Akio Morita Quotes

I don't believe in just ordering people to do things. You have to sort of grab an oar and row with them.

I hire people brighter than me and then I get out of their way.

Part of me loves to control and to exert power, but it's not the best part of me at all. What I am slowly learning is that allowing others to have power too makes us a better organisation - many brains are simply better than one.

It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.

I've learned that it's important to listen to employees at all levels, to engage them, to empower them. Whether you're a first-line supervisor or the head of an entire agency, you should be asking career staffers, 'What do you think?'

I think the best thing a team can have is different leaders.

Leadership is having a compelling vision, a comprehensive plan, relentless implementation, and talented people working together.

You go in thinking you have to do this all by yourself, and what I learned was no, when you hire great people, they do so much for you.

You can inspire people to give you greatness, or you can micro-manage them into your own one specific kernel of an idea. To me, I think that when you inspire people to give their best, then you're going to get the best result.

People get very creative if you include them.

To be successful, we need everyone to think independently and work through disagreement to decide what's best.

I think that I've learned to relax, and trust in and hire very talented people, and trust in their abilities a little more.

I wouldn't ask any of my employees to do anything I wouldn't do. And I work as hard, if not harder than the rest of the staff, to set an example. I also believe in giving my employees a lot of room to be creative and to express themselves.

The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.

There is no better way to manage than by walking around. Autocracy doesn't work. Talk to people in their offices, find out what's on their minds.

A good leader should focus on making sure everyone is being given the tools to do their job, not just expecting - poof! - that they're going to produce great work.

I view my role more as trying to set up an environment where the personalities, creativity and individuality of all the different employees come out and can shine.

There's no way a director can communicate with every single person on the set and yet they need to motivate and instill an ambition to want to do their best work.

Delegating doesn't mean passing off work you don't enjoy, but letting your employees stretch their skills and judgment.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It's about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire team-mates and customers.

Leadership comes in small acts as well as bold strokes.

True leadership isn't about having an idea. It's about having an idea and recruiting other people to execute on this vision.

I would say I'm 90 percent collaborative in everything I do, and 10 percent of the time I just make the call.

Organizations that can diminish fear are those that are able to motivate, create, and innovate.