Akio Yamada was the founder of Mirai Industries, a company trading in Tokyo Stock Exchange in Japan, which is called “The Happiest Company to Work For” by productivity guru Norman Bodek.

Yamada was born in Shanghai in 1931 and passed away in July 2014. His father had a woollen fabric company in Shanghai, but his family had to return home when Japan was defeated in the Second World War. After returning to Japan, his father established ‘Yamada Electric Wire Manufacturer’ in the City of Ogaki.

Yamada began to work for his father’s company after he graduated from middle school. The late 1940s was the golden age of theatre in Japan. Yamada, who was fond of theater, often finished his work early and went to see plays. He also tried organizing his own theatre troupe and sometimes worked as a stage manager for a local drama group. When an art center was built in Ogaki, he again formed his own troupe to perform on its stage. He named his troupe ‘Mirai.’

Mirai Industries

He spent most of his money that he earned at his father’s company for ‘Mirai’ activity. He married at the age of 30, but his interest was still play. He had spent more than 15 years in theatre by that time. Yamada’s father, who could not take it any longer, fired him from the company. Yamada could not even get severance pay. It was a logical conclusion, for he had always neglected his job.

To live, he decided to establish his own company with his Mirai troupe colleagues. They hired one female worker who would take care of administrative and clerical duties. Altogether, there were four people including Yamada himself. He named the company ‘Mirai Industry’ after the name of his troupe. It was an electric installation equipment manufacturer. The only thing Yamada could rely on that time was his customers he had worked with when he was at his father’s company.

The Happiest Company to Work For

Yamada, implemented a radical management style in his company. There are collection of 100 principles. One of the most controversial of the principles was the “No Horenso” principle. Horenso was the Japanese implementation of command and control management philosophy where employees were asked to consult to their supervisors on every decision and inform them about everything as managers were kept responsible for the mistakes. No Horenso is the opposite, where employees are empowered to make decisions without approvals from supervisors. The method has been explained in detailed in the book “The Happiest Company to Work For!” which was published in 2015.