Founder Of UNIQLO: If Your Company Has This Style, It Is Not Far From Bankruptcy.

As a manager, a book I deeply influenced was the notes of professional managers written by Harold Sidney Jeings.

In his book, he reviewed his successful experience as an operator, and he wrote, "start from the end.

Because as long as you set the end, "what to do in order to be successful" becomes clear at a glance.

It is true that business starts with the goal of setting the goal, so that you can understand what you should do.

The higher the goal is, the more innovative it is to achieve the goal.

Setting up lofty goals with the momentum of breaking the boat and sinking the boat is just like the mother of innovation, and the result is creating customers.

The higher the goal, the more innovative it is.

In order to innovate, operators must practice.

The first step is to hold high goals.

The lofty goal of innovation in organization is the goal that can not be imagined with common sense.

For example, when the turnover of fast retailing (UNIQLO parent company) is only around 8 billion yen, we have established the goal of "catching up with GAP and becoming the world's first apparel manufacturing retail group".

When I raised this goal at a foreign conference, everyone around me was laughing.

Because the goal is too high, no one thinks I am serious about it.

Although this goal has not yet been achieved, I think it is precisely because we have seriously put forward this goal and continue to work hard for it to have the past countless innovations to make fast selling come to today.

Looking back at the history of fast selling, it is easy to see that in the period when companies need to take a bold leap, Fast Retailing always sets its own sales target of 3~5 times that time.

When sales amounted to 10 billion yen, we set a target of 30 billion yen; when sales reached 30 billion yen, we set a target of 100 billion yen; when sales volume was 100 billion yen, we set 300 billion yen target; when sales reached 300 billion yen, our target was 1 trillion yen.

At present, our goal is to sell 5 trillion yen.

What is the significance of doing this?

That is to liberate us from the shackles of the mindset of "continuation of existing practices".

For example, when sales volume is 100 billion yen, if we set the target only 1.1 times or 1.2 times the sales volume at that time, to achieve such a goal, we only need to continue the creativity and initiatives with sales of 100 billion yen.

However, such innovations and initiatives are also likely to be achieved by other companies.

As a result, it will compete with other companies in the same way, which will eventually lead to increased risk. Even the target of 1.1 times and 1.2 times sales can hardly be achieved.

What will happen if we aim to increase sales to 3 times, or 300 billion yen?

Obviously, we must change our way of thinking.

For example, it will make us realize that if our brand is known to only a few people, not all of the Japanese, we will not be able to achieve this goal.

From this we will further think: "no matter how many stores we open in the suburbs, it will be useless.

So we have to be successful at the forefront of Japanese clothing, Harajuku, Tokyo.

It may also make us think: "it is not possible to display imported goods in the store, because it can be done by other companies". "We must create our own brand, all products must be products of our company, and because Japanese customers pay great attention to the quality of commodities, our products must meet the high standards that can satisfy all Japanese customers". This requires that the production level of our cooperative factories in China must reach the highest level in the world.

It is impossible to achieve this goal only if our employees send instructions from the Japanese Ministry to factories in China.

It is also necessary to hire someone who has worked in Japan's fiber industry and has high technology as a "technical consultant" to come to the scene for guidance.

XXX must cooperate with China's cooperative factories to build a real partnership, cooperate with each other and work together to improve technology. "

After setting up lofty goals, these ideas will naturally be aroused.

Next is to put things in our mind into practice.

Look for feasible ways and work hard until success.

In this process, innovation will be created, and such innovations will create customers and help us achieve our lofty goals.

These innovative achievements become the secrets of enterprises, and these secrets will be applied to the sale of other commodities.

Following convention, enterprises have no future.

The biggest enemy that hinders the growth and development of a company is "common sense".

When we are in an industry, a company or a business for a long time, we will unknowingly regard the existing state as "common sense".

In this way, we will set some rules and regulations for granted, for example:

"The fleece should be made by mountaineering clothes and outdoor clothing manufacturers."

"HEATTECH such goods should be sold in sporting goods stores."

"BRATOP (built-in Cup underwear) is underwear like this," and the result is to suppress its potential.

But who will decide the rules and regulations?

Is there any international rule that must be done?

There are no such rules. These are only the companies themselves identified by various industries or industries, or the rules and regulations for dividing the living space according to their own convenience or not.

This rule does not take account of customers.

Those things that are meaningless from customers' perspective, inconvenience to customers, people in the industry, companies, or people who engage in a cause call it "common sense".

The result is that many of the things that are important to our customers have not been achieved.

I often say, "the industry is the past, the customer is the future, do not pay too much attention to the competitors, and we should wholeheartedly carry out the business with the customer as the center."

The practice of the industry is already the thing of the past. There is no future for the enterprises that follow the Convention.

Therefore, for those so-called "common sense", we must reconsider with suspicion, such as "from the perspective of customers, is this right?"

"From a customer's point of view, is this not the case?"

And so on.

Besides, when we are inconvenienced by the customer's standpoint or if we have the idea of "if there is such a product," when the customer asks us, "do you have such a product?"

Then we need to reflect: "do we really stick to the common sense of the company and really want to think of customers?"

In such a case, if only a "sorry" or "our shop does not have such a commodity" to deal with hastily, then the enterprise can not have a future.

Always low standards, not far from bankruptcy.

If a business operator wants to succeed, it is very important to have "quality consciousness".

We must have a quality awareness of the work we do, that is to say, we must set high standards for "quality of goods", "service quality" and "quality of all output".

The standard of quality is defined as "whether it is really beneficial to customers".

I hope that all the work standards in our organizational mechanism should be formulated accordingly, and I hope you can persevere in pursuing quality standards and never compromise.

Why should we pay attention to the standard of quality?

This is because "customers are very picky."

We try to think about it for a moment, and we immediately understand that once a customer gets something, after experiencing it, he has his own standard. From then on, they will measure the commodity with this standard.

And gradually, customers will no longer be satisfied with the existing standards and pursue higher standards.

After satisfying the desired standards, they will pursue higher standards.

The standard of customers is improved step by step.

For example, the quality of Japanese 100 yuan stores is very good, and some products even make people wonder: "can 100 yen be bought for such a thing?"

If a company operates on a standard of "100 yen, which is of good quality", it will go bankrupt.

In today's era, if we do not have real high standards, we will be eliminated at any time.

We say that we should set up high standards, but this standard is not a standard that is easy for us to achieve. Please do not misunderstand.

We must measure our work with standards that can really satisfy our customers.

This standard is now getting higher and higher. Therefore, we must constantly pursue the highest quality in the world and take it as a standard for us to measure our work.

Is our shop the cleanest in the world?

Is the shopping environment of our shop the most comfortable in the world?

Is our store the best service in the world?

Are our products the most value-added in the world?

Is our factory capable of producing the best quality goods in the world?

Is our management system the most advanced in the world?

We must set high standards for ourselves and unremittingly pursue them uncompromising.

Until we reach the heights of other companies.

If we want to win in the competition, we must embrace this idea and raise the quality of operation to this level.

Such a high standard is not easy to achieve.

Many companies often fail to meet this standard at the beginning and end up with "failure".

I believe that even so, the effort is worth it.

Thomas John Watson, the founder of IBM, often teaches his employees: "to pursue perfection, even if it fails, is better than the success gained from the goal of imperfection."

If you aim at 50 points, it's easy to achieve your goals.

But that goal can not bring the result that the customer thinks perfect, and what is the significance of achieving it?

On the contrary, it is better to set a high standard for ourselves, because even if we can not get to the height we are pursuing, we should strive for high quality products rather than low standards.

Moreover, in the process of challenging high standards, we will surely gain and learn a lot.

If we can do this, we will succeed through continuous efforts.

Therefore, we allow such a failure.

In the final analysis, if a company is always satisfied with low standards, it is not far from bankruptcy.

If a company can reach the high standard that the customer really recognised, it will gain absolute advantage.

The so-called absolute advantage is that the standards set by a company have become a common sense in the minds of customers. Customers who do not meet this standard have no intention of buying.

For example, the Google Corporation of the Internet industry, Apple Corp of the mobile technology industry and amusement park Disney park have all gained this absolute advantage.

We should continue to challenge such innovations.

The pursuit of stability will not escape the fate of extinction.

Customers are very picky. No customers are willing to spend their money on invariable goods and formalized shops.

In addition, because of competition, companies are scrambling to come up with various ways to attract customers.

Society is changing at an alarming rate, and people's needs are also changing rapidly.

If customers, competition and society are still static, it may be feasible to pursue stability, but such a world does not exist.

The reality is that only if the business operators can not be defeated by these changes, and then turn these changes into business opportunities and skillfully manage, we will not be abandoned by customers, otherwise the company will not escape the fate of extinction.

People who do not understand business often satirize the company that dare to accept the challenge "do not face the reality". In this sense, the pursuit of stability is more "not to face reality".

The idea of not wanting to put the company in danger is "more likely to put the company at risk."

The existence of the operator is to maximize the achievement in the present and in the future.

To accomplish this responsibility, we must challenge the challenges that should be challenged without fear of danger. We must act boldly and decisively when we must commit ourselves to it.

If the manager is not prepared mentally, he will not be able to create customers or make the company survive.

Without risk, there is no profit.

"No risk, no profit, risk is always accompanied by profits."

This is the rule of iron.

Generally speaking, there can be nothing in the world that is "only we want to get", but few people can actually put their ideas into practice, because most people want to avoid risks.

However, if we look at it from another angle, it will be an opportunity for operators.

The fact that others have not started to do it means that we can fully control the operation and occupy the absolute leading edge in the market, and there is no need to worry about the profits arising from other people's involvement.

Conversely, without taking risks, we will not be able to grasp these advantages.

"No fear of risk" is by no means equivalent to "no risk estimation".

The so-called risk assessment is to think calmly and seriously.

And "how big is the risk?"

And so on.

XXX decided to fully sell the products produced by our company when it opened in 1998.

The risk associated with the complete sale of our products is to stop selling Nike, Adidas and other imported sports brand goods.

That is to say, the company will face the risk of losing the share of the business of some of these commodities, which are popular at the then UNIQLO.

However, if we continue to sell these commodities, our profit margins will be limited.

Moreover, in order to deliver truly high-quality clothing to all the people in the world, we must control all the links from production to sales, and create our own brand.

But if we continue to sell goods produced by other companies, we will never be able to create our own brand.

This is the risk associated with not fully selling our products.

When considering whether we should sell our products completely, we should weigh these two risks on the scales, which is the risk estimation.

If we look at the scale of "immediate interests", we should not completely sell our products, because we are bound to abandon the goods that are sold well.

But if you look at the "long-term interests", you will see a different view.

If the new move is successful, we will see a lot of people wearing our uniqo brand clothing, shuttling around the streets of the world, and all the profits will be our own.

The risks that may lead to the failure of the company and the risk that the company can not gain much benefit should be circumvented.

Besides, whether or not we should take risks depends entirely on taking risks and not taking risks.

At that time, XXX chose to take risks, that is, a new move to sell the company's goods completely.

Now, the scene we want to see has been gradually presented before us.

Learning from outside and learning continuously

If we want to keep pace with the progress of society, we must grow continuously.

To this end, it is very important to study unremittingly.

We should make two important psychological preparations in learning: one is "someone outside, one outside the sky", the other is "nothing in this world has never happened".

First of all, we must have the sense of "no matter in terms of production or market, our business will not be lost to the truly excellent companies in the world".

With this awareness every day, this thinking is carried out: "is there a better way than we are now?"

"Where can we get some kind of inspiration to make our work successful?"

Moreover, thinking is not enough. We must know that some of the other companies are doing what we want to do. Therefore, we should talk with those people, or read the books they write, and actually see and experience, which is very important.

In addition, for the operators, the real meaningful learning is to use the knowledge and information learned, "think in conjunction with their own circumstances" and "be brave enough to try".

If we fail to achieve these two points, learning will lose its meaning.

If you want to apply your knowledge, you must really turn what you have learned into your own.

Some people just read, "there's such an idea!"

"That's a good idea too!"

After regrets, he closed the book. This way of reading is undesirable.

We should read in the form of dialogue with books, for example, we can often ask ourselves some questions.

"What will I do if I write the content here?"

"What is the situation of our company?"

"How can we do it in our company?"

Wait.

This method is not only suitable for reading, but also suitable for lectures, listening to other people's speeches, visits and so on.

In addition, after considering the content of the book in combination with its own situation, it is essential to not forget to put the idea into practice.

After the end of the practice, we must evaluate the results of our own practice with strict standards and examine whether we are doing well or not.

If you think you have not done well, you should explore the reasons and put it into practice again and again, until you can do it well.

For practitioners, this is the only correct way to learn.

Improve the quality of information and get valuable information.

If an operator wants to achieve results, it is important to learn to continuously improve the quality of information.

Information is brought by people, so it is very important to learn how to exchange information with truly outstanding talents.

In this world, there are not many truly outstanding talents who have real valuable information in all walks of life.

For example, there are not many really good sports car designers in the world.

Similarly, in terms of production technology, MD, information system or personnel management, there are not many really good people.

But only such people really have the most cutting-edge information.

Therefore, while we work, we must seriously consider how we can find such talents as soon as possible.

And most importantly, we must constantly recharge ourselves and improve our ability in peacetime.

Because only in this way can we have the ability to talk with them when faced with such talents.

If the amount of information provided to the other person is too small, it is impossible to have a real dialogue.

As for whether an outstanding manager is willing to spare time for substantive conversation with us, it is obvious that if we sit opposite him, we are still a man of no words, then it is best not to have illusions about it.

Therefore, in order to be able to provide enough information to the other party, in order to be able to make constructive suggestions when asked by the other side, we must learn more and accumulate more in peacetime.

That is to say, the improvement of our ability is a necessary condition for us to get truly valuable information.

epilogue

All of these are basic things, but they are very important.

If you can persist for 5 years, you will benefit greatly.

At that time, when you face the outstanding operators in the world, you have been able to have a substantive conversation with him.