Library skill · Thinkers' principles

Inamori-style 'right as a person' check

v1.0.1 · Updated 4 November 2026

Checks a hard business decision or plan against what Kazuo Inamori called the root of the Kyocera Philosophy, what is right as a human being, and his Twelve Management Principles. Use it when A decision where profit and fairness pull in different directions.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by Kazuo Inamori or their companies. About these principles: Kazuo Inamori's ideas, explained.

Add to my team's pod

Works in Claude, ChatGPT, and coding agents. On Team and Business, this library skill in your pod updates itself when we improve it.

When to use it

A decision where profit and fairness pull in different directions
A plan needs a check for purpose and concrete goals before approval

What you give it

The decision or plan
Who is affected
The options, including the preferred one
The facts and numbers

What you get

A verdict per option with the deciding facts, the plan checked against the Twelve Principles, the option that passes, and one reusable standard.

How it works

State the decision plainly One sentence: who will do what, to whom, and what they will gain or lose. Remove euphemisms ("optimise the refund window" becomes "make refunds slower").
Apply the right-as-a-person test (principle 1) For each option ask: is it honest? Does it deceive anyone, by statement or by silence? Does anyone have to be told less than the truth for it to work? Mark pass, fail or unclear, and quote the fact that decides it.
Test it in daylight (principles 1 and 4) Would the option survive if every affected party saw exactly how and why it was made? Transparent ("glass-walled") management is one of the stated accounting principles; apply the same test to the decision.
Check the plan against the Twelve Principles (principle 3) Is the purpose of the business, or of this project, stated? Are the goals concrete (a number and a date)? Does the plan raise sales and cut expenses, or only one? Has someone accountable set the price on purpose? Is there sincerity and consideration toward the other side?
Find the right option, not the comfortable one If the preferred option fails step 2 or 3, look for one that passes and still meets the business goal, and say what it costs.
Write the standard down (principle 2) Turn the judgment into one sentence the team can reuse next time ("We tell customers about a known defect before they buy").
Report Verdict per option, the deciding facts, the option that passes, and the reusable standard.

Share it with your team

Add it to an AI Skill Pod and everyone on the team, contractors included, uses the same version from their own AI. Read the best ways to share AI skills with a team