Letter to a Young Engineer (from a purported Honda employee)
After praising Honda a few days ago, we got a great email from a pleasingly enthusiastic engineer who asked to remain anonymous. He claims to be working at American Honda in Torrance and I'm inclined to believe him, but bear in mind also that this didn't come from a Honda email domain nor could I confirm that he's employed by American Honda. Even so, I loved his email and thought I'd share it with you.
The picture above? That's Honda's new FC Sport concept car, a fuel cell sports car designed to show what a hydrogen-powered racer might look like in the near future.
Honda is a freak, by American and even Japanese standards. There is an absolutely astounding amount of room here for anyone to work once they get in. The view is Global and the focus is Local. No one has ever told me what to do. One Rule - Dream. We find our way on an individual level, as reason, interest and inclination dictate, and this is an ultimate form of unequaled personal power to affect the future. In Honda, our own best interests are at the forefront of every day life at work and home. In engineering, there are no lines of demarcation segregating futurists from the present applications of science. There is nothing so esoteric that doesn't deserve a close inspection, and there is a common belief here in doing things the Hard Way. Even so, the core philosophy of the company could best be described as the pursuit of Joys.
Soichiro Honda once pointed out "Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon, philosophy without action is worthless". He really believed that the only reason anyone would even show up to work is to have fun, and the real aim is to have fun you can share. He also said "If you hire only those people you understand, the company will never get people better than you are. Always remember that you often find outstanding people among those you don't particularly like."
He is the only person in business who seems to have fully understood a Japanese term that is a tad hard to translate, called Kioso. "Co-Creation Through Conflict", in which he breaks down the 4 necessary human elements of a properly functioning group of personalities which are co-dependent on each other's talents in order to succeed; Rationalist, Expert, Producer and Lunatic. Isn't that interesting? It could as easily be attributable to the success of The Beatles.
Lots more after the jump.
Mr Honda was a bit of a Lunatic, to be sure. Ask any of the fellow engineers who had a wrench thrown at their heads. The current president of Honda Japan recently came to give a speech in Torrance, and he said "I had a great deal of respect for Honda until I came to work for him." People laughed, and also knew it to be true. This kind of realistic appraisal of the verities of difficult work relationships will not result in a political reaction typical of the kinds of companies who believe that respect can be demanded. Mr Honda was seen as a father, and is remembered that way, with deeply felt respect and admiration for his own flexibility... good traits to pass on. He never once put himself above his work force.
Many people don't remember that the entire success of the initial Honda Motorcycle Company revolved around the development of the CVCC auto engine, which at the time was considered impossible, an answer to a pie-in-the-sky suggestion that was legislated by senator Muskie to create the first Green Automobile, to match a wish to have a very low emission standard adopted by an existing auto industry that fought the very concept of it tooth and nail in DC. It was the 1970 amendment to the Clean Air Act of 1963 that called for a 90% reduction of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions! No one believed it could be done. The fact of the matter is, even Honda at that time was perhaps not the ideal place to openly pursue that kind of design, so what actually happened is that a very small group of Honda engineers met clandestinely in a neighboring village. In great secrecy they perused existing patents and extrapolated a design that would eventually be feasible before they brought it to Mr. Honda, and when they made the first Emissions Standard possible, they not only revolutionized auto production for Honda, they forced Mr. Honda to realize that his "children" had outgrown him, and so he essentially abdicated his company to his employees and stepped down as president, although he remained as Supreme Adviser.
Honda is the only auto maker who spends more on R&D than it does Advertising.
I have noticed that they also do not concern themselves so much with legal responses to false claims made by competing companies that like to appear to be "first", such as a claim made by a competitor who rushed a Hydrogen Car to America to claim it was the first one made, when in fact the prototype blew up upon delivery to the Long Beach Docks, and didn't work. They just don't care. They prefer to know, and keep working at improving everything continually, and to remember what's important in the long run. Egos and attitudes are left at the door.
Honda has unmatched diversity of products. Are you aware they just began production of the HondaJet? Not too many car companies are building airplanes that are fuel efficient too. The evolution of products show the variety of interests and talents that have evolved from individuals allowed to grow in an open framework... Watercraft, Generators, Snowblowers, Lawnmowers, Race Cars, ATVs and Humanoid Robots. All come from respect for the individual and what they enjoy.
On a personal level, and perhaps to more closely address the kinds of negative trolling you experienced having Honda as a patron, I think harsh criticism is good, even if perhaps based on being fundamentally uninformed or unrealistic. At the heart of discomfort is the reality of the concern, and Honda, each of us, we feel this every day. It is real concern. Not something to dismiss, but to face. Loud criticism is even better, and then to focus on answers, and who has ideas and is working toward real answers is most important. Good to criticize to focus attention and maintain awareness. A silent place has no passion. The noise you make may spur progress if enough people listen and join. The rest sorts itself out. Proceed always with ambition and youthfulness. Enjoy your competition. We don't kill for sport. We play to win. Racing in the blood.
I used to be very mad at car companies, because I saw the Concept Cars and could never figure out why none of them ever made it to market. I was so mad. I want Tomorrow today. It never occurred to me how cars really come to market. Reality is, no matter what you can discover in research, or how far ahead you can see due to science and conjecture, when it comes time to produce a concept car that cost a million dollars to build ONE, the car becomes the child of the Parts Department, and they are the ones to decide what will go inside it. The reality is always a balance between consumer cost and functions for that cost.
Right now there are a few people driving the Clarity, a 3rd generation Fuel Cell Vehicle that produces nothing but water vapor at the exhaust pipe. Every one of them cost a million to put on the road as a relatively low cost lease. I'm aware that a lot of press is still claiming it costs as much to produce hydrogen as gasoline, to power it, but Honda has cut that cost down to 30%, and that is real progress. They also build a natural gas powered car, and produce a Home Energy Station that uses gas to power a house and heat it's water and also produce energy for a car efficiently, all-in-one. Also Electric Cars for a long time. They have a solar powered Hydrogen Generating Filling Station. As newer exotic materials enter the finished design process, the Concept Cars they introduce become viable production models now, and you will absolutely see many Concepts coming to market in the near future. When they introduced the Clarity Concept Car last year, it was a real working car, not a mock-up.
I don't know who you work for, where or why. I have no idea what you are dealing with, when it comes to the limitations or opportunities you have or need. I know a lot of you are scared right now, and your prospects seem dark. I don't have an individual answer for each of your problems, but I may have a solution for companies that feel they have run out of ideas and suggestions. If a company has been mismanaged, and has lost touch with it's consumers, and has a real concern for being able to survive and prosper, I can show you a company that has lost touch with it's work force and it's public getting there. It's time for you to stop telling people what to do, and turn the tables. If you're at the top, give your company the money and get out of the way, you blew it. That won't turn things upside down, it will turn things right side up. Buzz word hypnosis and marketing catch phrases won't work for you any more. Let the truth come out, and find yourself responsible. Then ask your people for the answer. Take personal responsibility for every challenge wherever you are.
Look at the Automotive Manufacturers on Capitol Hill this week. Every one of them talks about the sacrifices they are demanding and what they are giving up to stay afloat, from worker pensions to union contracts and complete abandonment of factory towns, as though that had anything to do with finding success and a better future. They all took private corporate jets to get there, and would sooner strip a company's profits in salaries, resort meetings and golden parachutes before they ever set an example anyone could follow. They may as well sacrifice their employees to a volcano while they howl at the moon. Have any of them asked their employees what to do? Failing companies who turn their operations over to the employees willing to sacrifice in the short term for a larger stake in the future seem to end up with viable profitable operations again. There's a lot of reasons. Workers know what works.
A funny thing happened on the way to the solution. Try and picture this. On my first day of work, no one told me what to do. On the second day, the same thing happened, and on the third. That's as much as I could take. I decided to meet with everyone I was coming in contact with to find out more about their individual talents and personalities, and to find out what was going on. Before I knew it, I was developing a picture of how things really were, and who needed what, and I became creatively involved in defining my own participation in relation to the skills I could bring to the table. In the process of doing this, I had complete access to everyone in the company, from other newlings to the President. Nothing but open cubicles no higher than 3 1/2 feet. I was allowed to learn, interact, and find solutions to every problem and need I recognized. I always found something important to do, and it became natural to provide effective solutions as needed. I am not a very unique individual, but I am effective because I am allowed to be. I also know it may be different for some people, experiencing this kind of freedom. I know that some people are petrified by this kind of freedom, and equate it to abandonment, and it drives them crazy not knowing what to do. I also know that even under the best of circumstances, people become sedate sometimes and settle in to patterns of repetition for false comfort. The answer, then, is to have them all switch places every few years, no matter how well they may be doing their job, because it is just as important to let everyone see their own position from someone else's position. It also allows for the surprise of finding how much fun change can be when your creativity meets a new challenge. See what you end up with. It's either this, or that.
As a Honda employee, I've had an opportunity to explore a very different kind of work experience, and today is a particularly good time to share it. This working circumstance may be familiar to BoingBoing readers who had an opportunity to be involved in a "Start-Up" with real friends, and took the opportunity to rewrite the established rules of Business in favor of a less traditional way of doing things. Perhaps they were lucky enough to evolve successfully without losing too much of that freedom to explore and take real chances, but my experience working with countless Fortune 200 Companies at the Management Level at the most critical times of their existence has made it sadly obvious to me that the soul and heart of what makes a company successful is frankly usually lost within one generation. It's like a story my grandfather once told me. It can take one generation of sacrifice to get ahead, one more to use the gifts the last generation earned and developed, and a third to squander what they don't understand because they can only see the riches available as the essential asset... unless there is a strong enough philosophy to bind the generations to a common cause, so that each generation can learn from the last and establish a path for real growth. That or the insanity of repeating the cycle looking for a different result.
As we regard the disconnections evident so plainly in much of Corporate America, and as so many business failures are now daily announced, accompanied by the mass migration of "leaders who failed" heading to Congress, asking for money so they can continue to make the same mistakes, it's the common folks who see plainly the waste they represent in the process of spending all their gifts until nothing is left. While this is of great concern, there should be a greater concern for The Answer to all these problems.
We notice easily that many Leaders, be they Corporate or Political, have adopted one way of dealing with trouble, and it's wrong, because they have all reduced their involvements to Riding Waves instead of Making Waves. They are typically surrounded by identical employees, who are like stalks of grain that struggle not to grow too tall or stick out too much for fear of being mowed down for standing out. It is a mistake to fear making mistakes, when mistakes have to be embraced and solved On The Spot At An Individual Level, Everyone Equal and Equally Involved and Empowered to overcome failures toward success. While this is true, it doesn't manifest naturally unless the cultural medium and philosophy supports it and provides a proper place for growth, so perhaps it's most important to share the lesson I've learned from a company that has overcome the limitations I've described.
the latest
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Wow.
What a fantastic read!
I read this book a few months ago:
The Honda Myth: The Genius and His Wake
It's a good read that covers quite a bit of the philosiphies and culture clashes within Honda over the years. It could have benefitted from a ruthless editor at times, but I just started to skim the book when it started to bog, and then discover a few pages of fascinating storytelling.
This is great. On the motorbike side, the Honda Fireblade is the undisputed king of road bikes, through a collection of manifest effort and creativity by Honda. They're also constantly innovating, seemingly not just to keep that edge, but because they want to.
Plus the Honda Jet - gamechanger, really.
And ask anyone about motors - Honda wins.
I actually spent some time working at Honda at their other R&D facility in Ohio and I can vouch for the accuracy of this. There are no offices with doors to close and everyone shares a gigantic (like multiple football field gigantic) space with open cubes from the president down to the janitor. Everyone wears white jumpsuits as well. It might sound odd but I actually loved it because unless you knew through other means you never knew the rank of someone you were talking to so it was much easier to be candid. Given the chance I would definitely go back to Honda.
I think a clue to Honda's success is their huge commitment to motor racing in all it's forms (their website lists 23 series they directly participate in). Nothing breeds innovation and humility like time on the track, dirt or water; valuable lessons that can be directly applied to consumer products. Few people are aware that Honda has been involved in Formula 1 since the early 60's both as an engine builder and full team. Their success has been middling at best, but they have never abandoned the sport or the vital development platform it provides. Like Ferrari they see it as a critical test bed well worth their investment.
Contrast this with the Big 3 who see racing merely as an extension of their marketing. Their desire for success is driven by "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" not as an extension of their R&D.
amazing.
i'm sending this to all my top brass. (anonymously, of course! :) )
Hahaha! I am the perfect Honda employee, then - a Rationalist, Lunatic, Expert, Producer!
No you're not!
SHUT UP YOU TWO!
Pay no attention to this post.
--C
I read this article with my jaw hanging open, shocked that a place like this exists.
I worked as a quality engineer for suppliers to the big 3 for 12 years, and saw some of the workings of GM/Ford/Chrysler along the way. The suppliers tend to follow the same mentality. The most common philosophy is that good ideas only come from management. I saw many ideas from engineers of plant workers that were ignored, only to have the same thing praised a few years later when one of the bosses came up with it. And they only believe in improvement when it doesn't cost anything. I know that for years GM would not entertain any design changes that had a payoff period of less than 6 months.
I'm glad to be out of that industry. It grinds people up and spits them out.
Needless to say, after all I've seen, I will never buy one of their products again.
Thank you anonymous employee, and thank you Honda. This is inspiring, everyone should read this no matter who or where they are in life.
i'd really like to hear the opinion of the UK Honda employees who've all been given garden leave for the next two months!!
At least they're being paid during this break but still, it's quite worrying
This is awesome.
Now I know why I drive a Honda. But of course I have driven one for years, without knowing why!
#6 - I agree absolutely. Oh, hang on, what's this?
A shame - that "Impossible Dream" advert was terrific (and rather poignant now).