Japanese philosophy for quiet-quitters

The world of management is abuzz about the idea of “quiet quitting” — the Gen Z, TikTok-boosted term for doing nothing more at work than the job description demands.
Of course, there’s nothing new about this phenomenon — if Gen Z knew how to dial a call, they would understand the age-old concept of “phoning it in.” The inability to inspire worker buy-in has been a challenge for organisations for decades.
One man who dedicated his life to solving this puzzle was Kazuo Inamori, one of the giants of postwar Japanese industry, who died last month at the age of 90. He founded electronics maker Kyocera Corp and what would later become KDDI Corp — currently Japan’s 48th and fifth biggest companies by market value — and was utterly obsessed with improving management, boosting engagement and making workers happier.
For Inamori, working was living. For quiet quitters looking to spend more time on recreation, he warned that such pleasure is fleeting.
“The thing that humans truly derive pleasure from is found within work,” Inamori, who was also an ordained Buddhist monk, once wrote. “You might find temporary enjoyment in neglecting your work and enjoying hobbies or having fun, but it won’t be the type of pleasure that wells up from the bottom of your heart. There is no greater pleasure in life than that which comes from working hard and earnestly, overcoming hardship and suffering and building something.”
In his later years, he spent much of his time sharing what he learned. More than his considerable business achievements, which include taking on the one-time state monopoly of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. to build Japan’s No. 2 mobile carrier, he became known for his management credo. Kyocera’s website lists 46 books he wrote or co-authored, mostly on the subject of management or philosophy. Thousands of students flocked to his Seiwajyuku school of management, from SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son to Hakuho, the most decorated sumo wrestler in history.
What links them was the commitment to success that Inamori demanded. He was famed for calling on workers to produce “not your best, but perfection.”
To Gen Z quiet quitters, that might sound similar to the hustle culture they’re trying to escape from. But Inamori’s difference is that he was no slave driver: He understood the importance of having both management and employees on the same team. “If you want eggs,” he said in a 2015 interview with Bloomberg, “take care of the hen.” Inamori was perhaps most famous for this promotion of “amoeba management,” which sought to enthuse workers by letting them operate as independently as possible. For him, it all came down to getting workers involved.

—Bloomberg