> In a 2004 book on his philosophy, he questioned Japanese people’s increasing t...

rl3 · on Nov 5, 2015

To further expand on this:

>When Inamori talks about making employees happy, he doesn’t mean they’ll be putting their feet up. His brand of happiness comes from working harder than anyone else. It’s infused with the Buddhist idea of “shojin,” elevating the soul through devotion to a task.

That's nice and all, but not if it comes at the expense of employee leisure time or pay.

modfodder · on Nov 5, 2015

As a freelancer I'm devoted to my task of maximizing the amount of leisure time.

eveningcoffee · on Nov 6, 2015

He is using religion to enslave the people. How original.

crdoconnor · on Nov 6, 2015

Cult-like tactics seem to be increasingly common in business these days.

It seems to be a little more prevalent in Japan but it happens in the west too (Goldman Sachs allegedly uses them to great effect, for instance).

jackvalentine · on Nov 5, 2015

Does shojin conflict with a modern office job in which you have many tasks and many responsibilities?

I can instinctively understand the idea if I were cutting wood or doing some other manual task, but I am having trouble picturing myself at work being able to get in to the right mindset if I have multiple moving pieces in every hour of the day.