What to take, and how to interpret

I believe that my VC runs under the ethos that growth and development shall not be an excuse for negating basic human morals and ethics.

I also believe that because of the culture of Japan it is important to be able to adhere both the Japanese vision of ethics as well as other countries vision of ethics. As at the end of the day, any company going through this VC will be global, and must be able to adapt to different countries communal ethical codes.

Successful companies can address both issues simultaneously, although many modern companies negate such ethics I believe we are at a turning point within capitalism where there must be action taken in order to sustain our planet. From here it will be my personal vision on ethics and some questions to think about, on how you personally as a entrepreneur wants to operate and run the company under.

Key Lessons:

There are a couple key lessons to be taken from the quotes and statements of past and present CEOs. I will list the ones I believe are important for any future visionaries to see.

1. Visionary thinking, one must be be willing to break industry norms and be willing to innovate. This is not exclusive to technology but rather broad. Japan has many old conducts remaining within many industries, such as drinking with one's boss, which is not ethical upon current standards. People will need courage to be able to promote ethics within their own business and eradicate such past norms.

2. Long-term vision, there must be a plan for the business impacts both economically as well as societal contributions considered. CEO's such as Konosuke Matsushita focused a lot on societal contributions and often encouraged startups to build sustainable and socially responsible business models.

3. Adaptability, those in any industry in the modern digital world must be able to stay on top of market trends as well as keeping in tuned with societies ever evolving understanding of ethics and equality.

Within startups:

1. Acknowledge differences, there will be many disputes and arguments internally that will be hard to slide by. Members of the startup must understand that change is a recurring theme within every startup and those who cannot ethically and respectfully talk out disputes will not get far within the industry. At the end of the day, entrepreneurs exist to better the world and hence members must learn to take arguments and responsibly consider others opinions.

2. Build connections with customers, help customers understand the companies code of ethics, help customers feel safe knowing that the company they interact with are not only operating for money, keep innovating and keep the thought that customers are what drive the company.

Hypotheticals:

All startups should consider all hypothetical situations. Do case studies, set up the code of ethics early into the stage of startups and keep them realistic so such code of ethics will not be edited or changed in the future.

Questions to consider:

1. How can you balance the need for rapid growth with a long-term ethical vision?

2. What role should societal contribution play in the mission of a startup?

3. What is the current trend within companies at Japan? What parts are good and what parts need to be changed?

4. Konosuke Matsushita viewed companies as a public entity, should startups adopt this perspective, and if they do how would it be realistic? If they do not, does it conflict with the profit-driven nature of startups?

5. What are key challenges in applying ethical principles from established companies to startups? Why do we interpret their statements instead of taking it in as a whole?

6. How can startups maintain its ethical values when facing external pressures from investors or other competition?

7. As a founder, how do you personal values align with ethical principles discussed?

8. How do you envision your company contributing to society beyond profit generation?

9. In a world increasingly driven by AI and automation, how can startups ensure their innovations are aligned with ethical considerations?

10. Are there limits to how much we should learn from current large corporations?

11. How can a startup founder ensure that other members of their company uphold the same ethics that the company should align with?