Akio Morita Quotes

Instead of seeking to pinpoint blame, seek to understand cause.

When someone makes a mistake, it's right to underline this type of situation and find the best solution to avoid the same mistake in the future.

Error is always talkative.

When blame inevitably arises, the most senior people in the room should repeat this mantra: if a mistake happens, shame on us for making it so easy to make that mistake.

To find a fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.

Finding out exactly what went wrong is key toward preventing future debacles.

To me, error analysis is the sweet spot for improvement.

It's not blaming the victim. It's not anybody's fault. They just did something that didn't work, that's all.

Yet we act as if simple cause and effect is at work. We push to find the one simple reason things have gone wrong. We look for the one action, or the one person, that created this mess. As soon as we find someone to blame, we act as if we've solved the problem.

As a teenager, my dad taught me about the idea of unintended consequences, and I've had the experience, and how to deal with it, pounded into my soul over the years.

All the mistakes we make are documented.

Confusing common causes with special causes will only make things worse.

Mistakes happen. But after a while you've got to stop making them happen twice.

The best way to solve any problem is to remove its cause.

A full and candid admission of one's mistakes should make proof against its repetition.

It seems that we're better at finding someone to blame for our problems than we are at finding creative solutions to fix them.

The search for scapegoats is essentially an abnegation of responsibility: it indicates an inability to assess honestly and intelligently the true nature of the problems which lie at the root of social and economic difficulties and a lack of resolve in grappling with them.

People who blame others for their failures never overcome them. They simply move from problem to problem. To reach your potential, you must continually improve yourself, and you can't do that if you don't take responsibility for your actions and learn from your mistakes.

Make mistakes; it's what you do about them that counts.

Everything is relative. If you want to understand a problem you look at its cause. You don’t look at its manifestation.

You can learn great things from your mistakes when you aren’t busy denying them.

Don't lie about it. You made a mistake. Admit it and move on. Just don't do it again. Ever

Just as we may learn from our successes (how to do it) so also can we learn from our mistakes (how not to do it). It just isn't in the cards that anybody should get by forever without making mistakes and perhaps sometimes making costly ones.

A sum can be put right: but only by going back till you find the error and working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on.

There is one excuse for every mistake a man can make, but only one. When a fellow makes the same mistake twice he's got to throw up both hands and own up to carelessness or cussedness.