The outcome of our life or work is the product of three factors: attitude, effort and ability. Effort and ability range from 0 to +100 points. Since these two numbers are multiplied rather than simply added, it means that someone who exerts unbeatable efforts to compensate for "average" abilities can accomplish more than a genius who makes only a minimal effort.
What it means
What you achieve is your attitude times your effort times your ability. Because effort and ability multiply, a lot of effort can make up for ordinary ability, and outdo a genius who barely tries.
Attitude multiplies everything, and it can be negative. The lines that follow say a bad attitude can turn the whole result around, “180 degrees,” however hard you work or however able you are.
The context
Kazuo Inamori founded Kyoto Ceramic, later Kyocera, with colleagues in 1959, and later founded the company that became KDDI, now Japan’s second-largest telecommunications provider. At 77 he was asked by the Japanese government to come out of retirement to lead Japan Airlines through bankruptcy.
The formula is one of the principles of the “Kyocera Philosophy,” which the company says originated with Inamori and “his own real-world experiences.” Kyocera’s text ends the principle with: “while ability and effort are important, it is our attitude that counts the most.”
Why it matters
The formula is simple enough to remember and useful when you feel outmatched. You can’t change your ability quickly, but you can change your effort today, and your attitude right now.
It also explains why talented people sometimes fail and ordinary people often succeed. Multiplication rewards whoever doesn’t let one of the factors drop to zero, or below it.
About Kazuo Inamori
Japanese entrepreneur, philanthropist and Buddhist priest, 1932–2022
Kazuo Inamori was born in Kagoshima, Japan, on 30 January 1932, the second eldest of seven children. He graduated in applied chemistry from Kagoshima University in 1955, and in 1959 he and several colleagues founded Kyoto Ceramic, later known as Kyocera. After Japan’s telecommunications industry was deregulated in 1984, he founded the company that became KDDI.
In 1997 he became a lay Buddhist priest at Enpukuji Temple in Kyoto. At 77 the Japanese government asked him to come out of retirement to save Japan Airlines, and he became its president when it entered bankruptcy protection in January 2010. He died on 24 August 2022.
The source, and how we checked it
It comes from The Kyocera Philosophy, "The Result of Our Life or Work = Attitude × Effort × Ability" (Kyocera's English text), date not given.
The full passage:
This product is further multiplied by attitude, which can range from −100 to +100. Depending on our attitude, the outcome of our work and our life can change by 180 degrees. Thus, while ability and effort are important, it is our attitude that counts the most.
We matched the words against Kyocera's official English text of the principle, which Kyocera says originated with its founder, Kazuo Inamori. It is the company's English wording of his idea, not a translation credited to a named translator. The passage gives the lines that follow, on attitude. We give no date for the text itself, since Kyocera's page doesn't give one. We last checked this on 11 November 2026.