution, passion is what opens new eras”. It couldn’t have been more appropriate. We had been waiting for a revolution and we were ready to for a new passionate start with the desire to be successful.

 

We set aggressive goals for the new company. They were not only based on an aggressive Masterplan but we also had to bring back the passionate desire in the hearts of the employees to become successful. After a year of insecurity and the fear of losing jobs, it was now time to rejuvenate the team spirit and a positive attitude. Only then we were able to turn the company around, be successful and reach our goals.

 

I believe that from Mr. Seki’s presentation on, the attitude of many participants changed. Passion and desire can have a contagious effect among the employees. In my experience I have observed how the passionate desire to work for Kyocera Mita, slowly came back in the hearts of the employees. By reaching that goal the company was ready to face the new other challenges. Changing attitudes and maintaining them doesn’t happen overnight. This should be an ongoing process where management is constantly evaluating and made aware of the obstacles. Only then these obstacles can be tackled and is the path free to become successful through great efforts.

 

 

Set up a new company (Kyocera Electronics Benelux B.V.):

 

February 2000 was for me personally a month never to forget. It was the start of the newly founded company Kyocera Electronics Benelux. At the end of January 2000 the former distributor of Kyocera printers decided to stop supporting Kyocera printer resellers and dealers in three countries; The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Kyocera had 48 hours to set up operations for Kyocera Electronics Benelux. Only one day before the start I was asked to help set up the new company. Together with my General Manager we had one room with one desk, one computer, one telephone-line, one fax machine and one printer. Daily we had to improvise to help and support customers in three (small) countries. We had no stock, almost no knowledge of the Kyocera printers and parts, but we had one great value; we carried the passionate desire in our hearts to do the job.

 

I remember the day that we hired our Product Marketing Manager, the third employee of our company. He was just as enthusiastic about the start of our company as we were. He had worked for the former distributor and was familiar with the Kyocera printers and technology. This was a big relief and he helped us overcome one of our obstacles, knowledge of the Kyocera printers and parts. I was pleasantly surprised by his enthusiasm and his will to make the best out of the situation. Going from distributor to manufacturer one would expect to enter an organized company, but just a couple of weeks after our start we were far from that. Recognizing the passion, we knew we had the right person for the job. Just like the passionate desire for success, a pessimistic attitude can also be very contagious. Therefore we needed people who could face the challenges with a positive attitude.

 

The start up could not go without disappointments, mistakes and unforeseen obstacles. We received numerous phone calls of dealers and end-user that were in many ways surprised with the action of the former distributor. Creativity helped us many times but we were not always able to help the customer. When faced with all these elements, it is easy to end up in a negative spiral or even give up. But the passionate desire to do the job was so much stronger. In times of difficulties, teamwork and the passionate desire in the hearts of the individuals can create miracles. Looking back to those first three months of KEB we experienced some miracles, and it became one of my greatest work experiences.

 

 

An aggressive Masterplan (Kyocera Mita Netherlands):

 

In January 2001 I became Sales and Marketing Manager for Kyocera Mita Netherlands. It was a big honor to be asked for the job. One of the first tasks of my new position was to set an aggressive Masterplan for the FY 2002. The plan was to increase our net sales with 141% and increase our profit. This was a big jump compared to the 0% growth the year before. Many outsiders thought that we could not do it. We had to create a strategy to achieve our goals and convince the people in our company to believe in this Masterplan.

 

But there was one obstacle. We had just merged the Dutch operations of Kyocera Electronics Benelux with Kyocera Mita Netherlands. This created unfortunately a negative atmosphere among some of our sales people. Now we had the task to bring back the team spirit and at the same time we had to create the strategy for our new aggressive Masterplan. With a negative atmosphere we knew that we could not achieve our goals and we had only two months before the start of our new Masterplan. We needed to bring back the passionate desire in the hearts of those employees who had lost the enthusiasm to work for our company.

 

One of the tools we used was the Kyocera Philosophy. As management, we needed to understand the Kyocera’s Philosophy so that it could help us in managing, understanding and evaluating our employees. Secondly we wanted our employees to understand the Kyocera Philosophy. We handed out a booklet that was created by the employees of Kyocera Mita Europe and use chapters in our presentations to our employees. Soon we could recognize the willing and the unwilling. We saw some resistance in the group to even try and had to make unpleasant decisions. Together with the willing we were able to bring back the team spirit and make the jump to 141%. We overachieved our goals and made the biggest jump in the company’s net sales and increased our profit.

 

Today I still believe that the passionate desire of all employees created the circumstances to achieve these goals. We used simple tools to help us create that desire. We had, for example, a “scoreboard” right in the middle of our sales department. Daily it showed our results vs. the Masterplan. It became a driving force to achieve the numbers on the “scoreboard” and at the monthly closings all sales personnel were present to get the last orders in and create the maximum result. The struggling company of a year before became a fine working machine breaking monthly sales records. We were a team with a positive attitude and great efforts that were far greater then our abilities. We knew that we could improve our abilities to become an even more successful company, but the efforts and a positive attitude were the result of the passionate desire in the hearts.

 

 

A new job, a new country and a new challenge (Kyocera Mita America, Inc.):

 

In July 2002 I decided to make plans to move to the United States of America. After one and a half year working as a Sales and Marketing Manager in The Netherlands, I applied for a job at Kyocera Mita America, as a National Account Regional Manager. It was something completely different in a different country with a different language and a different (business) culture. It was a big challenge but I was ready to make this big step. I had some experience in direct sales in my former career, but with all these new elements I knew it would not be easy. Kyocera Mita gave me the opportunity and I received the support from Kyocera Mita Netherlands, Europe and America for my transfer.

 

Starting my new job, I discovered that I was not the only one with a new challenge. The aggressive goals, new leadership, the desire to drastically increase the printer sales were and are all new challenges for this company. On a departmental level, The National and Government Account Dept. also has big challenges. Only six months before I started my new job, our department got new leadership. The new management has set aggressive goals for the next five years and is transforming our department, attitude and results. It feels good to be part of that challenge and to see people with the passionate desire in their hearts to achieve another goal.

 

During the annual National Meeting in 2003 our CEO and new President of Kyocera Mita America spoke encouraging words to all the attendants. Again, I can say that the passion works contagious. The cheers and the positive atmosphere created a feeling that predicts the future. Those who are willing to follow, create the passionate desire in their hearts to achieve our goals. I can experience it now from the other side and see how important it is have management with a positive attitude and give encouraging support to be successful.

 

It is not easy to face the personal and company challenges at the same time. But when you carry that passionate desire in your heart, you will not give up. I am positive that our company, department and myself will reach the aggressive goals and become successful in all the areas.

 

 

Closing Words:

 

As an employee of the Kyocera (Mita) Corporation I have been given the opportunity to follow the passionate desires in my heart, not only in helping achieve the goals of the company but also goals on a personal level. We still have a long way to go but I believe in a positive future. As a company and as an employee of Kyocera Mita we will face new future challenges. It is therefore important to protect the passionate desire in our hearts that helps us to achieve our goals.

 

The experience at three Kyocera Mita companies has given me a unique opportunity to observe four years of change. Just like the first words of Mr. Seki’ speech, as a company we have “Opened a new era” and we have experienced a revolution in the way our company is managed and the new technology that has been developed. I can rephrase the sentence “In any revolution, passion is what opens new eras” to “In the Kyocera Mita revolution, the passionate desire in the hearts of the employees have helped to open a new era”.

 

 

Patrick Bakker