Sony’s 5 Steps to Success

       The 5 Steps to Success

1.    Decide What You Want.

Here is a name that many people have never heard of, yet the legacy of his actions continues to have an impact on the lives of millions of people all around the world. Akio Morita was born in Japan in 1921, to an upper middle class family. In those days there was very little flexibility in the roles of individual family members, and Akio was expected to take over the family business of making rice wine.

But Akio had no interest in making wine. Instead, he loved to invent things and he decided to go into business for himself. When the time came for him to choose between following tradition and charting his own course, Akio knew excatly where he stood and what was most important to him. Akio decided he wanted to build things…

In order to succeed at anything, you must begin with the end in mind. You must begin by clearly defining the target, by knowing exactly what it is that you desire. Without a target, you have nothing to keep you focused, and without knowing what you value, you have no reliable way to assess your options.

Design your results in advance. In your mind define your objective, and in your veins carry the knowledge that you already own the result. You must believe, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that if it is your will, then your will shall be done. You must have absolute faith and total conviction in the fact that once you have decided upon your target, nothing can stand in your way or tempt you from your course. To know your outcome is to ignite your passion.

2.    Take Action.

Akio Morita decided he wanted to make electronic gadgets. He was fascinated by transistors, radios, record players…in short he knew he loved to tinker with things. His first invention was a humble little rice cooker.

Once you have clearly defined what it is you want, take immediate, consistent, and massive action towards producing your result. Take IMMEDIATE action. Take MASSIVE action. And consistently do more than anyone else could expect.

Any action is better than no action. If you act and you are right, you have taken a solid step forward. If you act and you are wrong, you have something you can learn from. If you never act in any direction, one day the pain of regret will far outweigh the pain of anything else.

Take action against the improbable, and you will achieve more than you ever dreamed possible.

3. Measure Your Results.

Akio’s rice cooker sold well enough for him to try his hand at building other products. Many failed, but each new idea or innovation gave him further knwoledge, expereince, contacts and information to work with. Soon he had a customer base built up and was able to target his products to the needs of the marketplace. He was able to gauge and measure how well he was a doing, he listened to his customers, he met their needs, his company grew in size, he listened to his employees, met their needs, and his company grew some more. All the while his inquisitive nature naturally led him to experiment, gauge, measure and improve whatever products or ideas he was working on…

Once you take action, take notice. Measure your progress to see how you're doing, you might already be winning! Ask yourself empowering questions to stay locked on target: What is my outcome? How am I really doing? Am I getting the results I desire? Could I be doing something more efficiently? How can I have more fun in the process? What am I doing wrong? What am I doing right? How can I make it better? How can I reward myself along the way? What else can I do right now? What is my desired result? What is my purpose in pursuing it?

As you start moving in any direction you have to notice your results. Just like following a road map, you have to have a means of measuring your progress     or reaching certain milestones along the way. If you don’t notice your results, you might not even notice you are doing well!

4.    Modify Your Approach.    

Maybe a dozen years passed and Akio’s company continued to grow, and his love of technolkogy becamse more prevalent in the products his company was creating. In the early 1950’s, he produced his first of mant great inventions: The tape recorder. A far cry from a rice cooker.

A few years later, Akio decided that the name of his company “Tokyo Tshushin Kyogu” while quickly become popular in Japan, would probably not lend itself to becoming popular in foreign contries. He saw that it probably wouldn’t get him to what he wanted for his company. His vision was:

“50 Years from now, our brand name will be as well known as any in the world.” And so he decided to modify his company’s name into one that was easier to pronounce…Sony.

They say that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but life simply isn’t like that. It’s more like you are the pilot of an airplane. As you encounter any turbulence, you must constantly make adjustments in order to keep moving in the same general direction.

If you find that something isn't working, try something else! If that doesn't work, try something else! And if that doesn't work, try something else! Try UNTIL! Keep refining and improving your strategies, your actions, your beliefs - whatever it takes - and try UNTIL you get your desired result. Above all else, never give up on your dream.

Remember that the true path to success, the way of the Master, is to enjoy the journey.

5. Try Until…

What would you say if I asked: ‘How long would you give your average baby to learn how to walk? How long would you let him try, before you wrote him off? Before you put it out of your mind and gave up on him altogether?’ You’d say that’s ridiculous. When learning how to walk my baby is going to try UNTIL he succeeds.

That’s the magic formula. Try until.

“Nothing succeeds like persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.

Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

                                                                                                            - Calvin Coolidge

The last principle of Leadership is to consistently do what works. Right? The purpose of education isn’t knowledge, the purpose of education is action. It’s not what you know that matters, it’s what you do with what you know.